IT asset management is often overlooked these days.
Organizations that neglect to prioritize this business practice might come face to face with serious management issues.
One manifestation of this problem is the excess staff hours spent on reconciling unchecked assets and inventory. When these items are not properly accounted for, it could lead to more company efforts and spending flying under the radar. In conclusion, higher unnecessary expenses with lower returns.
That’s why learning and implementing IT asset management is recommended for businesses aiming to thrive and scale. If you’re curious about its contributions to a company’s overall growth and development, read on. This comprehensive guide will explain every bit of detail you need to know.
Table of Contents
- What Is IT Asset Management (ITAM)?
- Why Is IT Asset Management Important?
- Types of ITAM Asset Management
- IT Asset Lifecycle
- 8 IT Asset Management Best Practices
- IT Asset Management Software Features to Look For
- Examples of IT Asset Management Software
- IT Asset Management FAQs
- Wrapping Up IT Asset Management
What Is IT Asset Management (ITAM)?
IT asset management (ITAM) is the process of tracking, cataloging and managing every organization’s information technology property.
Simply put, it’s a series of actions that ensure every related asset is properly utilized, protected, maintained, updated and disposed of when it is no longer needed.
Consequently, an IT Asset pertains to every single piece of hardware and software owned by the organization.
By nature, hardware assets include tangible equipment such as computers, routers, mobile devices, keyboards, printers and even physical servers in data centers. On the other hand, software assets are intangible properties that come in the form of applications, licenses, patents, network infrastructures and cloud-based assets such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. They also take the form of software systems and databases created using open-source systems.
Basically, ITAM is a body of business operations that heavily relies on analyzing financial, contractual and inventory data in order to make strategic IT-based decisions.
The key objectives of IT asset tracking include the following:
- Ensuring that all IT resources are used efficiently
- Optimizing the company’s budget by reducing the number of assets in use
- Prolonging the life span of those assets to avoid unnecessary upgrades
- Mitigating any related risk and increasing asset value
- Boosting productivity through enhanced IT support
Ultimately, this whole process is geared towards providing an accurate account of the status, costs and risks of every technological asset. This way, businesses can shift their sourcing, funding, contractual and architecture strategy accordingly.
Why Is IT Asset Management Important?
For the most part, IT asset management helps businesses make cost-effective technological decisions, strengthen their security bases and create a strong and sustainable plan for the future.
Similarly, organizations can meet a lot of IT-related issues and pitfalls when neglecting the essential ITAM processes. That's why many businesses engage with reputable IT solutions companies to optimize their IT asset management strategies further, making them more robust and future-proof.
Here are some good reasons why information technology asset management is of great importance today:
You Get To Make Informed Purchasing Decisions
Relevant ITAM data can heavily influence and guide your future actions. For example, evaluating your previous purchases and business processes can help you decide on investing in better IT assets. You’ll be able to choose the best products and providers not only based on the purchase price but also the quality and post-sale support.
IT asset management can also help enhance your deployment and integration processes as well as prevent your team from over-purchasing resources that you don’t need.
You Have a Centralized Asset Location
Properly managing your assets provides a “single source of truth” for the organization. Often, businesses have their properties in multiple locations, handled by multiple people. The result, of course, is utter disorganization and disorientation.
When you have a central point of information, IT asset tracking is much easier and more efficient. Teams working on the assets can work in harmony when it comes to deciding which items need to be updated, optimized, or replaced for maximum efficiency.
You Can Ensure Every Asset Is in Compliance With License Agreements
Most business organizations struggle with tracking software licenses and agreements. As a result, they become unaware that they have active subscriptions, tools with outstanding payments, or worse, resources that get paid but aren’t even in use.
Non-compliance to terms set by asset providers can cause serious legal and financial problems to an organization.
To steer clear of these problems, modern companies use the appropriate ITAM software to effortlessly monitor all applications installed on all computers and on their networks. Additionally, these programs are designed to check if all assets comply with the relevant license agreements.
You Can Avoid Potential Threats and Cyberattacks
Regular IT asset tracking helps organizations check for weak points in their networks that could possibly expose them to any external threat. By keeping track of all your technological assets and upgrading the obsolete ones, you can keep airtight security and reduce any risk that may arise in the future.
You Can Calculate Your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
It’s worth noting that the cost of an IT asset is more than the purchase and acquisition price. Through ITAM, you can estimate and uncover all the expenses of obtaining an IT asset – the total cost of ownership (TCO).
TCO is an accurate measure of the overall cost of acquiring and utilizing an IT asset. Effectively planning and managing your TCO will help reduce the costs brought about by asset duplication or inactivity.
Types of ITAM Asset Management
- Software Asset and License Management
- Cloud Asset Management
- Digital Asset Management
- Fixed Asset Management
Effectively managing your IT assets, regardless of its type, is a recipe for greater efficiency and accountability. This is especially true for ITAM, as proper asset management drives more business value and maximizes returns.
However, it’s worth noting that the process comes in different variations.
Finding one that suits your business model, size, and nature will help you gather sufficient information and decide on the best system available.
Below are the different types of tracking IT assets:
Software Asset and License Management
This involves steps that are concerned with effectively managing, controlling and protecting all software assets. This includes items procured by the organization as well as those licensed from third-party providers.
The purpose? For one, it guarantees that every software in use is properly paid for and accounted for. Also, it ensures that the assets are in compliance with their licensing agreements.
Cloud Asset Management
This process focuses more on managing and tracking cloud-based assets from services providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud and so on.
Digital Asset Management
This particular type of ITAM deals with managing any form of electronic media such as pictures, videos, slide presentations, audio recordings and many more. It is usually a part of the organization’s intellectual property management operations. It includes every single digital data that the company either produces or licenses from third parties.
Fixed Asset Management
This is not to be confused with hardware asset management. In this case, the process involves tracking fixed IT assets within the workplace. Think of it as the everyday materials used in the office such as desks, printers, networking cabinets, AC units and any other infrastructure hardware.
IT Asset Lifecycle
Every asset, whether tangible or intangible, has a limited life span before its value starts to dwindle. This period of time is called the Asset Lifecycle.
Among its many functions, IT asset management is all about properly handling a property’s lifecycle in order to maximize this limited period.
The stages may vary depending on each organization, but typically, an IT asset lifecycle is composed of the following stages:
Planning
The foundation of every IT asset starts with making decisions and mapping out how your information technology asset management will play out. Think about what specific properties your organization needs as well as how you intend to obtain, fund and use them in the long run. Planning also entails considering viable alternatives and conducting ownership, plus the cost and cost-benefit analyses.
Procurement or Acquisition
This step involves physically or digitally obtaining your IT assets. They may be acquired by building them in-house, but you can also get hold of your IT products by buying, licensing, or leasing them from third-party providers.
Deployment or Integration
Deploying assets simply means installing them into your organization’s system. You can also integrate them into your current IT infrastructure so it works in harmony with your other tools. An optimized IT system with efficient technical support gives you higher business value and a more seamless user experience!
Maintenance
Once the IT assets are deployed; you need to assign people to make sure these assets are well-maintained. Upgrades and repairs must be implemented to maximize usage and hold their value. Doing so will also extend their lifespan, which ultimately reduces your organization’s overhead costs and effectively mitigates technology-related risks.
Retirement
As we’ve said, assets have a finite lifespan. By this stage, an IT property has reached its endpoint, and any upgrade form is no longer feasible. When maintenance and repairs happen more frequently and the organization spends more than it needs, depreciation and retirement are underway. Retiring an asset can also be done once the organization finds better alternatives on the market. Aside from disposing of old and obsolete assets, this stage of the lifecycle also involves updating existing asset information, terminating license agreements and transitioning to new IT assets.
8 IT Asset Management Best Practices
Let us now delve into the top IT asset management best practices:
1. Building an Appropriate IT Inventory Database
A comprehensive IT asset management system is essential for staying on top of all the components in your IT infrastructure. With this tool, you'll get a breakdown listing each piece that makes up your organization's technology – from hardware to software — and also gain insights into how everything works and interacts.
These solutions have built-in integrations, allowing them to work with every central business platform so that every detail within an entity is noticed and managed. It can even come preloaded with its agent designed to collect data across networks when gathering information about specific devices.
2. Adopting a Lifecycle-Based Approach
IT asset management involves everything from acquiring an item to its eventual retirement. Careful tracking at every stage can prolong an asset's life and provide a wealth of data on how it was utilized, allowing for more intelligent decisions when buying new items.
With proactive maintenance techniques and proper disposal methods, you'll be able to maximize returns - making your team's financial commitments worthwhile! Implementing best practices for inventory control will ensure that all asset investment is managed correctly.
3. Integrating ITAM with Other Software Tools
Your ITAM software, working alongside other components of your infrastructure, can positively impact various business processes. It makes perfect sense to integrate the two - imagine if all that data was accessible in one real-time resource.
With this connection, management systems like CMDBs and service desks could be significantly boosted while incident response protocols become more efficient than ever before.
4. Conducting Internal Audits
A rise in the use of remote and hybrid work environments has made organizations heavily dependent on IT more prone to external audits. An IT Asset Management (ITAM) solution can be a lifeline for these companies, allowing them to efficiently monitor their hardware assets and software licenses while providing insight into procurement processes - all necessary precautions when facing an audit from any vendor or governing body. Through careful tracking, businesses may avoid costly litigation and hefty fines by preventing issues before they become problems.
5. Automating IT Asset Management Processes
Streamline and secure your IT environment with automated notifications from an asset management system. Set alerts to ensure that critical processes don't go unnoticed, providing precision tracking and peace of mind regarding the status of all assets in your IT ecosystem. Identify opportunities for automation, like custody verifications or license renewals - enabling you to focus on more critical tasks.
6. Managing the ITAM Software Licenses
By using an ITAM tool to track the utilization of software licenses, you can improve your compliance and make efficient use of those costly investments. With up-to-date knowledge of software expiration dates as well as license type & quantity information, it's easier than ever to adjust seat numbers based on usage trends and quickly adapt when necessary.
As a result, the total cost of ownership decreases while providing real-time dashboards that measure important metrics like asset deployment details - all backed by advanced features such as scanning tools for comprehensive Software License Management. Implementing this efficiently in any organization ensures improved management processes with greater visibility over assets to maximize their value.
7. Encouraging Regular Reporting
ITAM tools provide powerful report templates that can be tailored to your organization's unique needs, allowing you to gain insight into trends like asset utilization and compliance. These reports are invaluable when setting long-term budgets or determining which purchases will bring the most value - keeping any discrepancies in check along the way.
8. Approach Maintenance and Servicing Proactively
Proactive approaches for ITAM can be beneficial for activities like servicing your hardware assets on time or managing software expiry and renewal. This reduces risks related to unexpected downtime and helps maintain IT compliance - all while getting the most out of an IT asset management tool. In other words, a standardized protocol makes achieving those goals much easier.
IT Asset Management Software Features to Look For
So, here is what IT asset management software must offer:
1. Real-time information
This is among the most crucial features of the software as it allows the organizational teams to access all the asset-related information.
This includes the current assets of the organization, their recent locations, the assets being utilized, and how.
Real-time information ensures that no data is lost or forgotten but is continuously tracked. It also helps manage daily tasks and operations and enhances the effectiveness of task planning and scheduling.
2. Alerts and Notifications
Ideal IT asset management software, should keep users in the loop and send notifications on every activity, keeping you informed and updated about the assets.
Users will be notified when the software license is expiring or when the assets need maintenance, as per the custom notification settings.
3. Asset Tracking
This is an essential but powerful feature of IT asset management software. It lets you know the precise details in real-time while also assisting in scheduling asset maintenance.
With an asset tracking system in place, every asset is on the radar, reducing the unnecessary need to buy assets.
You can also track maintenance records and find out if any asset requires more maintenance than usual so you can discard or sell it at your disposal value.
4. Check-in and Check-out
The software's check-in and check-out features help improve accuracy and reduce the time spent tracking the assets. The search option facility allows locating the assets by their name, vendor name, tag, employee name, etc.
This feature is more beneficial for businesses with a massive volume of assets as it allows checking in and out in a single transaction for multiple assets to multiple assignees.
The check-in and check-out feature gives accurate information about the assets, such as who is using them and when they will be available for other employees. The IT asset management software offers a user-centric approach to managing and granting access to assets.
5. Responsive Interface
A mobile-friendly interface of the software becomes crucial when managing physical assets such as large machines and equipment.
Users can put every minute detail about the assets directly during an inspection from their phones. The best IT asset management software can work smoothly with desktops, laptops, and tablets.
The mobile features empower users to use the software quickly, anywhere, and anytime.
6. Cloud-based Technology
The software should be cloud-based and reduce your dependence on the IT teams to install software, patches, and updates. Also, issues like PC crashes or clashes do not arise when the software is not on your server.
Additionally, the software will update with notifications when a new update or feature is launched. The cloud-based technology saves a lot of your expenses too.
7. Integration
The IT asset management software must integrate seamlessly with other systems and software. It should also be merged with different techniques for generating reports and results. The software enhances the productivity of the organization's employees.
Here is an example of software integration and its benefits. By putting an RFID tag on a vehicle, you can identify all vehicles that enter a parking area or particular premise. The software can be integrated with other software and automatically trigger the entryway to open once a vehicle is identified. The entry and exit leave log can also be updated for security reasons.
Examples of IT Asset Management Software
By now, we’ve established that asset management is a data-driven set of actions. Needless to say, manually doing so would be such a huge stretch!
For modern business entities, IT asset management technology is the key to enabling such operational processes and further eliminating the cost of manual labor. Automation can effectively help with capturing, managing, cataloging, analyzing and reporting on relevant IT asset data.
Luckily, there is a slew of applications armed with IT services that aid organizations in facilitating the entire ITAM process. And these tools are becoming more and more popular.
As a matter of fact, the global market for fixed asset management software is projected to reach $5 billion in 2024.
Here are some great examples of tools that companies use today to effectively and practically support the various asset management processes:
Ivanti
Ivanti is a feature-rich asset management program designed to track problematic devices and protect them from further decay. The program is loaded with sufficient tools for accurately tracking and efficiently managing IT assets through their complete lifecycle.
Its key functions include asset discovery, software agreement compliance, license management and financial management. It’s also great for businesses who want to bank on detailed reporting to highlight key data points.
ManageEngine AssetExplorer
AssetExplorer is an online IT asset management software that helps you track and control all your technology properties. Much like Ivanti, it handles the process through the entire lifecycle from purchase to retirement.
Its multi-source asset discovery automatically locates all your assets and keeps them in a central database.
It also has a built-in software asset management module where you can instantly monitor app usage and maintain software licensing compliance.
Asset Panda
Asset Panda brings inventory and asset management under one roof. It has the power to manage your IT assets from multiple locations and keep things in order. With scalable features, it’s great for small businesses and enterprises alike.
If you also plan to do digital asset management, Asset Panda offers the ability to add documents, photos and videos to your asset data files. Built-in customizable reports can also help you easily highlight key ITAM data.
Asset Panda’s mobile app also makes it easy to add extra assets on the fly. It’s also loaded with convenient features such as mobile reports, mobile auditing and GPS tracking. And the icing on the cake is it fully integrates with the web app.
Atera
Atera is a cloud-based IT asset management program that offers a well-rounded solution for IT organizations, departments and consultants. The best part? With affordable subscriptions, users can track, maintain and control an unlimited amount of inventory.
In addition, Atera’s Network Discovery feature automatically identifies inactive and unmanaged IT assets.
GoCodes
GoCodes is a web-hosted asset and inventory management program that’s good with handling any physical asset. Like the name suggests, it simply tracks assets through the use of QR codes, providing easier ITAM processing using any mobile or computer device.
With a single barcode sticker, it can display the asset type, serial number, and even the person who is assigned to a particular asset. Its mapping feature also lets managers easily track the asset location.
IT Asset Management FAQs
Here are the answers to the most common questions about IT asset management:
What Are the Three Main Deliverables of It Asset Management?
The three main deliverables of IT asset management are:
- Managing the efficient delivery of IT services
- Managing IT acquisition and contracts
- Managing security, maintenance, and configuration of assets
What Should Be Included in It Asset Management?
The IT asset management (ITAM) process includes asset identification, tracking, and maintenance of the IT assets according to their lifecycle stage.
Wrapping Up IT Asset Management
To round up our discussion, IT Asset Management is all about paying enough attention to your technology properties for optimized growth and development.
Proper planning, usage, and eventual disposal of all IT assets will help your organization save time and money, increase productivity and keep all potential risks at bay.
