In the era of digital transformation, 'ITAM' attracts attention again
How can I seamlessly manage IT asset governance in a hybrid cloud environment? If your employees are working in a distributed environment, how do you know if the devices they are using are optimal? How can you efficiently manage and control your IT budget while reducing and optimizing IT costs becomes important in the aftermath of the coronavirus? This is why more and more companies are paying attention to 'IT Asset Management (ITAM)'.
As digital transformation accelerates due to the pandemic crisis, various technologies and platforms are being introduced into the IT environment. In addition, with the proliferation of remote work, the number of IT assets used by dispersed personnel is also rapidly increasing. The introduction of more resources inevitably leads to IT complexity. Forbes stressed that CIOs are more likely to face IT asset management challenges due to global economic turmoil, changing work environments, and technological shifts.
Accordingly, 'ITAM' to protect IT assets and provide an efficient work environment throughout the organization is emerging as a concern of companies. In fact, it turns out that companies are feeling the need for effective ITAM. According to the results of Deloitte's 2021 Global ITAM Survey, 84% of all respondents said their organization does not have an effective ITAM strategy.
ITAM is a 'centralized approach' to managing IT systems and other assets. A good ITAM strategy can help you efficiently manage multiple technology assets that are scattered across your business. It's not a new concept. However, it is becoming increasingly important as it becomes increasingly difficult to gain visibility into IT assets. As Gartner notes, "it's very important to know what's missing across your IT organization so you can proactively plan and act on where it can cause disruption," says Gartner.
What is 'IT Asset Management (ITAM)'?
ITAM is an activity and strategy for optimizing as well as managing and supervising various IT resources such as IT systems, hardware, software, processes, data, cloud instances, and networks owned by a company. An ITAM strategy enables IT departments to deploy, track, and maintain IT assets while assessing whether the IT assets need optimization, can be replaced with cheaper options, or need to be upgraded to the latest technology.
Stefan White, director of research at Gartner, said that a technology asset is defined as something that can create, receive and process digital information to support business activities. “It doesn’t matter what ownership of an asset, subscription status or location anymore,” he said. More importantly, all assets are controlled and managed according to the ITAM guiding principles and best practices established by the enterprise.”
Benefits of ITAM
ITAM provides in-depth insight into an enterprise's IT assets. This enables IT leaders to visualize the ROI on their IT asset investments and provide other key stakeholders with data on how these asset investments are impacting the company's business objectives. A successful ITAM strategy also helps everyone in the organization move toward the same goal by identifying the gap between business needs and the IT assets and skills requirements they currently have, giving them the insight they need to take action.
A successful ITAM strategy requires, first of all, an IT inventory that enables businesses to quickly view all IT assets within their organization. This includes the hardware and software in the data center, as well as the workstations, networks, and cloud-based resources they use remotely, as well as their employees. The main goal of ITAM is to track the status of various assets throughout the IT lifecycle, including contracts, purchases, deployments, and retirements, thereby reducing costs and effectively controlling the IT environment.
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