IT-intensive organizations are using ITAM software for solving their management challenges. According to a report from MarketWatch, this market will grow by 12% every year till 2023. If you want to maximize the benefit of IT Asset management tools, then you should follow the best ITAM practices. Technology has become important for every business. IT assets can range from individual PCs to entire networks. ITAM will help you in managing all these IT assets. In this article, we are going to talk about the best IT Asset Management (ITAM) practices for 2022.
What is ITAM?
IT Asset Management will consist of the processes and tools that your business can use for managing all the IT assets. You need to manage IT assets like software and hardware that are present in your IT environment. The supervision of these IT assets is done by using ITAM tools.
Benefits of ITAMÂ
There are various benefits of ITAM that will help your business. Some of the key benefits of using ITAM are:
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Better Security
ITAM will give you more control over your IT environment. This will help you in securing your IT environment from threats. IT assets come with their own set of IT security risks. You should focus on minimizing these IT risks. ITAM will give you more visibility on your IT assets. You can track the health and status of your IT devices. This will help you in ensuring that your devices are secure.
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Control your IT environment
ITAM will help you in managing your IT environment from a component and service level. Start with your most important business areas when you are creating your ITAM processes. For example, you can work with your IT service desk. This will help you in understanding what software they are using. They will probably use software from organizations like SAP, Oracle, Adobe, and Microsoft. ITAM will also help you in managing your hardware. This will generally contain your desktops, laptops, and servers. ITAM will help you in ensuring that your inventory is controlled properly.
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Cost Savings
Organizations generally have a discrepancy between their real IT assets and reported IT assets. A good ITAM practice will help you in checking the type of IT assets you own. This will help you in planning for the future. The IT assets are generally very costly. If you are not tracking these assets, then you can lose a lot of money. Expenses for software licenses, hardware, and maintenance costs can quickly add up. Thus, it is important to ensure that you are properly tracking these costs.
An effective ITAM process will help you in managing the status and health of your device. This will ensure that you can easily maintain your devices.
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Reduced waste
If you are properly managing your IT assets, then you can easily reduce any waste associated with these IT assets. Your IT assets are not going to last forever. If you are properly maintaining them, then you can extend the lifespan of your devices. You can also easily dispose of the devices once they reach their limits. All this can be achieved by using an effective ITAM tool.
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Effective deployment
You should make sure that all your software is installed remotely from an authorized and central source. This is known as DML or Definitive Media library in ITIL. If you are using DML, then it will ensure that you are using the correct version of the software. You will have the appropriate license for every software.
If IT support teams are using their own media like USB drives or CDs for installing software, then they can make mistakes in terms of licensing the correct version. They might not update their software on time. Thus, it is important to ensure that you are using DML. If you are using only DML, then it will reduce the chance of human error.
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Escalated Efficiency
ITAM will provide a better level of efficiency to your business. It will support device uptime. Thus, it will help you in supporting your workflows. ITAM will also help you in monitoring your assets effectively. They will help you in tracking where your devices are in their lifecycle. It will help you in ensuring that you are taking care of your IT infrastructure.
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Faster MTTRs
ITAM tools and practices will help you in reducing the incident resolution time. It will link software and hardware services to end-users. This will ensure that your customer can contact the IT service desk quickly. All the relevant IT assets will be visible to your IT team. This will help your IT team in saving a lot of time and effort.
Linked assets will also help you in routing your tickets more effectively. You can provide faster resolution time to your employees and users. Your customer’s problems will be resolved quickly. Thus, ITAM practices and tools will help you in increasing your MTTRs.
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Organization
ITAM will help you in solving a lack of organization in your business. It will help you in creating an inventory of your IT assets. You can easily manage this inventory. It can be difficult to keep track of your IT assets. However, an ITAM process will help you in simplifying this. It will give you a designated location where you can organize all your IT assets.
Best Practices for IT asset management (ITAM)
An effective ITAM solution can help you in solving IT asset management challenges. You can adopt these best practices for ensuring that your ITAM tool will be a valuable part of your IT infrastructure. This will ensure that you will get maximum ROI on your IT investments.
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IT inventory database
If you want to track your IT assets effectively, then you need to detect every part of your IT network. An efficient ITAM tool will come with multiple assets discovery sources. This will help you in identifying network, hardware, and software assets in your IT infrastructure.
You will get to know about the assets that are present in your IT infrastructure. Your ITAM tool will also tell you about the software that is installed on your devices.
A good ITAM tool will integrate with other management tools. It will help you in discovering various network assets, hardware, and software that are present in your network. ITAM tools can be easily integrated into your network. It will give you a virtual map of your network. They will also give you a 360-degree view of your entire IT network. A good ITAM tool will help you in finding open ports and loopholes in your IT infrastructure.
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Ongoing process
You should understand that ITAM is a process. It is not something that you are going to do for one time only. ITAM will help your company when you will take steps to improve the ITAM process. Make sure that you are regularly monitoring and updating your IT assets. This will ensure that your IT processes will be ready to use.
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Life-cycle based approach
Your ITAM process should track the entire life cycle of your devices. It should start when you have bought your device and it should end when your IT asset is retired. If you are tracking an IT asset through its lifecycle, then it will help you in increasing the lifespan of your IT assets. It will give you detailed info about the utilization of your IT devices.
If you are tracking your IT asset through its operational phase, then it will help you in properly maintaining your devices. You can retire your devices by following a standardized process. This will ensure that you will get the most value from your devices.
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Use ITAM Software
It can be difficult to manage all your IT assets. Thus, you should use ITAM software for streamlining and simplifying the entire ITAM process. It is important to track and monitor your IT assets if you want your organization to succeed. ITAM software will provide you with the tools that you can use for managing your IT assets. If you are using it as a part of a unified solution, then you can combine it with endpoint management and patch management also. This will help you in increasing the impact of your ITAM.
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Integrate ITAM with other tools
Your ITAM software should work properly with your other software tools. This will help you in improving your other business processes. For example, you can integrate your ITAM solution with your ITSM software. This will help you in improving your endpoint management, change management, incident management protocols, service desk, and CMDB.
The information tracked by your ITAM tools will be used by other tools. This will ensure that other tools will use the real-time information of ITAM tools.
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Internal audits
The remote work environment has increased after the coronavirus pandemic. This increases the risk of external audits. If you are adopting an ITAM solution, then it will help you in gathering data that you need for vendor audits. It will also help you in conducting your own internal audits.
Your management can track your hardware and software assets. It will help you in ensuring that your software licenses are compliant. This will act as a practice drill for an external audit.
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Automation
You can automate a lot of things in your ITAM system. Automating processes will help you in saving a lot of time. It will also enhance the security and tracking of your IT assets. Most ITAM tools are offering automated notifications to their users. They will send you automated notifications for critical processes like compliance issues, license renewal, asset discovery, and other important events. You can also use automation for scheduling periodic scans.
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Manage Software licenses
If you want to stay compliant, then you should track the usage of your software through your ITAM tools. It will provide important information like the type of licenses you have. You can also check when your software license will expire and if these licenses are linked to contracts. It will also tell you how many users can use your software. You can increase or decrease this according to the usage trend.
Software reconciliation will help you in decreasing the TCO. Real-time dashboards will help you in measuring your software compliance metrics. A good ITAM tool will help you in controlling your software costs.
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Prioritize Assets
It is important to know which assets are the most important for your business. Some IT devices might be used by your individual user while other IT assets might be central to your business operation. Thus, it is important to prioritize your IT assets according to their importance. This will help you in making quicker decisions if multiple devices need maintenance and care. This will help you in increasing your business uptime also.
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Get regular reports
Most ITAM tools will have report templates that will help your organization in making strategic decisions. If your tool is not providing you with in-built templates, then you can create custom reports. Make sure that you are regularly checking these reports. These reports will help you in analyzing trends in asset usage, ROI, compliance, and procurement. These reports will help you in coming up with budgetary requirements. You can make effective purchase decisions by using these reports.
Conclusion
ITAM is very important for every business. You can follow these best ITAM practices for managing your IT assets. The best way to improve your IT processes is by working with a good MSP. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire will help you in implementing ITSM and ITAM best practices. This will ensure that you can properly manage your IT assets. They will also help you in monitoring your network. This will protect your network from threats. You also don’t need to worry about hiring an in-house IT team for your business. Bleuwire will give you access to the best IT professionals and tools. This will help you in saving both time and money. If you need more information regarding IT services, then you can contact Bleuwire.
Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™ services and solutions in how we can help your business.
