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About IT Asset Management

IT asset management is a rigid business discipline that enables companies to more effectively manage their technology equipment throughout its lifecycle, achieving a clearer assessment of the value of their IT components, a better understanding of what their capabilities are and how they are used, and in-depth insight into how they affect core business processes and profitability.

An end-to-end initiative that goes beyond simple bookkeeping and depreciation tracking to encompass all aspects of a technology environment, IT asset management covers computer hardware and software, telecommunications systems, data, local area and wide area networks, and third-party contracts with consultants or hosted solution providers. IT asset management also includes the creation and implementation of well-enforced and closely measured governance policies and procedures that allow for greater control and enhanced management of liability, costs, compliance, and performance.

Key Benefits of IT Asset Management for Your Company

Effective IT asset management enables companies to enhance strategic technology decision-making, maximize return on their IT investment, and achieve desired system performance levels, while cutting operational costs and minimizing risk through improved fraud detection and loss prevention.

Other key benefits include the ability to:

  • Better align applications and systems to business needs and objectives.
  • Increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of IT activities.
  • Reduce system maintenance, administration, and inventory management expenses.
  • Effectively comply with government regulations and industry guidelines.
  • Understand system and process inter-dependencies, and accurately predict how changes in the environment will impact other components.
  • Standardize and document key IT-related procedures.

Does My Company Need IT Asset Management?

IT assets are often bought and managed by different departments and housed in several locations. This makes it quite challenging to effectively manage the entire environment and determine its total cost of ownership. As a result, system obsolescence, performance issues, renegade technology purchasing, lack of integration, and low ROI are likely to occur –impacting productivity, internal and external communications, customer service, and the bottom line.

However, when a company has complete visibility into its entire technology architecture, it can ensure that the environment is being used to its fullest potential to help achieve critical business objectives. At the same time, it can maintain greater control over:

Procurement
By standardizing and centralizing technology purchases, IT asset management software can prevent unnecessary acquisitions, enhance order tracking, and help build stronger relationships with suppliers.

Deployment
Understanding how various technology components need to interoperate can optimize utilization of real estate, financial, and human resources, while ensuring seamless network integration.

Content and Image Control
Large images embedded in emails, or content that is graphics-rich, can clog email servers and slow down vital communications. Additionally, incoming or outgoing emails that contain offensive language or pictures can diminish employee morale and ruin a company’s reputation. Many email security solutions solve these problems by providing comprehensive content and image control. For example, they will flag emails that include inappropriate content, or that contain images greater than a pre-specified size.

Updates
Keeping the technology infrastructure current is crucial to maintaining the productivity and agility needed to achieve a competitive edge. IT asset management enables companies to better track software update and security requirements.

Management
IT asset management fosters more effective, efficient, and affordable administration of hardware and software.

Analysis
With IT asset management, companies can identify opportunities to improve infrastructure performance and cost-efficiency, and ensure regulatory compliance.