IT asset management is a combination of business processes and practices that encompass financial, contractual and inventory processes to support life cycle management and allow strategic decision making for any company.
IT Asset Management is a set of business practices that support the life cycle of management to inform about strategic decision making. This is generally seen as the axis between money and compliance and innovation and improvements.
Defining IT Asset Management
Before entering the subject fully, let's talk about assets. The assets that are managed are primarily of an IT nature, such as software and computer hardware, but may also include support and basic assets such as furniture used in the business environment.
An organization's hardware assets usually include computers, networks, servers, printers, copiers, landlines and mobiles. Depending on the industry, other physical assets include cars, trucks and anything inherent in the delivery of the service.
Software assets include licenses, programs, user accounts, etc.
IT asset management maintains and develops standards, policies, processes, measurements and systems that allow the organization to properly manage its IT assets with respect to risk, control, governance, costs and commercial compliance and performance objectives set by the organization.
Managing the depreciation, use and general cycle of hardware and software is the next step. Until a decade ago, most companies that kept records of assets, formerly known as inventory, did so manually in spreadsheets. While certain formulas are helpful, this rudimentary process was prone to mistakes and time consuming.
IT asset management is an integral part of an organization's IT strategy, since it involves intensive data collection of detailed software and hardware inventory information. This data is then used to make informed decisions regarding the future redistribution and acquisition of software and hardware.
IT asset management allows organizations to manage their IT resources more effectively, saving money and time by having the ability to distinguish unnecessary purchases and knowledge to leverage existing resources.
This also helps minimize the risks related to the costs of advancing IT infrastructure portfolio projects based on old and incomplete or inaccurate information.
But what are these ITAM systems really tracking? In short, everything. The most important parts of the hardware and software life cycle include:
- Acquisition, including user request, approval and procurement process.
- Maintenance and life cycle management, including financial details about the asset, licenses, updates and versions, measurable objectives, Return on Investment, downtime, etc.
- Redistribution and alienation.
Regardless of the needs of a business, Asset Management processes help monitor the entire portfolio. As a precaution, we should not confuse it with Software Asset Management, which is only one aspect.
With the rapid advancement of technology and cloud computing, modern IT Asset Management systems can keep track of these and manage them more easily and precisely. Cloud-based systems direct ITAM processes and rely on iterative automation to mature the management system.
