What is IT Asset Management (ITAM)? Meaning, tools and best practices
What is IT Asset Management (ITAM)? Meaning, tools and best practices
IT asset management involves acquiring, procuring, monitoring, optimizing, maintaining, and retiring software and hardware assets.
Published on 27th September 2023
- IT asset management or ITAM is defined as the process that involves the acquisition, procurement, monitoring, optimization, maintenance, and retirement of both software and hardware assets.
- ITAM is a crucial discipline if you want to extend the lifespan of technology resources and use them to their full potential. Cybersecurity, digital transformation, AI adoption, and business growth all hinge on an effective ITAM strategy.
- This article explains the meaning and process of ITAM. It also lists the top tools you can use for IT asset management and the best practices to help you get the most out of them.
What Is IT Asset Management (ITAM)?
IT asset management is a subset of IT operations management that deals with the acquisition, procurement, monitoring, optimization, maintenance, and retirement of both software and hardware assets. ITAM is a crucial discipline if you want to extend the lifespan of technology resources and use them to their full potential. Cybersecurity, digital transformation, AI adoption, and business growth all hinge on an effective ITAM strategy.
Typically, business expansion and IT advancement go hand in hand. More earnings and sales lead to requiring more employees, which subsequently demands additional desktops, servers, and larger networks.
Bigger organizations also prefer to bring more operations in-house, opting to save money by administering their own HR, accounting, or finance departments by licensing third-party software. As they hire more staff, additional IT personnel become the need of the hour.
If your business is expanding, it won’t be long before you need to set up an IT asset management policy. This would enable you to administer your software and hardware resources across their entire lifecycle. The goal is to minimize business interruptions, manage budgets, eliminate risks, and acquire an overview of how IT influences business outcomes.
Defining ITAM
IT asset management, or ITAM, is the practice of accounting for deploying, maintaining, upgrading, and/or discarding the organization’s technology assets. It strives to maximize the value of IT machinery within an organization by integrating financial, contractual, and inventory data to monitor the status of IT assets. Typically, these assets can be classified as either hardware or software.
What is an IT asset?
An information technology (IT) resource is any data, software, or hardware an organization uses to run its business. It can be of two types:
- Hardware assets: With a comprehensive IT infrastructure, organizations can own various computer hardware such as desktop computers, notebooks, controllers, peripheral assets, printers, and more. (ITAM monitors hardware ownership, usage, maintenance status, and renewal or disposal timeframes.
- Software assets: Most organizations license software assets according to the total number of users who will install the software. IT asset management allows organizations to monitor the current state of software licensing agreements, prepare for future licensing payments, and manage the number of active licenses. This ensures they receive the greatest value from every software license purchased.
IT assets have a limited lifespan. IT asset lifecycles can be proactively managed to maximize their value. Each organization may define the phases of this lifecycle differently; however, it usually involves planning, purchasing, implementation, and upkeep.
The application of processes across all lifecycle phases to figure out the total cost of ownership and optimize asset utilization is an essential component of IT asset management.
ITAM process
A typical IT asset management workflow involves the following steps:
- Asset planning: This involves determining the organization’s necessary assets, their intended use, and how to obtain them. While preparing for asset acquisition, organizations also consider competitive solutions and carry out cost-benefit or total cost of ownership (TCO) assessments of all potential options.
- IT procurement: Acquiring assets can involve buying (including software as a service or SaaS), building, licensing, or renting. These are added to the organization’s IT inventory, which may sometimes become complicated as different departments raise several purchase requirements.
- Implementation: Deployment of an asset can involve setup, incorporation with other tools, user access, and technical assistance. A company can partner with an external systems integrator (SI) to complete this step.
- Continuous asset identification: This generates a comprehensive list of all IT assets. It facilitates simple identification and optimizes redundant assets for greater efficiency. The identification process runs continuously to discover any new asset the organization acquires.
- Asset tracking: IT assets are regularly monitored by ITAM tools. Data collected for asset monitoring consists of, amongst other things: financial data such as asset costs, contractual data such as licenses, warranties, etc. and inventory data, which is the condition and location of physical assets.
- Asset maintenance: The maintenance of IT assets depends on their lifecycle stage. Upkeep includes repair, upgrades, and replacement of assets. As part of the ITAM process, all maintenance activities are documented so that the information can be used to evaluate performance. This will increase their lifespan, decrease costs, and mitigate hazards.
- Asset retirement: When the frequency of maintenance increases, an IT asset hits the endpoint of its lifecycle. At this point, the organization would be investing more in it than the asset generates in value. A company might also decide to let go of an asset if superior alternatives are available. Retiring assets include disposal, asset data updates, support termination, and license agreements. Importantly, it also involves planning the transition to new assets.
Key features of IT asset management
IT asset management is an area of expertise founded on accumulating and evaluating data. While these used to be paper records and then spreadsheets or tables, modern ITAM systems enable a host of useful features and capabilities.
1. Hardware and software monitoring/tracking
IT asset management relies on an integrated data monitoring system. The inventory monitoring feature of ITAM programs stretches beyond a basic catalogue of readily accessible assets. It consists of specific hardware and software standards for improved decision-making. This feature enables visibility into details such as the asset’s date of purchase, CPU and GPU speed, memory, available disk space, network IP address, and other parameters.
As part of tracking, most IT asset management systems instantly identify all hardware and software stationed within a company’s computer network.
2. License and SLA management
ITAM software maintains licenses for IT assets. These are then cross-referenced against the appropriate inventory data. As such, ITAM notifies the company if an asset is unlicensed, in danger of violating a license agreement, or is over-licensed (procuring software that it under-uses or never uses). The system can also monitor license agreement expiration dates and alert the company accordingly.
3. IT asset use data analysis
ITAM can help evaluate software installations and analyze software usage numbers. This aids in reducing the expenses associated with inactive software licenses. For example, using data analytics dashboards, ITAM would notify you if your organization has purchased 15 licenses but only runs the application ten times. This would reveal any cost savings possibilities that are available to the organization.
4. Procurement request management
A few ITAM software allow businesses to establish asset request workflows and monitor every request for an IT asset. They assess these assets’ license prerequisites and supervise their purchase and implementation.
5. Integration with procurement and purchasing functions
Several organizations monitor IT purchases via a procurement system and IT inventory via another system, and a link between these two platforms can often be missing. Integrating the two is fast becoming a common feature with modern ITAM. This enables organizations to precisely evaluate their inventory and predict future requirements through the same interface.
IT asset administrators can plan new purchases based on equipment that is nearing the close of its shelf life. They can analyze financial data in conjunction with IT inventory utilization data to figure out the best strategy for the disposal of assets.
Optionally, ITAM includes features to manage digital assets. This digital asset management (DAM) capability is necessary to administer digital rights and rich media (multimedia content such as videos, audio, and images/photographs).
Importance of ITAM
Historically, IT departments could manage the assets that resided within their area of expertise. Nowadays, the asset management practices of companies extend well beyond this ambit to equipment and software that do not carry any official IT authorization.
Asset management challenges also arise from subscription-based software or staff requests for tool customization. As other teams or divisions embrace cutting-edge technologies, asset management becomes vital for an increasing number of departments. Organizations can use ITAM software to manage anything from car leases to insurance policies.
ITAM is a crucial discipline for organizations because it:
- Enables a single source of truth: Managing assets monitored in multiple locations is difficult. A pattern of inaccuracy and disorder could lead to inefficiencies and flawed decision-making. ITAM enables organizations to assess everything that needs to be monitored in one centralized location. This includes the assets that must be disposed of, upgraded, or optimized for maximum productivity.
- Minimizes waste: By adopting an ITAM process, an organization acquires real-time data on the condition of all its assets and can make informed decisions on asset utilization. Consequently, teams would minimize waste and boost efficiency. It also saves resources by avoiding needless purchases and reducing licensing or support expenses.
- Ensures compliance: Companies that lease third-party software are often subject to software audits. This ensures conformity with the license terms and conditions. Failure to comply with the contracts could result in hefty penalties. ITAM ensures adherence to applicable license agreements to avoid such losses.
- Supports ITSM: IT asset management is essential to enable IT service management (ITSM) processes such as change and incident management. With the right data, teams can move quickly and foresee the impacts of changes well in advance.
Choosing the best ITAM tool
Remember the following parameters when selecting the best IT asset management (ITAM) solution for your needs.
- The why: Why are you purchasing an ITAM solution? It is a significant investment. A company must clearly understand the goals it expects to achieve when implementing digital asset management. Senior leadership should meet with all relevant IT sub-departments to solicit their input, if feasible.
- The how: How do you plan to afford, budget for, and reap value from ITAM? The next phase is to compare costs against the budget. Understanding what is included and what isn’t in each of the tools under consideration would prove beneficial. Consider looking at a free trial period ahead of a purchase decision.
- The who: Who will provide technical support when needed? This assistance can consist of a self-service system, a virtual network of consumers, in-app or online chat with a bot, telephonic support, or social media exchanges with a customer service assistant. The best ITAM tools will have a 24×7 support team, given the thousands of dollars you will spend on this annually.
- What else: What else do you need to know about the platform that is not immediately apparent? An organization can make an informed decision by examining feedback submitted by current or former software product users on third-party websites (e.g., app stores or software ranking agencies).
ITAM Best Practices
Now that you’re familiar with the meaning and workings of IT asset management and some of the best ITAM tools available, let’s look at the best ITAM practices you should follow. These tips will help you improve ITAM to get the most out of your assets.
1. Assign an ITAM owner when implementing it for the first time
Identify and recruit an executive who will advocate for ITAM actively and visibly. Without this, most ITAM projects fail or are discontinued as priorities and budgets shift. An advocate can also help promote the value that ITAM provides. Dialogue with management and appreciation of ITAM’s value will guarantee the project’s continued funding, which is important since this is a major investment.
2. Consider using CMDB
A configuration management database (CMDB) is a centralized database containing information about an organization’s IT assets and their connections with one another. It is not required for all organizations, but managing configurable items (Cis) such as IT assets and standardizing data from multiple sources can be beneficial.
3. Automate ITAM wherever you can
Since IT asset management involves many repetitive and routine tasks, automation will enhance your ITAM initiatives. Automation can be done for scheduled periodic inspections and automatic alerts. From patching and app deployment to reporting, plenty of opportunities are available to set it up and let ITAM automation manage the rest.
4. Adopt an asset prioritization system
With so many IT assets spread across a company, it can be hard to prioritize maintenance. Some assets may be used by a single individual, whereas others may be indispensable to the organization’s operations. Rank your IT assets based on their significance. Doing this will allow you to make smarter decisions on whether multiple devices concurrently require maintenance.
5. Always be proactive with asset maintenance
Once all the policies have been standardized, ITAM can be implemented as a proactive and not reactive system. For instance, scheduling the maintenance of hardware assets ahead of time will mitigate the risk of unscheduled outages. For software, timely reminders about expiration or renewal will aid your compliance needs.
Takeaway
IT asset management simplifies the use of technology assets and maximizes the returns on investments. It is essential for organizations looking to pursue digital transformation, adopt new technologies, or empower employees with new tools. As the discipline of information technology evolves, the definition of ITAM is fast-evolving to encompass non-traditional IT systems such as enterprise data management (EDM) and content management systems (CMS).
