You Can Make a Difference at the Ground Floor of ITAM

Patricia Adams, Ivanti’s IT Asset Management evangelist who also spent more than 21 years as an analyst and industry expert at Gartner Inc., has authored the thought-leadership white paper “Ivanti IT and Software Asset Management Attainment Model” that you can download below.

As you’ll read in the paper, Patricia details the several levels of ITAM/SAM attainment, and she clarifies that the “attainment model” isn’t intended as a definitive roadmap that applies to every organization. It’s rather a road map or reference manual to help you chart a course for the program’s direction that can also be shared with other IT domains.

At the ground floor: awareness typically begins with client devices

Patricia writes that the Initial level or Level 1 of the attainment model is where Ivanti has witnessed most of its customers embarking on an ITAM/SAM program.

“They’ve recognized problems that need addressing systematically,” she says. “This awareness may have come about as the result of a software vendor audit, a lost mobile device that contained sensitive data, or any number of reasons.”

Within the context of addressing problems systematically, ITAM represents a set of management disciplines that enable you to track both hardware and software assets along with all relevant information, eliminate unused software licenses, drive immediate license savings, and ensure audit preparedness.

The benefit of having ITAM in place is that it significantly changes the way your organization views and manages its software and hardware assets.

ITAM also goes beyond software monitoring to track and maintain all assets across your environment. It’s critical to gain complete visibility of warranty data at the time hardware is purchased so you can manage recall information on assets like batteries, printer ink or toner, and other consumables. This process helps internal consumers understand the budget impacts of requesting and installing software and hardware assets.

ITAM does much more than remove the pain from an external audit; it allows you to perform routine internal audits to determine if your software and hardware assignments benefit your organization, if you have the right assets assigned to the right users, and if you are working with

the right vendor. Without processes that offer up hard statistics, you have no leverage when negotiating license agreements, volume discounts, or the details of the audit process.

Eliminate overbuying licenses

One of the ways organizations shield themselves from non-compliance is to overbuy software licenses. If you don’t understand what you have, you may be tempted to overbuy licenses to avoid getting hit with penalties and fees. This crisis-driven approach to preparing for an audit may avoid fines, but it does nothing to reduce the time and money you’ll spend to survive subsequent audits.

The advantages of Ivanti Asset Manager

Asset Manager tracks your IT assets to make them work harder for you. Whether managing software, hardware, server, client, virtual, or cloud assets, you gain a complete view of your IT asset management position. Plus, Asset Manager is available on-premise and in the cloud to fit your organization’s needs.

Monitor assets from onboarding to disposal.

Track hardware and software lifecycles to reduce maintenance spend, provision new assets quickly, and control IT costs while maximizing the value of your assets.

When you better understand the changes that occur throughout the lifecycle, you can make informed purchasing decisions, replace consumables at the right time, and empower management with accurate, thorough information about total cost of ownership.

Accelerate productivity with processes out-of-the-box.

By establishing the right processes, you increase organizational efficiencies and provide users what they need to succeed at their jobs. Give new hires the right tools at the right time. Eliminate systems downtime due to hardware failure through timely maintenance and replacement processes.

Asset Manager includes processes like lifecycle management, disposal, software audit, contract management, and more designed to address real customer pain points.

Integrate with Ivanti Service Desk for easy request management.

Users benefit from a rich self-service experience as they navigate easily through an approved service catalog, alleviating pressure on IT staff.

Asset Manager also enhances change management processes and policies by providing IT asset status updates. The solution delivers a single asset repository that integrates with your service management CMDB, ensuring accurate, up-to-date information.