As a leading provider of ITAM software, here at BlueTally we understand that whilst some businesses recognize the importance of IT Asset Management, they lack the ability to refine their full IT asset lifecycle management into a coherent process.
And it goes without saying that a lack of structure around the tracking, monitoring, servicing, and inventory of business IT assets can cost companies both time and money.
Seeing as we know a thing or two about asset management and tracking, and we’re incredibly nice people, we thought we’d share a few tips and insights on how to go about refining your own IT asset management process.
If that’s something that might be of use, please read on!
What is IT Asset Management?
As a brief precursor to the main event, it’s always prudent to quickly cover the basics for those readers uninitiated in the world of IT asset management.
IT asset management (ITAM) refers to all the activities involved with business IT assets (hardware, software, peripheral devices) from purchase and acquisition, through the entire asset lifecycle, up to and including the point of decommission and disposal.
Types of IT Assets
As alluded to above, an information technology (IT) asset refers to any piece of hardware, software, or technology-related resource that is owned or utilized by an organization to support its information technology infrastructure and operations.
All IT assets have both functionary and monetary value to the business.
Types of IT Assets include:
- Hardware: Computers, servers, laptops, mobile devices, etc.
- Software: Software applications, operating systems, programs etc.
- Data: Data and databases are highly valuable IT assets (data can cover customer records, marketing & sales data, financial data, research findings, and other types of digital content).
- Licenses: Software licenses and other intellectual property rights associated with IT resources are also considered IT assets.
- Peripheral Devices: Keyboards, mice, etc.
- Digital Content: Multimedia files, digital media, design files, and other digital creative assets.
- Fixed Assets - Networking cabinets, desks, server room, etc.
Types of IT Asset Management
There are various different elements to ITAM which include:
- Hardware Asset Management: Aims to optimize asset utilization, minimize downtime, and ensure compliance with licensing and warranty requirements.
- Software Asset Management (SAM): Helps organizations understand software inventory, manage license renewals, and prevent unauthorized software usage.
- License Management: Effective license management ensures compliance with software vendors' licensing policies, prevents license violations, and minimizes the risk of audits or penalties.
- Contract Management: This includes tracking maintenance contracts, service-level agreements (SLAs), software licenses, and other agreements with vendors or service providers.
- Configuration Management: Involves maintaining accurate and up-to-date information about the configuration of IT assets. This includes tracking hardware and software configurations, dependencies, and relationships to aid troubleshooting, change management, and ensuring consistency across IT infrastructure.
- Cloud Asset Management: Includes things like web storage, online servers, metadata history, cloud security, and compliance.
While these are the primary facets of ITAM, some would argue for the inclusion of additional categories such as Financial Asset Management, and Infrastructure Management.
Some companies also choose to define Mobile Asset Managment as its own category.
Benefits of IT Asset Management
There are innumerable benefits to IT asset management, but three of the most important benefits are:
1. Improved Asset Lifecycle Management
IT Asset Lifecycle Management enables organizations to manage the entire lifecycle of IT assets, from procurement to retirement.
By tracking assets throughout their lifecycle, organizations can optimize asset utilization, plan for upgrades or replacements, and extend asset lifespans through optimal care.
Proper lifecycle management reduces the risk of outdated or unsupported technology (placing both an operational and financial burden on the company) and ensures that assets are retired and disposed of both securely and in an environmentally friendly way.
2. Automated Asset Discovery and Tracking
With ITAM, you can automate the process of IT Asset Discovery and the tracking of your IT assets.
This will serve to detect and address asset anomalies more quickly, ensure you are not using illegal or outdated software, and give you a better understanding of your asset network to help you determine what is working well and where there is room for improvement.
3. Enhanced Security
IT asset management also plays a vital role in enhancing IT security.
WIth ITAM organizations are able to better track all their IT assets, including hardware and software, ensuring they are always properly patched, updated, and secured.
By maintaining an accurate IT asset inventory and monitoring for vulnerabilities, companies can respond quickly to security threats, implement necessary patches or upgrades, and maintain a robust security posture while remaining in line with legal compliance requirements.
IT Asset Management Process: How to Do It
Here are the 5 key steps to follow for IT Asset Management:
- Asset Identification & Inventory
Your process should begin by identifying and cataloging all IT assets. The best way to do this is to create an Asset Register capturing essential details such as asset names, specifications, unique identifiers, ownership, and locations.
Learn how to create an Asset Register.
- Asset Tracking
Once you have identified your IT assets and built your asset register, you need to be able to track them throughout their entire lifecycle (updating asset records, tracking changes in asset location or ownership, monitoring asset usage, and maintaining a centralized repository of asset information).
- Asset Deployment and Configuration
You then need to have a process in place for deploying new IT assets that ensures they are properly configured and integrated into your existing infrastructure according to company policy.
- Asset Maintenance & Support
All IT assets will need regular maintenance and/or support. Usually, this requires the ability to implement scheduled maintenance activities, manage software updates and patches, troubleshoot issues, and provide support services for software and data assets.
- Asset Disposal
When IT assets reach the end of their useful life or are no longer required, they need to be retired and disposed of properly. This involves data sanitization, decommissioning hardware, and following environmentally responsible disposal methods - for hardware the process is known as ITAD (IT Asset Disposition).
All of these steps can easily be performed using one reliable software: BlueTally.
With BlueTally you have the ability to create an asset register, track and monitor all your IT assets, handle all maintenance and support scheduling and requirements, and have complete, up-to-date records of all IT asset deployments and configurations.
Conclusion
Having a refined IT asset management process is vital to ensuring sound IT asset management.
The best way to create and benefit from an ITAM process is through tools like BlueTally that can increase performance, improve efficiency through automation, and provide complete visibility of the entire IT asset estate in one easy-to-use solution.
Get started with BlueTally today for free and soon you’ll be tracking those assets like a pro!
