04 Jan 10 Ways IT Asset Managers Affect Top and Bottom Lines

With the proliferation of business technologies that are helping fast-moving organizations achieve competitive advantages — mobile, cloud, SaaS, virtualization — IT asset management continues to grow and evolve as a critical area of focus for IT departments. And because IT assets include all hardware and software either owned or leased by an organization, a scalable ITAM practice grows in importance in direct correlation to the size and complexity of the organization it serves. Being in compliance, mitigating risk, reducing costs, and increasing profitability are the main concerns for IT asset managers.

With so much responsibility, IT asset managers are the CIO’s best friend and arguably one of an IT department’s most valuable team members. Below are 10 ways IT asset managers affect an organization’s top and bottom lines.

1. IT asset managers are accountable for managing all of their organization’s IT assets across their lifecycles. They must develop policies, standards, processes, systems, and reporting that enables the organization to manage the entire IT portfolio.
2. IT asset managers must create and implement critical business processes that affect financial transactions and contractual agreements.
3. IT asset managers must compile and maintain one trustworthy and completely accurate system of record for all IT assets so that their company can manage costs and maximize margins.
4. IT asset managers must report accurately on all IT asset data, including software licensing, hardware leasing, etc. They must provide actionable data on all IT assets organization-wide.
5. IT asset managers form procurement strategies to optimize technology spend across the organization.
6. IT asset managers must make key recommendations and decisions on tools and technologies to run their ITAM program efficiently and cost-effectively. They must seek out tools that allow them to easily track, manage, and report on IT assets.
7. IT asset managers must master integrated software solutions that work with all departments that are involved in the procurement, deployment, management and expense reporting of IT assets.
8. IT asset managers must decommission and dispose of an organization’s IT assets at the end of their lifecycles. Before disposal, IT asset managers must consider factors like security, recouping costs, recycling and tax liabilities. Afterward, they must verify that the assets have been disposed of properly and manage records to prove it. This has direct implications for the office of the CFO.
9. IT asset managers must resolve compliance exceptions in the IT environment and ensure corrective actions are taken to address any non-compliance in the process.
10. IT asset managers must understand the licensing approaches of the organization’s largest vendors.

 
Organizations that have sound ITAM practices in place are well-positioned against their competition as they are facing less risk and have more accurate and trustworthy data on which to make business decisions. IT asset managers should be considered one of the IT department’s most valuable human assets.

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