ITAM changes in a post-pandemic world

IT asset management (ITAM) is arguably more important to organizations than ever before. Along with IT monitoring and IT governance, it forms the priority tripod for CIOs in 2021.

Some define it as a set of business practices that combine financial, inventory, and contractual functions to optimize spend and support lifecycle management and strategic decision-making in the IT environment.

The ITAM process typically involves collecting an up-to-date and detailed inventory of an organization’s hardware, software, and network assets, and then using that information to make informed business decisions about IT-related purchases and redeployment. And increasingly, to help them assess threats, vulnerabilities, and incidents highlighted by monitoring.

But adjustments will be needed in ITAM now that the pandemic has led organizations to rapidly embrace remote working models, according to Deloitte’s recently published ‘IT Asset Management Global Survey 2021‘ report. The vast majority (84%) of the 2,500 respondents to Deloitte’s study believe their organizations lack a truly effective ITAM initiative today, and 90% believe that rapid technological and business changes have made it difficult to increase ITAM maturity in their organizations.

In this new landscape of increasing cloud usage and more distributed IT assets, analysts point out that ITAM solutions will need to go beyond simply knowing the devices exist. They will also need to be able to support users, provision software, apply updates, fix problems, and more.

Those that offer robust and detailed asset maintenance features, checklists, and reminders, for example, will add a lot of value. They will even be expected to help keep organizations on notice at all times, manage crises, reduce asset downtime and optimize asset utilization when needed.

So if ITAM is not already a strategic business function, now is the time to do it. If you’re not managing your technology, you’re not managing your business.

By avoiding unnecessary asset purchases and making the best use of current resources, IT asset managers can reduce software licensing and support costs, eliminate waste and improve efficiency.