All IT assets have a lengthy and complicated life cycle. From establishing the needs of your employees and clients, to purchasing and acquiring important pieces, to understanding the costs and value of the assets, to retiring outdated or inefficient assets. The asset must pass through many stages, all of which should be closely recorded, monitored, and analyzed.
Unfortunately, if IT assets are left unchecked and their life cycles are unmanaged, it can leave firms open to security, financial, and operational risks. An IT asset management software can keep track of your IT assets, record critical data, speed up maintenance tasks, and automate tedious processes. It can help you reduce costs, mitigate risks, and enhance efficiencies. Read through this quick guide to knowing precisely what risks IT assets pose and how ITAM software provides practical solutions.
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What Risks Do IT Assets Pose?
Advanced technology offers many advantages, including increasing speed and accuracy, automating repetitive work, improving customer satisfaction, and keeping a competitive edge in the industry. However, it also can be a source of serious risks for companies, employees, and clients. The first step to managing and reducing risks is understanding which risks commonly spring from poor IT asset management. Follow along below to learn more:
Security Risks
Security risks can be a major issue for firms without properly guided or managed IT asset management. Antivirus systems that have not been updated, firewalls that are turned off, data loss leaking from software, ransomware or viruses on equipment, failed backups of data, misconfiguration of cloud settings, unauthorized access or un-revoked access for particular users, or improperly disposed equipment can all be sources of risk. These issues are concerns for firm data and client information.
Financial Risks
Security risks incurred from unmanaged technology leave the company open to fines and other legal actions due to compliance regulations. However, companies who do not track and record information about their IT assets are typically making poor decisions about those assets and future assets. They do not extract maximum value from their assets, neglect critical points in life cycles for maintenance or upgrades, incur expensive damage and repairs, lose track of assets or fall prey to theft, cannot optimize software or cloud usage and costs, and do not have enough information to choose the best software or equipment in the future. Ultimately, this ends up costing firms extraordinary amounts of money.
Operational Risks
Every company values efficiency. After all, that is one of the main reasons to invest in technology in the first place. However, unmanaged IT assets often means reduced efficiencies. Broken equipment, lost equipment and devices, ill-fitting assets, system outages, cyberattacks, and lack of disaster recovery can all contribute to reduced business operations. Legal actions incurred from security risks can also lead to business shut-downs or fines that impede work.
How Does ITAM Software Help?
Excellent ITAM software can help companies perform proper inventory of technology, track IT assets throughout their lifecycle, record location and user information at any given time, and extract up-to-date data whenever they need to make decisions. Rather than performing all these processes manually, and forgetting or neglecting critical points, it all comes down to a single source of truth. It is easy, simple, and efficient.
Mitigates Risks
ITAM software grants firms full visibility of all their technology, from hardware, to software, to Cloud. It allows them to understand exactly where their assets are, who has access to them, and how often they are being used on a regular basis. Additionally, it provides them with critical data about where their assets are in their lifecycle, their current use value, and their costs. Since this is the case, they can actively make decisions about each asset. Accordingly, companies can address risks proactively as they have comprehensive, up-to-date information.
Particularly, mitigating risks through ITAM involves:
- Understanding and anticipating upcoming lifecycle stages for all IT assets
- Analyzing current lifecycle stages for specific IT assets
- Tracking real-time IT software and hardware costs
- Optimizing software usage and run-times
- Making excellent decisions about future asset acquisition
- Knowing when to dispose of current assets
- Reducing equipment and device theft and loss
Reduces Costs
Financial costs can add up quickly when it comes to technology. However, with efficient tracking software, firms will gain superior insights into how much their assets regularly cost. They can also understand the costs of their assets in comparison with their current and future value. Naturally, they can also reduce financial risks related to compliance issues, equipment or system failures, emergency needs for new equipment, asset inefficiencies, and business operation stalls or shut-downs.
Specifically, ITAM software reduces costs by:
- Gaining insights into optimizing hardware, software, and Cloud usage and costs
- Avoiding unbudgeted costs from repairs, maintenance, compliance audits, and unmanaged cloud spend
- Planning for better, more efficient purchases and renewals
- Improving relationships with key stakeholders and investors from comprehensive data reports
- Detecting costs that are currently neglected and unmanaged
Enhancing Efficiencies
Unmanaged IT assets welcome inefficiency in the form of unoptimized equipment and software, un-updated programs, broken devices and accessories, ill-fitting equipment for processes, and slow work. Likewise, manual IT asset management means IT professionals spend much time performing repetitive tasks and potentially neglecting some essential elements. ITAM software automates the management and keeps track of usage, performance, and costs. Effectively, you receive all the information you need to make the best decisions about your assets and company. Your employees spend their time carrying out better tasks.
ITAM software optimizes operations in a few key ways:
- Automating workflows and practices involved in IT asset lifecycles
- Generating information about usage and costs
- Eliminating tedious tasks
- Ensuring hardware and software are always available for new hires
- Creating an easy environment for onboarding and offboarding IT assets
- Offering insights into out-of-control software and Cloud costs
- Providing a single source of truth for all data about IT assets
Take your IT asset management to the next level with DevSamurai’s AssetIT. Benefit from management tools for hardware assets, software and licenses, and consumables. You will mitigate risks, reduce costs, and enhance efficiencies all at the same time.
This Ebook provides a comprehensive overview of IT Asset Management, its benefits, and common challenges faced by organizations. We will also explore how to implement IT Asset Management using Jira, a popular project management tool, and best practices for managing IT assets.
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