What is IT Asset Management?
In today’s ever changing technological landscape, it can be tough to keep up, especially as a large-scale business. How can you determine which new software, hardware, or best practices are worth the investment and which are not? Do you know the value of the assets that the company already owns? These are all common questions to consider when evaluating your IT department.
IT asset management (ITAM) is an ongoing process during which you take stock of specific assets owned by the company including software, hardware, and information. With this knowledge, you can determine a strategy to utilize your available resources to meet predetermined business goals. The IT sector of any business is inherently valuable because of tech’s role in the business landscape. The purpose of IT asset management is to ensure that your IT assets are bolstering the business and reducing risks.
However, ITAM isn’t merely a one time project. It is an important process that should be addressed regularly. Using IT asset management software, you can easily track metrics associated with IT and use this information to strategize.
ITAM Best Practices
Create an IT Assets Inventory
Assessing your IT department is the first step towards a solid ITAM process. Analyze and record your assets to create an organized inventory. Consider all aspects of IT including data centers, computers, cloud assets, and networks to create a big-picture understanding of your available resources. With IT asset management software, you can easily track your current inventory and add new products or information as they are acquired.
Prioritize Your Inventory
Once the inventory has been created, it’s time to consider the level of importance. Not every piece of IT equipment or information is a top priority, so it’s critical to understand which aspects of the department are most vital to generating revenue and reducing risk. This practice may also help to identify areas of your IT department that have become obsolete and are unnecessary, allowing you to cut out expensive assets that are not benefitting the business. Every business is different. Your most important assets might be particular softwares or hardware. It may be information or an IT process. Prioritize your inventory before moving forward.
Track the Right Metrics Continually
IT asset management should be a constant part of your IT department. This isn’t a one time project. You should be monitoring company IT assets on a regular basis to ensure that the department is operating as effectively as possible. Prior to beginning the asset management process, you should have determined a few objectives such as reducing IT overhead or implementing a different process for reviewing compliance standards. From these goals, you should also determine which metrics are most important to meet these objectives. Review the metrics using IT asset management software and set up continual tracking to keep your business on course.
Implement Necessary Solutions
Getting a broad view of your company’s IT assets will help to highlight areas of the department that may be better suited for automation or outsourcing. Updating processes that maintain PCI compliance standards is vital to protecting your customers and avoiding expensive violation fines.However, when doing this manually, there’s a higher chance of human risk. Automating an area like this can reduce risk and cost as it’s less expensive to automate than have an employee oversee the process. You may also identify areas where outsourcing would be more effective and provide in-house employees with greater opportunities to focus on the core business.
Understand that Change is Constant
Because the technology world changes and advances so quickly, your business needs to be prepared to act. Think of IT asset management as a proactive solution rather than reactive. Putting this process in place should be a permanent part of your strategy to keep your company prepared for changes by adding essential assets and regularly tracking the appropriate metrics.
Benefits of ITAM
IT asset management is a vital process for any enterprise as it evaluates the most critical areas of your IT function to help cut costs, improve compliance, and identify areas suited for automation or outsourcing. Using IT asset management software is an easy way to continually track your most important metrics and goals, which you can use to adjust business strategies and adapt to the ever-changing tech industry. Nearshore Technology offers a range of managed services including ITAM to help your business run as efficiently as possible. Our team of experienced IT experts will provide insight into your IT processes and offer advice on maximizing your assets.