What is IT asset management?
IT asset management (ITAM) is quickly gaining momentum as organizations are faced with rising pressure to better understand and optimize their technology infrastructure. But what is ITAM, and what are the benefits?
ITAM is a system of practices that assesses and optimizes all IT equipment and assets within an organization. Effective ITAM strategies should track not only physical hardware assets, but virtual and software assets as well. With an ITAM strategy, you can track financial and inventory data, use data, and more for all IT assets throughout their entire lifecycle, helping you understand where devices are being used and what programs are running on each device. The incorporation of ITAM into organizations is essential for maximizing efficiency and cost-effectiveness. By leveraging the tools and processes ITAM provides, you can gain greater visibility into your technology ecosystem, make more informed decisions, better track expenses, and ensure compliance with necessary regulations.
What are the benefits of digital asset management?
IT asset management offers a wide range of advantages. It provides greater insight into your organization’s technology assets, facilitating more informed decisions about when to upgrade or replace them. This helps guarantee that your organization is using the most current technology available, which can lead to improved performance and productivity. Furthermore, organizations see IT asset management benefits in recognizing any potential security risks associated with outdated or unused technology.
Digital asset management offers IT teams a way to keep track of their hardware and software expenses, as well as maintenance costs, over time. This helps them manage their budgets more effectively and plan for future investments in technology solutions that better meet their needs. It also ensures you are compliant with any asset tracking or reporting regulations that apply to your organization.
We’ll break down 7 of the most notable IT asset management benefits an organization can experience.
- Improved decision-making: IT asset management provides better visibility into IT assets, allowing for better decision-making. With a thorough understanding of what technology is being used, how, and where, your organization can strategically plan for additional technology investments and reassess technology effectiveness.
- Cost savings: By tracking and managing IT assets more efficiently, you can reduce costs. Knowing where your assets are being used and to what extent can help you scale back where appropriate, saving IT organizations time and money in the long run.
- Enhanced security: Knowing what assets are in use and how they’re being leveraged enables you to protect users from unauthorized access and potential threats. Additionally, in the event of a cyberthreat or attack, you’ll have greater visibility into which assets may have been compromised and can better create an incident response plan.
- Improved compliance: Another benefit of digital asset management is that it allows organizations to stay compliant with industry regulations and standards by keeping all assets up to date with the latest patches and security protocols. You can only patch and update known assets, so ensuring you have a solid understanding of your technology hardware and software is key to remaining secure and compliant.
- Increased productivity: Asset tracking, a key element of ITAM, allows you to quickly locate hardware or software when needed. This reduces downtime and boosts productivity across the board — with fewer resources dedicated to tracking down assets and understanding their use, time can be spent on higher-value activities instead.
- Automation: Automating processes related to asset management eliminates manual labor associated with tracking, monitoring, and updating inventory items. As with asset tracking, automation frees up additional resources to focus on high-value work rather than repetitive, manual tasks. This is one of the fastest-growing IT asset management benefits.
- Resource optimization: Asset management helps organizations maximize their resources by understanding how technology is being used at all levels. Knowing what assets are being used and how it’s working allows for better reallocation of resources to optimize their use.
ITAM is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Every organization is unique and has different priorities and goals. It’s important to fully understand your enterprise’s specific requirements for ITAM before beginning to develop and implement a strategy. Once you do, you’ll quickly realize the many benefits of digital asset management.
CAI’s experts can help you tailor an ITAM solution for your specific requirements and help guide you toward the strategy you need.
If you’d like to learn more, contact us.
