Every IT department faces a similar challenge when planning and procuring IT assets. IT assets must be tracked and maintained throughout their lifecycle. To stay organized and optimize IT spending decisions, there is a plethora of information that must be recorded and monitored. Everything from date of purchase and relevant contracts to IT asset owner(s) and device servicings must be recorded, and the information made accessible to those who need it. But what is IT Asset Management and how can a company maximize their IT Asset Management value?
In this article, we’ll provide a zipped guide on what IT Asset Management is, why it’s important, and how you can optimize your company’s IT assets with USU’s versatile ITAM software solution.
What is IT Asset Management
Information Technology Asset Management (ITAM) is the process of planning, procuring, and maintaining all types of technology assets, including physical and virtual assets, throughout their lifecycle. IT asset management is not a one-time project, it is an ongoing process that serves to organize IT asset inventory, optimize asset usage, and provide the documentation and data needed to make informed financial decisions.
IT Asset Management is closely related to IT Service Management (ITSM). However, ITAM and ITSM each focus on a different area of management. ITAM primarily involves managing the financial aspects of an asset, including total cost, ownership, contracts, and warranty information. ITSM, on the other hand, manages the operational and support aspect of an IT asset. IT Asset Management and IT Service Management work hand-in-hand, therefore it’s important for a company to choose an ITAM solution that is compatible with the company’s ITSM solution.
IT Asset Management is a process that can be systematically executed. To ultimately achieve the company’s objectives, it’s important to have a thorough understanding of the different stages of an asset’s life cycle and maintain asset records. There are five stages in an asset’s life cycle; the naming of each stage and exact breakdown of an IT asset’s life cycle vary slightly, however, the cycle can be divided into five principle stages: planning, procurement, deployment, maintenance, and decommission/removal.
IT Asset Management also involves phases of critical financial planning, benefit analysis, and deployment analysis. Purchasing and deploying an asset requires thorough documentation, maintenance of records, contracts, and vendor relationships.
What are IT Assets?
Every IT department has an asset inventory that requires consistent maintenance. This inventory consists of both physical devices such as computers and other tangible devices and virtual assets such as software licenses, contracts, and software applications. These include both tangible and intangible assets. Some examples include:
| Tangible/Physical Assets: | Intangible/Virtual Assets: |
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IT assets can be separated into 2 categories with subcategories and managed individually according to their attributes and purposes:
Hardware Asset Management:
Hardware Asset Management tracks and maintains physical IT assets, such as laptops, servers, workstations, endpoint devices, etc.
- Fixed Asset Management: Fixed Asset Management tracks and maintains physical assets used within an IT office, such as network cabinets, cables, desks, server room equipment (such as AC units), etc.
Software Asset Management:
Software Asset Management encompasses the management of all software assets, including licenses and applications used within the IT infrastructure.
- Cloud Asset Management: Cloud Asset Management tracks and monitors cloud usage, license ownership, inventory, and spending. This subset of Software Asset Management only manages the assets received from cloud service providers.
- Digital Assets Management: Digital Asset Management tracks and maintains all digital content or files owned by an organization. Some examples of digital assets include: documents, images, video files, metadata, presentations, etc. Digital assets are intangible, right-to-use assets.
Life Cycle
IT assets have a kind of life cycle. This life cycle is comprised of five key stages:1. Planning
The planning stage is a strategic phase involving important financial planning, benefit analysis, procurement and deployment phases, and finally decision-making about asset purchases.2. Procurement
Asset procurement may involve purchasing the asset, signing a licensing agreement, or even building the asset. This stage also involves the process of cataloging all asset information into an asset register or ITAM software platform.3. Deployment
Deployment involves the configuration, implementation, and assignment of asset ownership and permission rights.4. Maintenance
The maintenance phase involves tracking asset ownership, recording device servicings, ensuring licensing compliance, monitoring license renewals and software upgrades.5. Decommission
The decommission stage of the asset lifecycle is also known as the retirement or removal phase. Assets that are, for example, outdated, broken, or dysfunctional must be removed and usually require a replacement.Why ITAM
IT Asset Management is more than just a process. Rather, it is a set of procedures to improve a company’s technology asset management system and reduce or eliminate overspending. The business value of an ITAM system is largely dependent on a company’s record-keeping and reporting capabilities. Some notable benefits of ITAM include:
- Improve spending & inventory decisions
- Establish ITAM policies that optimize asset maintenance
- ITAM value is better spending decisions and asset management
- Maximize productivity and usage
- Avoid “Shadow IT” from unmonitored license purchasing and usage
- Manage IT costs and asset usage in real-time
- Increase IT ROI
With an IT Asset Management system in place, companies can control their IT asset inventory with automated tracking and reporting tools. Furthermore, an organized IT asset register makes risk management easier, helps streamline IT operations, and reduces overspending on IT assets. ITAM reporting capabilities also improve visibility, enhance productivity, and provide the information needed to achieve the IT department’s objectives.
ITAM Technology
ITAM technologies are tools or software solutions designed to improve the process of tracking and maintaining an IT asset throughout its life cycle, as well as optimizing usage and reducing spending.
The business value of an ITAM system can be gained largely from a company’s record-keeping and reporting capabilities. A company’s IT Asset Management value can be realized by utilizing the information collected from ITAM software to optimize current IT assets and strategically plan and execute future asset procurement and deployment.
Having an efficient IT Asset Management platform where all asset information is centralized and accessible to relevant individuals is a key component to driving success within the IT infrastructure and maintaining a budget. By optimizing the IT asset data management process, companies can more effectively record and monitor both physical and virtual IT assets, forecast IT spending, run internal IT asset audits, and consequently reduce overall IT spending.
An ITAM software asset management solution should include several basic functions to keep your IT assets organized, maintain compliance, and optimize security. Some of these functions include spending reports, license usage reports, asset ownership tracking, inventory tracking, configuration management tools, auditing capabilities, and more.
How does ITAM work?
IT Asset Management is a process to track and monitor ITAM inventory, including tracking ownership of each IT asset, where it’s located, any servicings an asset has received, and relevant contracts or warranties related to the asset.
The IT Asset Management process is based on the ‘Four Dimensions Model’ defined by ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library - a set of industry standard IT principles and best practices):
- Organizations & People: The first dimension, Organizations & People, outlines the need for allocating roles and responsibilities within an organization. For ITAM, this includes assigning certain asset management responsibilities, such as asset register maintenance or IT asset compliance, to certain asset managers.
- Information & Technology: The second dimension, Information & Technology, refers to the reliance on technology solutions to optimize workflows and expense management. Manual record keeping is no longer as reliable or expedient as software and hardware asset management tools that can automate these processes and improve visibility with real-time reporting.
- Partners & Suppliers: The third dimension, Partners & Suppliers, defines the relationship between an organization’s IT department and third-party vendors or suppliers. Most virtual IT assets, such as software application licenses and cloud licenses, are provided through third-party vendors and suppliers. This dimension provides a set of guidelines to record all details including purchase date, contracts, warranties, renewal dates, etc.
- Value Streams & Processes: The fourth dimension, Value Streams & Processes, touches on the relationship between ITAM processes and IT Service Management (ITSM) as a whole. This includes the collaboration between the IT Asset Management and IT Service Management teams to improve IT services across the department.
IT Asset Management also requires the establishment of ITAM policies. ITAM policies are guidelines that help ensure the proper documentation and handling of IT assets. Some of the purposes of IT Asset Management policies coincide directly with each stage of the asset life cycle. Some of the most important elements of ITAM policy include the governance of:
- Cataloging assets
- Asset acquisition
- Asset deployment
- Maintenance & upgrades
- Functionality monitoring
- IT financial management
- Asset ownership
- Asset removal
- Record keeping
A clearly defined ITAM policy provides more than just a set of spending and usage guidelines, it can also help improve the optimization of IT asset spending, utilization, risk management, compliance, strategic decision-making, and vendor information management.
Conclusion
IT Asset Management is an indispensable IT function. With the right technology solution, your company can better maintain IT asset information, track an asset’s life cycle, and optimize IT spending. Certain areas of business are common troublemakers when it comes to overspending. One of those areas is the IT department. Without a strong and organized management system in place, overspending on IT assets such as software subscriptions and cloud licenses will frequently go unnoticed and develop into the bleeding heart of an IT department’s budget.
With an ITAM solution, such as USU’s IT Asset Management software, you can make your life a little easier and structure your IT Asset Management workflow with a multifaceted and customizable solution. Integrating our IT Asset Management software into your IT workflow is like a breath of fresh air. Our software delivers a variety of features and functions that can be uniquely configured to meet your business needs and effectively monitor, track, report, and audit all of your IT assets.
Interested in knowing more about our IT Asset Management solution? Contact us here.
FAQ
What is the meaning of ITAM?
ITAM is an acronym for IT Asset Management. IT Asset Management is a system of planning, procuring, cataloging, and maintaining both tangible and intangible IT assets. ITAM utilizes software solutions and tools to automate this process and organize collected information into a single repository.
By implementing an IT Asset Management process, companies can optimize their IT asset usage and spending by improving visibility, optimizing asset usage, such as cloud license usage, and eliminating overspending on unnecessary assets.
What is the ITAM responsible for?
IT Asset Management is responsible for recording asset inventory, contracts, and warranties, assigning permission rights and asset ownership, as well as maintaining compliance, security, and optimizing usage.
As a company scales up, tracking all the details surrounding their IT assets can become incredibly complex and disorganized, leading to unmonitored usage and spending. ITAM organizes asset information and automates record keeping and maintenance procedures with software and tools designed for IT Asset Management.
What are ITAM best practices?
IT Asset Management processes vary between organizations based on specific business needs; however, there are some fundamental best practices that every ITAM workflow should include:
- Establish ITAM policies that outline procedures to effectively manage IT assets
- Track IT assets based on each stage of the asset life cycle
- Automate your ITAM workflow with an ITAM software solution
- Track and record asset purchases, contracts, and warranty information
- Conduct internal audits to ensure security and compliance