Definition of IT Asset Management
Thanks to the sudden switch to WFH (amongst other factors), businesses are rapidly adopting digital transformation as their new normal. But this rapid growth doesn’t need to be stressful.
Efficient IT asset management comes with proper planning and processes that enable businesses to stay on top of their assets. Within an asset management system, you can remotely influence the speed and delivery of IT services across your whole business.
IT asset management (or ITAM) involves managing and controlling all assets in an organization’s digital environment. The main goal of ITAM is to empower the IT asset value in your business.
“IT Assets” cover hardware, software, or another related tech within the digital environment.
What is an IT Asset Management Process?
An ITAM process consists of steps aimed at monitoring all IT assets, ensuring that they are functioning at their best, tracking permission levels, and monitoring their use within the organization.
Why is an IT Asset Management Process Important?
To ensure the security and visibility of all IT assets, ITAM provides structure. The lack of an ITAM process can impede workflows, turn assets into vulnerabilities, or cause inappropriate acquiring and disposal of IT assets. This can lead to unplanned expenses or downtime, affecting operations.
The implementation of a structured ITAM process imparts control and helps to streamline IT operations, manage risk, reduce unnecessary waste, cut down on costs, and improve visibility within the organization:
Take back control
An ITAM process’ overall objective is to gain control over any assets within an organization. Using ITAM software, you can track down all IT assets and monitor them over time. Apply these ITAM best practices to make sure you’re gaining other benefits from ITAM software:
Streamline IT operations
Multiple actions or services are carried out in your IT operations each day. An ITAM process ensures these actions are carried out in a seamless workflow, guaranteeing everything is completed.
Manage risk
Keeping track of your IT assets makes it easier to manage risk and mitigate against vulnerabilities. For example, assets that have reached the end of their lifespan or are no longer supported with patches can be a direct gateway for bad actors into an IT environment and should be actively managed and removed when possible.
Reduce costs
ITAM is a preventative measure you can take to decrease the amount of money you spend on maintaining a functional IT environment. Though carrying out your ITAM process will be an expense for your business, it will allow you to significantly reduce costs associated with fixing IT vulnerabilities or replacing IT assets later on.
Improve visibility
Beyond controlling, an ITAM process grants complete visibility into an organization’s IT assets from one central location. This prevents the need to manually track down new IT assets or update the asset inventory to reflect assets no longer being used in the business.
What is ITIL?
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of best practices and procedures for ITAM and ITSM. With ITIL, IT services are aligned with what businesses need in their IT environments.
ITIL certification is available for employees managing digital services within a business. The latest version of ITIL, ITIL 4, contains seven modules. These modules make up the five levels of ITIL 4 certification.
ITIL certifications are widely recognized badges of skill that many businesses seek to achieve. Mainly due to the confidence it instills in potential customers and employers.
Five essential tools for an ITAM Process
In ITAM, the software systematically manages and keeps track of your organization’s IT assets. ITAM software includes the following tools:
1) Procurement
Procurement for IT assets refers to obtaining IT assets within an organization. This ITAM tool helps the IT procurement process manage and organize any acquired assets.
2) Asset Discovery
Asset discovery continually discovers new assets within your IT environment. Using this feature, you can avoid manually tracking down new assets and help keep your asset inventory up-to-date.
3) Asset lifecycle tracking
Track your business’s assets throughout their IT lifecycle, ensuring top performance from start to finish. Monitoring your IT assets through their entire lifespan ensures you get the maximum value from your hardware or software. Helping you empower your ROI from within your IT environment.
4) Real-time information
ITAM software provides information about your current IT assets in real-time. It immediately notifies you if it detects a metric going past specified thresholds.
5) IT Asset Auditing and Reporting5
Auditing assets using ITAM software can help you spot any potential issues in your IT environment. Reports of the audit enable businesses to make quick and intelligent decisions to ensure business safety.
