Asset Management allows you to comprehensively manage and track all the IT assets in your enterprise.  With a complete view of your IT inventory, you improve customer service, corporate productivity and drive down IT costs.

Every organization requires an IT asset management program, whether to simply get a handle on what you own and where it is located, to meet new demands (eg. upgrades), or to meet audit or compliance-related regulations (eg. Sarbanes-Oxley).

However, the first and most important step is to develop a baseline of what you have.  This should be straight forward and easy to do, and the most popular products allow you to do this quickly and at low cost.

Stages of an IT Asset Management Program

Selecting an Asset Management Tool

Designing and implementing an asset management program should take into account various processes, technologies, staff impact and cost to implement and maintain the program.  In addition, your immediate and long term needs should be considered.

We advise our clients to develop a list of key requirements prior to selecting an asset management solution.  We have developed a "top 10" list of common requirements based on client feedback, which may be a good starting point for your organization:
 

Easy to deploy Easy to use Ability to detect ALL network-attached devices Identify physical locations Easily track usage Reporting and query functionality Scheduling of audits Includes tools to estimate the cost of upgrades Assist in license compliance reporting Integrate with Help Desk Systems

Benefits

Selecting the right set of tools and implementing an asset management program will provide your organization with a number of benefits, including creating the needed baseline for determining what you have, where you can create efficiencies, and how you can meet compliance requirements.