An IT asset refers to any hardware, software, or information that holds value for organizations. Examples include laptops, desktops, office mobile phones, system databases, office software, and application licenses. Managing the lifecycle of these assets is vital as their value decreases over time. Hence, effective IT asset management is crucial to optimize their lifespan and ensure they meet the requirements of the business.
IT Asset Management Software takes a proactive approach in overseeing and controlling IT assets within a network. These software solutions meticulously monitor the lifecycle of assets within an organization.
They offer centralized management for both LAN and remote endpoints, allowing active oversight of hardware and software assets across the network, accessible from laptops or mobile devices.
ITAM software not only monitors digital assets but also mirrors the tracking of physical assets. Through asset scans, it facilitates the configuration of alerts that promptly signal any alterations detected within the hardware or software inventory.
It involves overseeing an IT device’s complete journey, starting from its setup to its eventual disposal. This thorough tracking guarantees the optimal use of assets and their timely replacement or retirement. Through vigilant monitoring of where assets are, their condition, and how they’re utilized, businesses can cut down on operational expenses.
This proactive method prevents needless spending, losses, thefts, and asset depreciation, resulting in cost savings. Additionally, streamlined IT asset tracking improves resource distribution and how efficiently assets are used.
IT Asset Management (ITAM) holds crucial importance for businesses for several reasons:
At DevTools, we bring in expertise to help your teams streamline the ITSM Implementation along with associated processes and teams. The ITAM brings visibility to your organization/team’s assets and resources, which, in a simple manner, keeps track of your valuable items.
We have Jira Service Management experts who will help you fast-track the adoption. Help your team’s productivity and efficiency grow with visibility with the right set of tools along with proper implementation.
IT Asset Management encompasses different categories:
In this initial phase, organizations devise a plan to identify required IT assets, their procurement methods, and the necessary funding. Typically, a cost-benefit assessment is conducted during this stage.
Organizations actively obtain assets during this phase through various means such as construction, purchase, leasing, or licensing.
Organizations introduce newly acquired assets into their IT framework in this stage. Tasks include installation, integration with other systems, establishment of operational procedures, and facilitating user accessibility.
Organizations proactively engage in maintenance, repairs, upgrades, and enhancements of assets while they are in use. The aim is to optimize user value, prolong asset life, mitigate risks, and curtail support expenses.
When an asset reaches the end of its lifecycle, organizations actively manage its disposal. Asset disposition involves transitioning users to alternate resources, updating asset records, terminating support agreements, and initiating plans for replacement assets.
The advantages of IT Asset Management (ITAM) lie in its ability to offer comprehensive insights into an organization’s IT resources. ITAM empowers IT leaders to demonstrate the return on investment (ROI) from these assets, showcasing how they directly contribute to the company’s business objectives.
A successful ITAM strategy acts as a bridge between technological needs and business goals, ensuring alignment across the organization. The benefits of employing ITAM tools encompass the following:
Establishing an effective ITAM strategy demands a comprehensive inventory covering various IT assets, such as data centers, software, hardware, mobile and cloud resources, networks, employee workstations, and other business technologies.
The primary objectives of ITAM include cost savings through precise asset tracking, better control over the IT environment, improved organization in managing the IT lifecycle, and reducing waste by managing asset disposal efficiently.
The International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers (IAITAM) highlights that implementing best practices in ITAM can lead to long-term benefits. These include cost reductions, improved software compliance, stronger IT security, better customer service, increased control over IT assets, streamlined inter-departmental communication, reduced governance risks, enhanced support for security and disaster recovery management, and more informed budgeting and strategic decision-making.
Utilize ITAM software to automatically detect and monitor hardware and software assets used within your organization. By actively managing asset acquisition and expenses, you can optimize their lifecycle through an integrated and automated solution that oversees their journey from procurement to retirement.
Utilize centralized data to comprehensively monitor and trace all organizational assets. This involves actively collecting and maintaining information related to asset expenses, licenses, warranties, locations, and conditions.
Leverage ITAM software to oversee and track both on-premise and cloud assets effectively. This empowers informed decision-making regarding asset procurement, utilization, and governance.
Make use of ITAM software to actively handle contracts and licenses, ensuring efficient planning for future renewals and optimizing SaaS license utilization. Proactively monitor usage and intelligently renew contracts to cut software costs, prepare for audits, reduce paperwork, and enhance compliance.
Implement an ITAM software solution to optimize software usage and automate processes for on-premise software and SaaS applications. By centralizing software management, you can efficiently monitor software expenses and enable informed business planning. Additionally, suitable ITAM software can prevent unauthorized software usage and deploy patches to address security and compliance risks.
Gain comprehensive insight into your SaaS landscape, identify redundant and underused applications, extract actionable insights, and automate optimization processes. Create a reliable reference point to prevent isolated SaaS subscriptions and ensure accurate usage insights for timely renewals.
Utilize suitable ITAM software to access a CMDB, serving as a comprehensive source of truth for your assets and their entire lifecycle. Leverage this database to improve service delivery and enhance asset governance. With a real-time infrastructure view, effectively manage assets, mitigate risks, and understand asset dependencies and connections in one dashboard.
The ISO 19770 family of standards, established by the International Standards Organization (ISO), serves as a comprehensive framework for IT Asset Management (ITAM). Updated in 2017, this collection consists of five main components, each outlining key principles and practices essential for effective ITAM. Let’s explore these five parts and their specific focuses.
This standard offers guidelines for effective IT Asset Management (ITAM) implementation in organizations. It presents a systematic approach to showcase ITAM compliance with industry standards, meet corporate governance needs, and align with IT service management activities.
This standard defines a data format for software identification tags (SWIDs), allowing organizations to accurately identify software installed on any device.
This standard establishes a set of guidelines for specifying the permissions and privileges linked to software, outlining the approach for assessing the utilization of licenses or entitlements.
This standard defines measurement criteria for standardized reporting of resource utilization, essential for managing complex data centre licenses and cloud-based software and hardware.
This standard offers a thorough summary of ISO-defined IT Asset Management (ITAM) standards and related terminology. It provides a consolidated understanding of the key concepts and vocabulary within the ITAM domain.
Effectively implementing IT Asset Management (ITAM) involves thorough planning and consideration of key factors, including:
Jira Service Management: IT asset management (ITAM) involves overseeing the entire lifecycle of an organization’s assets, including their proper accounting, deployment, maintenance, upgrades, and eventual disposal. Jira Service Management’s built-in tool for asset and configuration management, called Assets, enables teams to easily track various types of assets and configuration items (CIs) in a flexible and dynamic way. Assets also allow for the smooth linking of assets to service requests, incidents, problems, changes, and workloads.
In Jira Service Management Premium, Enterprise, and Data Centre plans, the Assets feature allows you to create a strong repository for assets or a configuration management database (CMDB) within the Jira Service Management ecosystem.
ITAM (IT Asset Management) focuses on tracking and managing an organization’s IT assets throughout their lifecycle, optimizing resource usage. On the other hand, ITSM (IT Service Management) is concerned with delivering and supporting IT services to meet business needs. While ITAM deals with asset optimization, ITSM emphasizes service delivery and support.
Implementing an IT Asset Management (ITAM) solution in an organization is crucial for efficient resource utilization, cost optimization, and compliance with licensing agreements. It helps track and manage IT assets throughout their lifecycle, ensuring better control, risk mitigation, and streamlined decision-making for enhanced overall IT governance.
The three main deliverables of IT Asset Management are efficient tracking and inventory management of IT assets, ensuring compliance with licensing and regulatory requirements, and optimizing resource utilization to enhance overall cost-effectiveness.
An IT asset inventory should include comprehensive details about hardware, software, and network components. This encompasses information such as device specifications, software licenses, and network configurations. Additionally, tracking purchase dates, warranties, and current locations is crucial for effective asset management.
ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) is a framework for IT service management, providing best practices for aligning IT services with business needs. ITAM (IT Asset Management) involves the tracking and optimization of an organization’s IT assets throughout their lifecycle, ensuring efficient and cost-effective use of resources.
The role of an IT asset manager involves overseeing and optimizing an organization’s IT assets throughout their lifecycle. This includes procurement, tracking, maintenance, and disposal to ensure efficient resource utilization and compliance. IT asset managers play a crucial role in cost management, risk mitigation, and maintaining an accurate inventory of technology resources.
