What is IT Asset Management (ITAM) and why is it important?
ITAM represents a method for organisations to monitor and control their IT resources. Tracking all stages of IT asset ownership from acquisition through disposal. ITAM serves as an essential method to extract maximum value from IT investments. Enhancing operational efficiency, reducing costs and minimising potential risks. Here’s why ITAM is important:
Cost Optimisation:
The implementation of ITAM enables organisations to determine the actual expenses associated with their IT assets. The system detects both excessive spending and resource management inefficiencies to optimise resource distribution. The optimisation of procurement strategies together with improved hardware utilisation results in cost reduction.
Risk Management:
An IT asset management system provides organisations with complete visibility into their IT asset inventory. Detecting security risks and minimising their occurrence. The system identifies outdated or unsupported assets and controls access to prevent unauthorised use.
Compliance:
Compliance in IT Asset Management means following legal, regulatory, and organisational guidelines regarding the use and disposal of IT assets.
Improved Efficiency:
ITAM provides detailed information about IT assets which includes their locations and usage patterns. IT teams gain faster incident response capabilities, better deployment management and overall IT service delivery improvement through ITAM.
Enhanced Decision Making:
Organisations with a comprehensive understanding of their IT assets make informed decisions regarding technology investments, infrastructure planning and budget allocation for IT.
In essence, IT asset management serves a purpose beyond just asset tracking because it optimises IT investments while minimising risks. Ensuring compliance while delivering better efficiency and decision-making capabilities.
ITAM designed for IT teams
All organisations have company-wide IT inventory (hardware assets) that they are responsible for. Technology equipment ranges from computers, keyboards, monitors, printers, and telecommunications equipment to servers, external drives, network HUBs, AV equipment, and mobile devices.
Technology is costly yet essential, as it fuels business operations and directly impacts business revenue. Fortunately, Hardcat solutions provide a single source of truth for all your IT assets and more, ultimately saving you time and money. Drop the spreadsheets and siloed tools. Data silos harm the value of your data and your business vision. So, they’re a real headache. Our technology offers solutions to stop it from happening.
Challenges in IT asset management
There are several challenges in ITAM beyond knowing your assets, their custodians and locations. When asset visibility is limited, devices slip through the cracks, leading to inaccurate audits and blind spots across your network. Major difficulties also include:
- Reliance on manual updates via spreadsheets which often result in inaccurate records, inventory discrepancies, and wasted time.
- Complex asset retrieval and return from departing or remote employees can be chaotic, risking lost assets, data breaches, and logistical headaches.
- Poor lifecycle management with ineffective tracking of assets through procurement, deployment, maintenance, and disposal phases can result in underutilised or lost assets and higher costs.
- Compliance and security risks with difficulty in tracking assets. This can lead to non-compliance with regulations, software license violations, and increased vulnerability to security breaches.
- Limited staff, expertise, or budget can hinder effective ITAM practices, making it hard to keep up with asset management needs.
- Without proper tracking, organisations may fail to optimise asset use, leading to unnecessary purchases and wasted resources.
Addressing these challenges requires the combination of a centralised asset management system, regular audits, and clear processes to ensure asset data is accurate, secure, and actionable. ITAM plays a critical role in the daily operations of every organisation and requires processes to verify security and configuration. Effective ITAM is not only critical for ongoing operations but has profound implications on an organisation’s bottom line, credibility and operational efficiency.
Risks of not managing IT assets
- Unnecessary purchases
- Potential downtime disruptions
- Licence violations
- Decreased productivity
- Unable to report on or audit equipment
- Failure to forecast future purchasing needs
Benefits of managing IT assets
- Reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
- Better security
- Reduce unnecessary purchases
- Keep your assets running smoothly
- Increased agility
- Faster response time to IT equipment issues
- Increased employee efficiency
- Rapidly define and understand relationships between your assets and their components
Tracking and auditing hardware
Businesses must track and take responsibility for all IT inventory to increase productivity and profitability. Organisations can maximise their budgets by way of tracking usage and preserving their equipment. Frequent protection and upgrades assists with IT equipment sustainability.
Locating underutilised assets and relocating them to regions of greatest want averts needless purchases and makes better use of IT budgets. A verified, accurate asset register will facilitate better accountability. While ensuring that an organisation’s good governance and regulatory compliance objectives are met. Equipment audits also discover assets that the organisation is incorrectly managing, either operationally or financially.
Asset auditing is essential for strategic asset management and achieving high operational efficiency. Regular internal audits, following proper procedures and protocols, offer several benefits for an organisation. Ensure your asset management system data is up-to-date with regular audits and identify ghost and misplaced assets. Asset audits ensure early detection of misplaced critical equipment.
Improved security of critical equipment
Outdated IT inventory often lacks the latest security features and patches. This makes it vulnerable to cyberattacks. Creating a lifecycle management plan ensures that all hardware and inventory items are up-to-date. This reduces the risk of security breaches and protects sensitive data.
Enhanced equipment performance
Updating, maintaining and replacing outdated IT inventory ensures the organisation reduces the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns and disruptions, keeping your business operations smooth and secure. This results in enhanced performance and productivity outcomes. Reliable equipment increases worker productivity.
ITAM governance
Aligning people, process and technology through an established framework and standardised policies is key to achieving secure and governance. It requires a lot of hard work, internal communication and collaboration, and the ability to demonstrate ROI.
Decommissioning ITAM and environmental responsibility
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices are a crucial policy framework for organisations striving to achieve sustainable and responsible IT operations. In fact, as organisations worldwide increasingly recognise the need to address ESG issues, the role of IT equipment management has become more apparent. This is especially important when it comes to adhering to environmental policies, which are essential not only for the responsible retirement of outdated equipment but also for its ethical disposal.
Take control of your IT assets with Hardcat
Hardcat’s software solutions manage everything from machinery to vehicles, computers to specialised tools, as every asset needs to be accounted for throughout its lifecycle. Monitor usage, schedule maintenance, forecast replacements, and analyse performance data to make informed decisions. We provide a singular, organisation-wide view of who’s responsible for each item of IT equipment and provide the ‘source of truth’ for key details related to warranty, leasing, maintenance, and other data critical to your business decision-making.
