IT asset management is important for businesses of all sizes, considering the continuous growth in the number of connected devices. More than ever, companies are relying on hundreds or maybe thousands of devices to operate successfully on a day-to-day basis. The proper IT asset management (ITAM) can eliminate many tedious, time-consuming tasks required to manage every laptop, monitor, router, mobile device, software or printer your employees rely on.
IT Asset Management – What Is It and How Could It Help Your Business?
The International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM) defines ITAM as “a set of business practices that incorporates IT assets across the business units within the organization. It joins the financial, inventory, contractual and risk management responsibilities to manage the overall life cycle of these assets including tactical and strategic decision making”.
Across every organization type and size, ITAM delivers services to everyone in the organization to facilitate current and future business operations. The mission of the IT Asset Manager is to maximize benefits while minimizing risks from IT assets in the organization, according to the IAITAM white paper.
Wasted and unmanaged IT resources or inventory often results in limited visibility, painful compliance audits, unaccountability, and long fulfillment time or IT service delays. The customers for IT Asset Management are practically everyone in the organization. As a result, every department’s goals influence what ITAM does. An effective ITAM program unifies departments to work collectively towards organizational goals, while at the same time incorporating departmental goals. In short, an ITAM service helps a company remain compliant, it gives managers a bird’s-eye view of the general situation by consolidating everything in one place and increases efficiency, thus saving time and money.
Parameters to Be Kept in Mind Before Choosing the Right ITAM Solution for Your Business
Feature-rich software. One of the most important aspects when selecting the service is that the software should be in line with your goal. The right solution should offer everything, from basic features such as inventory management, auto asset discovery, CMDB, to advanced features such as vulnerability assessment. Identifying your company’s requirements and aligning them with the software’s functionalities is a crucial process.
Ease-of use. Asset management is itself a complex process and there is no need to complicate it even further. You should consider software that is easy to configure and use. A trial period is highly recommended, as the service will be used by different sets of people from various departments.
Flexibility and mobility. Ideally, simple and easy to use software is the way to go, but there’s also a feature you should be on the lookout for: mobile application. A mobile app means that employees can retrieve and update information on-the-go, thus eliminating the need to carry laptops on-site and offering the flexibility to scan and upload data easily.
Price. First of all, estimate the benefits in comparison to the amount that you pay in order to procure the software. Nowadays, there are a plethora of options available on the market, but keep in mind that the most expensive IT Asset Management Software is not always the best fit for your organization. Watch out for hidden costs.
A Short List of IT Asset Management Software to Consider in 2020
The purpose of an efficient IT asset management solution is to help manage assets, reduce costs, improve the visibility of assets, ensure optimum utilization of assets and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements in an effective manner. Discover below a shortlist of IT Asset Management Software to consider in 2020.
SolarWinds Service Desk
This complete service includes an expansive dashboard that aligns contracts and licenses to the assets they support, so you can easily monitor everything from a single location. Due to its risk detection capabilities, the asset management software notifies you when potential risks arise, and helps you take proactive steps to ensure all your software has been updated. SolarWinds Service Desk is an asset management IT software that puts automation and security at the helm.
Spiceworks IT Asset Management
Workstations, printers, phones, servers, routers and switches – if it’s on your network, Spiceworks ITAM will automatically find it, collect detailed info, and even categorize it all. Reporting is especially advanced with this platform, as any information the system collects can be turned into an eye-catching report. Moreover, the system can manage all your cloud services, from backup to hosted email to cloud servers.
ServiceNow ITSM
A leader in the ITSM market for 5 consecutive years according to Gartner, ServiceNow’s ITSM product includes IT asset management functionality that covers both hardware and software assets and allows managing asset life cycles, thus efficiently optimizing the use of asset inventory. ServiceNow also offers an additional product called ServiceNow Asset Management that offers an extended functionality set for ITAM.
ManageEngine AssetExplorer
ManageEngine AssetExplorer can support a large number of IT assets, giving you comprehensive information about all your network resources. Thanks to its key feature, business managers can easily see the total ownership costs of an asset, manage the IT asset lifecycle, ensure compliance with software licenses, and track contracts and purchase orders.
