by Andrew Carr, Managing Director – Trustmarque
IT Asset Management (ITAM) is not just about having the right licences in place but ensuring that all your IT assets are being used efficiently and securely. Best practice dictates that ITAM should be an integral part of an organisation’s IT strategy. This allows an organisation to be in complete control of its IT asset estate and manage its IT spend intelligently and effectively.
With a growing focus on workforce mobility and cloud adoption, an ITAM strategy covers both software and hardware assets. Having a solid management plan for both ensures a strong foundation for maximising the return on assets deployed.
Safe, efficient and low risk
Having full visibility of the IT assets your organisation owns and uses is the starting point for all your cyber security requirements and protection against current threats. The key is to have a sufficient number of devices and licences to enable your employees to work productively whilst maintaining an efficient and streamlined IT service.
Security
Figures from Get Safe Online and Action Fraud reveal that, in 2015/16, cyber crime cost UK businesses over £1bn, with a 22% rise in reported online crime, making cyber security a Board level consideration more than ever before. 
For an organisation to protect itself successfully, knowing exactly what it has to protect and being able to identify any gaps or vulnerabilities it has is critical. With an effective ITAM process in place, you will know that every device is accounted for and you can have confidence that your organisation’s IT assets are secured against cybercrime.
Budgets
Perhaps the most compelling benefit of ITAM is the financial control it gives over your entire IT estate. Once all the IT assets within your organisation have been discovered and documented you can begin to identify where efficiencies and savings can be made giving you complete visibility of where, when and how much is being spent.
Compliance
An effective ITAM strategy can protect an organisation against vendor audits allowing you to have the correct software licenses in place at all times. Software licence contracts are complicated, increasing the likelihood that transgressions will be discovered during a vendor audit.
Penalties for non-compliance can be devastating. Denver City, in the USA, was facing a potential $10 million penalty from Oracle after admitting to violating its licensing agreements. Being compliant with software licensing avoids unnecessary and hefty costs, as well as mitigating risk.
Getting it right
To meet these goals, forming a cohesive, strong IT strategy underpinned by good ITAM practice across your entire organisation can be a difficult but a vital undertaking. Effective IT asset management will help answer the various business challenges faced by the IT department and drive the future growth of your organisation.
With 30 years’ experience in both the public and private sectors, Trustmarque work with our customers to provide the IT solutions that best fit their organisation, by giving honest, simple and independent advice in an increasingly complex world of IT asset management.
