IT Asset Management (ITAM)

What is the role of an IT asset manager? 

An IT asset manager protects the IT assets of an organization throughout their life cycle. The IT asset manager controls, records, monitors, and protects the assets, along with designing and developing an asset management strategy.

What is an IT asset?

An IT asset is any hardware or software information a company uses to perform its business activities. Hardware assets are physical equipment, while software assets are applications that often require a license or a database with an open-source resource. Cloud services are also considered to be IT assets. Examples of an IT asset are laptops, data centers, or SaaS applications.

What are the types of IT asset management? 

There are different types of IT asset management tools that can be used to create the best workable system for your organization. Each tool has a unique focus point to properly manage various IT assets including:

• Hardware and software asset management
  • Mobile devices, servers, any software in use
• Cloud asset management
  • Amazon, Google, Microsoft, any cloud service providers
• Digital asset management
  • Licensing, formats, used to manage digital content attributes
• Fixed asset management
  • Desks, printers, any fixed IT assets in the environment

Benefits of ITAM

IT asset management tracks the lifecycle and efficiency of IT assets to determine if it provides a necessary benefit for the organization. IT asset management delivers cost management and provides benefits to the organization such as:

• IT operational cost reduction;
• Centralized database for IT assets;
• Improved communication between IT and other teams;
• Optimized efficiency for IT assets;
• Software license compliance; and
• Greater visibility into performance and operations.

What are the three phases of IT asset management? 

For businesses to maximize the value generated from IT assets, the lifecycle needs to be carefully managed. To ensure that IT assets are used effectively, there are three main phases involved in the IT asset management process:

• Phase 1, Asset Identification: Create an inventory list of all IT assets for quick identification.
• Phase 2, Tracking: Use an IT asset management tool to monitor assets.
• Phase 3, Maintenance: Repair, upgrade, or replace to ensure assets are healthy and performing properly.

The IT Asset Management Lifecycle

The IT asset lifecycle varies for each organization, but there are general steps that are followed:

• Request: determining which assets are desired and how to obtain them;
• Fulfillment: building, purchasing, or licensing the asset occurs;
• Deployment: integrating the asset into the IT system;
• Monitoring: ensuring the service is functioning properly;
• Service: ensuring assets are maintained; and
• Retirement: retiring when assets no longer provide a use for the system.

Common ITAM Software Features

IT asset management software has a comprehensive list of features that give organizations better control of their IT environment, allowing them to track assets either on-premises or in the cloud.

• Automated detection;
• License management;
• Version management;
• Request management;
• Inventory management;
• CMDB;
• Fixed asset management; and
• Digital asset management.