IT Asset Management Explained
IT Asset Management (ITAM) is a set of business practices implemented by an organization to track its hardware and software assets. IT Asset Management joins inventory, financial, and contractual functions into one business practice.
As Hardware Assets are the backbone of an organization and support its services, accurate tracking, management, and accountability is paramount. Since technology is changing every day, the need for IT Asset Management is ever growing. As the technology industry is ever changing, the refresh cycle of assets is becoming more and more frequent. This applies direct pressure onto businesses to ensure all IT investments are tracked and accounted for at all times.
With the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), more businesses than ever before are seeing the need to track all of their IT assets and software to protect their business and reputation.
Hardware Asset Management (HAM) ensures the financial cost of each asset is tracked to help businesses make systematic purchasing decisions when it comes to the refresh of assets. Hardware Asset Management also involves managing; warranties, contracts, vendor agreements, and software licenses.
Without Asset Management, organizations wouldn’t know:
- What assets they own
- Where they are located
- Who is using them
- How much value is gained from them
- How they support the business
- What potential risks they pose
- What information is on them
One of the most fundamental goals of IT Asset Management is to ensure the maximum value is gained from every asset purchased.
To learn more about IT Asset Management, and the benefits you can bring to your organization, click here to look at the Certified Hardware Asset Management Associate Study Guide we have put together.
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