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Mar 7, 2024
Mar 7, 2024
IT Asset Management is considered one of the top priorities for CIOs in 2024 and with good reason. Not only does it reap significant financial benefits, but IT Asset Management is also an integral piece of the cybersecurity puzzle, with organisations only able to protect endpoints they know exist. Organisations prioritising ITAM can gain a competitive edge by maximising the value of their IT investments while minimising risks and inefficiencies by enhancing security, ensuring compliance, managing remote assets, adapting to cloud technologies, optimising resource allocation, and fostering better vendor relationships.
Let us unpack this in further detail below:
IT Asset Management (ITAM) is a set of practices that involves tracking and managing an organisation's IT assets throughout their lifecycle. IT assets are any software, hardware, or digital resources used to support business operations. IT Asset Management's primary goal is to optimise IT resource use, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with licensing and regulatory requirements. There are several critical components in IT Asset Management (ITAM). These include:
IT assets represent a significant investment in any organisation, but unfortunately, they aren't always effectively managed.
Telstra recently commissioned a study to analyse and estimate the direct costs of physical asset loss. The study was representative of the top 54,307 operating businesses in Australia. Their research assessed that the direct costs of poor asset management equated to a loss of $4.3 billion in assets per year in Australia. Almost $600 million was simply due to the loss of small assets such as mobile devices, laptops, building access cards, and more.
Managing assets throughout their lifecycle, from procurement to disposal, helps organisations extract maximum value from their investments. It includes planning for upgrades, replacements, and proper disposal methods.
However, it's not just the physical/digital assets that need managing; it's the vendors, too. In 2024, CIO magazine reported that more organisations rely on external vendors than ever, highlighting the importance of managing these relationships. Effective vendor management ensures that these dependencies on vendors are managed efficiently, reducing risks associated with vendor-related issues such as service disruptions, quality problems, or contractual disputes.
In addition, knowing what assets are in use and where they are located is vital for cybersecurity. Effective ITAM helps identify vulnerabilities, ensure timely updates, and mitigate security risks associated with outdated or unsupported software and hardware. Organisations can also embed Governance, Risk and Compliance processes in their ITAM practices by bringing information from best-of-breed risk tools, such as UpGuard and using the power of task automation to drive and track remediation activities.
It's a jungle out there! Please see the below for a high-level approach we adopt at Service Quality.
Have a Plan!
Implementing IT Asset Management (ITAM) can be quite an undertaking, so you must have a defined scope linked to business objectives (i.e., cost optimisation, cybersecurity hygiene, etc.), remembering that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Current State Assessment
Once you've defined a scope, the next step is to conduct a current state assessment, which involves auditing existing data sources (i.e., systems housing hardware, software, vendor contract information, documentation, etc.). If results are poor (i.e., unsatisfactory data), address them immediately. ITAM tools are only as good as the data they receive unless they possess an auto-discovery feature, such as Ivanti Neurons. Additionally, if your organisation doesn't have well-defined asset management policies and procedures (lifecycle management, disposal policy, roles & responsibilities, etc.), these must be developed.
Implementation
Once you've internally agreed on the scope, existing data sources, and standardised policies & procedures, it is time to begin the implementation. Train relevant stakeholders on the new processes and tooling during the implementation to ensure adoption while monitoring and maintaining practices for completeness.
Review and Improve
Perfect is the enemy of great. ITAM is an ongoing process. Continuously look for ways to optimise asset utilisation, reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency. Most organisations won't get it 'perfect' the first time around, so you must review the effectiveness of your ITAM program against the defined objectives, which often change over time. A good habit to adopt is to solicit feedback from users and stakeholders to identify areas for improvement and make necessary adjustments should there be value in doing so.
By following these steps, you can lay a solid foundation for implementing IT Asset Management at your organisation and reap the benefits of improved visibility,control, and governance over your IT assets, software, hardware, or digital resources that
In summary, IT asset management remains essential in 2024 for optimising costs, enhancing security, ensuring compliance, managing remote assets, adapting to cloud technologies, optimising resource allocation, and fostering better vendor relationships. Organisations that prioritise ITAM can gain a competitive edge by maximising the value of their IT investments while minimising risks and inefficiencies.
About Service Quality:
Founded in 2007, Service Quality survives on a simple but powerful idea: empower you to do more with your Service Management and Security solutions. With cutting-edge support and award-winning security and service management practices, you can be sure that Service Quality will help maximise your Service Management investment. Today, hundreds of thousands of users rely daily on Service Management and Security solutions designed and implemented by Service Quality to make their work flow.
Written By: Angus Kenny - Director, Enterprise Solutions
