What is IT Asset Management? Everything you need to know in 2024
It might be hardware, it might be software, or it might even be entire systems - here's how to ensure they're managed properly.
Published on 26th February 2024
IT Asset Management (ITAM) is the process of accounting for the location and condition of all business assets. The goal is to optimize asset use, so that all asset lifecycles are as long as possible and the company saves the most resources.
IT assets might be physical laptops and office chairs, or they might be intangible things like software licenses. Whatever the case, your business will need to have a plan in place in order to ensure that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. For better security, efficiency, and long-term success, you need an IT asset management process.
What types of IT asset management are right for you? What is asset tracking and how can it help your operation? And how can you get the process started? We’ll answer all those questions and more.
In this guide
- What Is IT Asset Management?
- IT Asset Management Process
- 4 Types of ITAM
- Why Is IT Asset Management Important?
- Benefits of IT Asset Management
- IT Asset Management Software
- Next Steps: How to Start IT Asset Management
What Is IT Asset Management? (ITAM)
Information Technology asset management — sometimes shortened to “ITAM” — refers to a process for managing everything that a company owns, from software to hardware.
IT asset management is an essential element of most businesses, and any medium or large operation should have a dedicated IT asset manager on the team. These manager should work to increase asset lifecycles with both preventative and corrective maintenance, as well as tracking all asset locations at all times.
What is an IT Asset?
IT assets can be broken down into two categories: Tangible hardware (from staplers to heavy-duty vehicles) and intangible information (software, paperwork, or IP). Even the processes and systems that a business uses to operate can be considered intangible assets, which ironically makes an IT asset management plan itself an IT asset.
Example of the most common tangible IT hardware include laptops, desktops, displays, headphones, keyboards, adaptors, desks, chairs, light fixtures, speakers, scanners, printers, and video conferencing systems. Examples of common intangible IT assets include business software, subscriptions, deeds, product warranties, licenses, and intellectual property.
How Does IT Asset Management Work?
All IT assets should be tracked and regularly audited. Some assets may be used or moved frequently. For example, a laptop might be signed out to one employee for a day or a week, before being returned and signed out by a different employee. The same might be true for an intangible software license.
Not all assets are moved, but the condition of all assets must be regularly audited. A light fixure is unlikely to ever be moved once it’s installed, but its condition can easily change if a bulb burns out. IT asset tracking and auditing can reveal issues early, allowing for maintance that can keep normal operations running smoothly.
IT Asset Management Process
IT asset management isn’t a single task. It’s an ongoing process that you’ll need to continue fine-tuning across the entire course of your business journey. Treat it like a marathon, not a sprint.
A business’s exact IT asset management plan will vary, depending on the assets used and the size of the operation. However, some general principles can help guide you through the process of instating and evolving your own plan.
Document your current setup
From the first day it launches, every business is already “managing” its assets. Without a plan, however, you’re likely managing them poorly. The first step to improvement is logging all your current assets’ locations and conditions. Try putting together a single spreadsheet listing of your assets, so that you’ll have a primary guide to refer to. You should also document your current approach to tracking your assets, even if it’s just through word-of-mouth.
Determine your asset groups
Group your assets by type. Laptops and chargers might be one group, while IP and deeds will be another. You’ll be treating these assets differently: Laptops will likely be checked out by employees for one-time or ongoing use, while your property license simply needs to be kept in a safe location. By grouping them, tracking and assessing them will become easier in the future.
Determine your asset needs
Assign employee roles
Once you know which employees will need which assets, you can create certain roles to put them in. Perhaps the writers at a marketing firm will need access to the standard laptops, while the design team will need higher end laptops with Adobe Creative Suite licenses.
Remain open to collaboration
Don’t silo all asset management concerns with a single manager or team. Every employee may not need to use every single asset, but they should all have an understanding of how the management process works, so that they’ll know their part within the system. To encourage collaboration, make your documentation available to anyone at your company.
Best Practices for IT Asset Management
IT asset management is just one part of a broader web of business management practices that will help you make the most of your assets. Here are the related practices that you should weave into your process.
- Conduct regular audits: Asset inventory audits can verify the existing data you hold on your assets.
- Invest in asset lifecycle management: Your process for optimizing an asset's lifespan should cover the four stages of planning, acquiring, operating and maintaining, and disposing.
- Establish training days: Consider doing a quick all-hands training session once a year, so that all employees are reminded of their role in the asset mangement process. Alternatively, this training could be a part of an onboarding process.
- Explore ways to reduce asset downtime: Once you have a management plan in operation, one of the best ways to further optimize it is to looking into keeping assets in use as much as possible, since this increases revenues.
4 Types of ITAM
How do you group the assets you’re managing? In today’s internet-reliant world, we’ve moved beyond just hardware and software. Here are the four general categories of asset management to consider.
Hardware and software asset management
This approach handles common IT assets like laptops and the applications on them, and extends to servers, chargers, and other frequently used tech tools. It might even encompass entire workstations.
Digital asset management
Digital assets might include licenses and any other owned digital information tracked with administrative metadata, including images, video, and web pages. These can be managed through software tools.
Cloud asset management
Many IT operations depend on cloud service providers — typically Amazon, Google, or Microsoft — to host their systems. These cloud services must be managed with dedicated programs, and may require an employee familar with cloud software.
Fixed asset management
Why Is IT Asset Management Important?
IT asset management is the skeleton of a business: It provides the structure that all your daily operations depend on to stay in working order.
Without the right management, assets will become lost, and you may find yourself buying too many of one type of asset while running out of another type of asset. Every time you mismanage an asset, you’ll lose out on potential revenues.
You’ll also need to know the condition of all your assets at all times. Keeping old IT assets around too long opens your operation up to data breaches or other cybersecurity concerns. The cyberattack industry regularly costs businesses over a billion per year collectively, with individual businesses losing over $100,000 a year according to one 2023 study.
Benefits of IT Asset Management
Steady workflow
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of reliable, efficient work for a business: Any unexpected work blockages will inevitably push revenues down. Keeping assets well functioning is key to ensuring that a business is operating at peak capacity. As a result, IT asset management plans are essential to nearly any business.
Costs saved
IT asset management also saves money that would otherwise go towards replacing or repairing assets. Without a management system, assets can and will be lost, stolen, or treated poorly, all of which will cut their lifespan prematurely short. Asset tracking costs money, but it will ultimately save you a lot more money.
Regulatory compliance
Any business must follow local, state, and federal regulation. This comes in many forms, from tax filing procedures to real estate compliance. The information you’ll have on hand thanks to a good IT asset management plan will help you maintain data compliance, HR compliance, health and safety, and more.
Improved security
Increased visibility of your assets will naturally deter theft or misuse. In the case of powered assets, from computers to vehicles, you may even be able to track out-of-hours use. That increased visibility also applies to cybersecurity concerns, since you’ll be able to keep tabs on company information that might otherwise to stolen in phishing or ransomware attacks.
Centralized operations
Scalability
Your business growth will require ever-increasing amounts of assets. Without a plan to track each one, you’ll likely see an increasing in misplaced assets or problems with accidentally ordering too many or too few.
IT Asset Management Software
Using a dedicated IT asset management software will give you access to a range of useful features. The best asset tracking companies will offer these functions and you should also look for them when considering if free asset tracking software solutions are robust enough for your business needs.
- Asset checkout process: Employees can request the IT assets they need with a request ticket, allowing for a streamlined system in which all assets are always accounted for.
- Alerts: The software's automated alerts will help managers stay on top of regular checkups.
- Access controls: These role-based permissions will ensure that every team member will only have access to the assets and features that they need to use. This avoids confusion and increases data security.
- Reporting and analysis: Once the data is gathered, you need to analyze it, and asset tracking software is built to auto-populate the exact types of reports you're likely to need.
- Data visualizations: Charts and graphs can be easily created with software and populated with the relevant propriatary information on your assets, helping insights jump out.
Next Steps: How to Start IT Asset Management
Every industry and business has different IT asset management needs. To figure out yours, start by documenting all your current processes, grouping all your assets by type, and determining what asset needs each of your employees has.
Once you have a plan in place, don’t sit on your laurels. Keep auditing your assets, and figure out a regular maintenance plan for any assets that might otherwise break down. Corrective maintenance is good, but preventative maintenance is better.
