With many businesses undergoing a great deal of digital transformation in recent years, tracking and managing IT assets have become critical in the day-to-day operations of the organization.
Depending on the level of digital transformation the organization has undergone, IT assets can be quite extensive as it encompasses all hardware and software in use within its environment, as well as the license subscriptions included in each network, making the work of recording and monitoring these assets a challenge in itself.
The limited shelf life of these IT assets can also pose a challenge to management. Hardware will degrade over time not just in physical condition but also in efficiency as new hardware tends to be more efficient in their work thanks to new innovations. New versions of software that promise greater functionality and efficiency can push current software out, which sometimes involves purchasing of new licenses as well.
Thus, it is crucial to have an IT Asset Management system that will ensure that such assets are accounted for, deployed, maintained, upgraded if there are available updates or improvements, and disposed of when the time comes.
IT Asset Management provides a number of key benefits, such as:
Value maximization
IT asset management helps maximize the value that can be generated from IT assets. Having proper IT asset management enables organizations to define unique stages of an IT asset’s lifecycle, maximizing the capabilities of the asset at a particular stage, and analyze across all lifecycle stages to understand the total cost of ownership and optimize the use of assets within their shelf life. In addition, it helps avoid unnecessary purchases and induces additional licensing and support costs.
Saves time
With asset management in place, personnel are able to save time and resources they would have spent in tracking down items and monitoring the usage of these items. This enables them to do the more crucial tasks.
Ensures everything up to date
Asset management keeps information updated, so teams eliminate waste and improve utilization. It also enforces compliance with security and legal policies, thus helping reduce risks.
Boost digital transformation efforts
Given the digital advancements made in recent years, teams are embracing more complex tools and processes such as DevOps and SRE principles. Having efficient asset management tools and processes in place will help these teams efficiently deliver new functionality and services quickly without compromising on reliability.
Manage consumption of on-demand services
As reliance on platform and infrastructure services continues to grow, effective asset management can enable organizations to manage their consumption of “on-demand services”, thus reducing (if not eliminating) excess consumption that would have driven costs up.
IT asset management has proven to be a critical element for many businesses that have been able to weather the challenges and come out stronger than ever. As such, it is crucial that every business must have in place so they can become prepared and resilient to face the challenges ahead.