What is IT Asset Management (ITAM)?

Suppose you have two houses that have 1+1 rooms and 5+3 rooms. Which house is more difficult to manage? The small house can be managed more comfortably due to the capacity of the items it will contain. We don't even need to mention the word management at this point. But if we talk about the house with 5+3 rooms, you will need one person to manage this house. Maybe even a few people.
Organizations have different types and numbers of IT assets depending on their size. Depending on the size of the institution, sometimes one or more than one person may be responsible for managing them. This will inevitably mean an extra budget for the institution.

As you can see from the example above, IT Asset Management essentially covers the monitoring, evaluation, and management of all IT assets owned by an organization under one roof. When it is done correctly, it provides multiple advantages for the institution, while it has the risk of causing material and moral losses when it is managed incorrectly.

What are IT Assets?

IT assets are the aggregate of IT assets that include hardware, software systems, or information that is an organization's values. IT assets are the core of an organization's IT infrastructure. The management of these assets is critical to the success of any organization.

The term "IT asset" includes hardware, software, databases, networks, and other information resources that are used to support an organization's business operations. Hardware assets include servers, workstations, storage devices, and network equipment. Software assets include operating systems, application software, and development tools. Databases and other information resources include customer data, financial data, human resource data, and marketing data.

What is IT Asset Management?

IT Asset Management (ITAM) is the general scope of the management and monitoring processes of an IT asset in companies from the purchase stage to the end of its use. Companies apply ITAM program to make their IT infrastructure more transparent and gain accurate insights into their IT investments. IT Asset Management is also known as IT Inventory Management.

IT asset management is the practice of tracking and managing technology assets throughout their lifecycle. This includes acquiring, configuring, deploying, operating, maintaining, and disposing of IT assets. The goal of IT asset management is to optimize the utilization of these assets and to minimize their costs.

IT Asset Management focuses on understanding the total cost of ownership and applying the process throughout all lifecycle stages to optimize the use of assets.

IT Asset Management, which was done manually in the past, can now be done through software support. Getting software support for up-to-date IT Asset Management is almost the first choice for all organizations and IT managers who are aware that they can do this with software. Managing this work, which may be prone to human error or require serious effort and attention at the point of follow-up, with software, reduces possible risks and gives space to IT professionals.

IT Asset Management includes:

• IT Asset Visibility: The ability to identify all IT assets within your organization is essential to managing them effectively. This means tracking where they are located, who is using them, how long they have been in use, and any other relevant information.
• IT Asset Security: Ensuring that all your IT equipment is secure is another important part of being able to manage your assets effectively. This includes ensuring that the equipment is protected from theft, damage and malicious attacks by hackers etc.

Why is IT Asset Management Important?

There are many benefits of IT asset management in today's world. These benefits include improved decision-making, reduced risks, increased efficiencies, and cost savings. In addition, IT asset management can help organizations meet compliance requirements and improve their overall security posture. IT assets have a certain lifespan just like food products. For businesses to get the most out of their IT assets, they need to be able to proactively manage the IT asset lifecycle to maximize the value they can generate. 

Centralizes the System

Your IT assets may be distributed differently according to the needs of different departments. Maybe applications or licenses were purchased separately between different units that need the same license; A license that you need so much may have been purchased long ago in a different unit of the institution. It is quite challenging to follow the current status of these purchased or leased licenses due to this clutter. IT asset management provides a high degree of dominance as it enables the centralized management of the assets at hand.

As a result of IT Asset Management with the help of software, a system-dependent structure is established, not individual. Thus, updates to programs or applications are not followed behind due to human error, and it is possible to take proactive actions.

Improves Efficiency and Reducing Costs

Thanks to IT Inventory Management, the software, hardware and integrations that the organization needs and that are no longer used can be detected. Thanks to the IT Asset Management made through the software, the performance of the applications is measured, the usage routine is examined, and unnecessary licenses are canceled by deciding whether they are needed for the institution. Thus, thanks to the increased budget of the IT department, new licenses that can provide more added value to the institution can be purchased, thereby increasing the efficiency of business processes.

Enables Teams Across Organizations

Organizations that choose to implement IT Asset Management effectively offer other units in the organizational structure the opportunity to be seriously proactive. Because by keeping track of current IT assets, they can streamline business processes or implement methods to gain insights. In this sense, IT asset management has the power to enable an organization to stay ahead of the competition.

Types of ITAM

The best way for businesses to co-manage hardware and software is to adopt a centralized management methodology. This methodology can help businesses keep track of all the software and hardware around them and make sure they are compatible with each other.

• Application Portfolio Management
• Software Asset Management
• License Management
• Hardware Asset Management
• Integration Inventory Management
• IT Cost/Budget Management
• SaaS Management

What does an IT asset Manager Do?

Persons working as IT asset manager or IT asset management specialist are the employees responsible for the effective management of ITAM policy in businesses. They are responsible for maintaining, monitoring and controlling all the information technology assets used by a company.

IT Asset Managers also act as liaisons between management and the technical staff by providing them with guidance on how best to utilize the available resources while maintaining their integrity. In addition, they are responsible for implementing new policies related to data security, disaster recovery and other issues related to the effective use of technology in business operations.

The responsibilities of an IT asset manager include:

• Managing IT assets including hardware, software and data
• Ensuring that all IT assets are accounted for accurately
• Training employees on how to use computers effectively
• Creating policies and procedures for managing IT assets
• Developing metrics for measuring the effectiveness of these policies and procedures over time
• Coordinating with vendors who provide IT services or equipment to ensure compliance with existing policies

IT Asset Management Software

Implementing IT Asset Management in legacy ways brings with it the risk of any errors. The spreadsheets used for IT Asset Management present scattered and out-of-date data, which creates inaccurate predictions.

IT Asset Management tool is a business solution that makes ITAM processes more systematic, automated and effective. With ITAM Software, businesses can manage the IT Asset Management process end-to-end over a single platform, not piecemeal spreadsheets.

Loggle, a brand of MDP Group, is an IT Asset Management Software developed with the latest UX / UI technologies that make ITAM processes of enterprises more systematic. Take control by visualizing your IT structure with Loggle. Meet us!