What is IT asset management software?

IT asset management (ITAM) software facilitates business-wide inventory and lifecycle management of software and hardware assets. ITAM software helps businesses with maintenance history, user permissions, acquisition budget forecasting, and software license compliance.

The benefits of IT asset management software

• Maximize value of IT assets: ITAM software helps measure and monitor the value of your business’ IT assets. With accurate IT asset valuation, you can make better investment decisions. On the flip side, you can stop paying for software and hardware licenses with lower returns on investment.
• Improve service levels: Effective ITAM software utilization lets administrators reduce time spent on manual overheads and focus instead on important service requests. With real-time predictive analytics reports, IT teams can proactively create automation tools to remove vulnerabilities, minimize risk, and reduce service requests.
• Protect assets and support compliance: With digital workplace initiatives like bring your own device (BYOD) gaining popularity, tracking unauthorized devices and reducing asset misuse is increasingly difficult. ITAM software can detect unauthorized tools or applications and alert IT managers to take corrective action and reduce associated risks.

Typical features of IT asset management software

• Asset tracking: Monitor, control, and manage documentation for all IT assets. Advanced solutions include real-time asset monitoring and diagnostic tools to track new devices.
• Inventory management: Create a centralized repository to monitor and store all important IT asset data. Also tracks the complete lifecycle of IT assets.
• Audit management: Scrutinize IT assets to evaluate risk and generate reports and metrics to identify any issues.
• Compliance tracking: Track renewal and expiration dates of all licenses and notify IT managers of all regulatory changes.
• Supplier management: Link purchase invoices and manage vendors from a centralized platform to reduce redundancies and streamline operations.

Considerations when purchasing IT asset management software

• Mobile capabilities: In today’s digital age, employees are mostly mobile and often work from remote locations. Businesses expect their IT teams to respond swiftly to service requests and minimize downtime. Therefore, it is essential that IT teams be responsive while working remotely. If your employees travel frequently, look for ITAM software that is compatible with mobile browsers or offer iOS and Android applications.
• Total cost of ownership: Finding the right ITAM solution within your budget can be a daunting task. ITAM software solutions offer varied pricing models that make direct comparison a bit tough. Common pricing models for ITAM solutions are tiered pricing, pay-per-user, and pay-per-node. Buyers should calculate the total cost of a solution before making a purchase decision, including features costs, licensing fees, integration costs, number of users, and support.

Relevant IT asset management software trends

• Adoption of artificial intelligence (AI): Gartner predicts that over the next few years, all software applications will incorporate artificial intelligence in some way. AI-backed tools such as chatbots will handle service requests and other mundane tasks. AI tools will also help reduce the workloads of IT administrators by creating incident tickets and guiding users to relevant knowledge management resources to resolve their issues.
• ITAM strategies will incorporate physical devices: Adoption of the internet of things among small and midsize businesses is increasing at a fast pace. As more smart assets are added to IT networks, businesses must begin viewing them as a key component of their IT infrastructure.