Since working in the Asset Management field, I thought I would write a post highlighting the top benefits I have encountered around the implementation of a successful Asset Management program. Generally people outside of IT view Asset Management as a “Stacking boxes and tagging assets” function, but Asset Management is much more complex and beneficial than this misconception.
1. Clear Visibility
Running a successful Asset Management program ensures clear visibility across all business units, whether it’s finance, security, help desk or PMO. Through the use of an updated and organized Asset Management function and repository, stakeholders are able to make justifiable, and accurate business decisions on the go without the use of using rough estimates, or outdated purchase records.
Having accurate asset data allows business units to easily forecast asset refreshes, without the risk of under/over purchasing assets. When over purchasing occurs, businesses suffer as financial depreciation effects the book value of their in-stock assets, and storage expenses rise.
2. Cost Savings
Cost savings play an important role in any Asset Management program. Imagine if your business owned several hundred servers spread over 100+ global locations. Without the use of an Asset Management program different business units and departments may order new servers when a demand arises. With clear inventory data, IT managers are able to easily track down and locate available equipment globally and re-distribute when needed. If Asset Management wasn’t in place, stakeholders would purchase more equipment with little knowledge in knowing what the business already owns and is available.
Re-use is also a popular and attractive subject in Asset Management. Through the use of asset re-use, businesses are able to easily save large amounts of money through asset re-deployment and recycling. Imagine if a business was disposing of 100 outdated computers, the power supplies and disc drives could be removed and transferred to an IT stockroom. Through the use of recycling, departments can save money on finance and operational expense (OPEX).
Another great example of cost savings associated with Asset Management is redeployment. Imagine if an IT department in a large enterprise organization redeployed used Laptops from the IT stockroom to different users every week for one year. Let’s say the Laptop is worth $1078 (new), multiply this figure by 52 weeks, your business has managed to save an astonishing amount of $56,056. This figure may not seem a lot to most large businesses, but if you take into account the re-use of Software Licenses, Servers, Networking Infrastructure Equipment, the cost savings skyrocket.Increased.
3. Productivity
When an Asset Management program is in full operation business users and departments will begin to reap the benefits. A good example of a department who will have more time to focus on their service is the IT department. With an accurate and accountable asset management system in place, IT engineers will be able to spend more and more time with users fixing help desk issues and solving the real issues at hand.
With a clear visibility on asset stock levels and asset location data, decisions can be made instantly, with stronger confidence in purchasing decisions. Many IT departments will spend a good chunk of time daily figuring out stock levels and managing demand requests.
4. Positive Audits
One of the main worries of organizations are when audits occur. With a successful Asset Management program businesses can be aware of any internal issues ahead of time and respond to those issues before auditors begin their work. One of the most common asset audit issues that most businesses occur is incorrect asset location information. Incorrect asset data shows auditors that a business has process issues and poor record keeping. With a successful Asset Management function, executives and managers will have the confidence that all asset information matches up exactly with their corresponding repository data.
In some cases businesses can be fined large amounts of money, and are at risk of loosing ISO certifications if records are not kept up to date.
Software Asset Management compliance is also a subject many businesses don’t focus much attention on and leave it in the dark. Software Asset Management (SAM) can cause big headaches and be very costly when large software companies audit your software installation count and compare them to the software agreements in place. If a business has breached a software installation count from what was agreed upon, then expect a large hefty fine. So, the good thing is that if your business is on top of Software Installations and your within your agreed install limits then the Asset Management program is a success.
5. Enhanced Security
With an accurate Asset Management repository, IT Security engineers can quickly determine physical locations of IT equipment in case of emergency’s, whether it be a network cyber attack or a fire. Imagine if a businesses network was under attack and the engineer needed to work on an asset physically, without the use of correct up to date information this may not be possible.
Another great benefit of Asset Management with regards to security is knowing who has what piece of equipment at any given time. For example, if a users laptop was stolen, just by knowing the model number and serial number the Asset Management department would be able to locate the record in the Asset Management system and notify the Security Department. This would then indicate to the Security Department if there was a breach of sensitive information depending on data backups that came from that laptop.