If IT Assets Could Talk, What Would They Say?

Think of your organization’s IT assets. They’re probably spread out across the globe, working in different capacities. From mobile phones to laptops to monitors, your many pieces of IT hardware can have quite a wide variety of experiences over their lifetime. So that got us thinking – if IT assets could talk, what would they say? What stories would they tell?

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We compiled four IT asset management (ITAM) stories submitted by our customers and told them in the perspective of the asset in the fun comics you’ll find throughout this blog post. Be sure to reach out to us on Twitter, tagging @GoIvanti, and let us know what your assets would say if they could talk!

Don’t Let Your Assets Get Cabinet Fever

Hopefully your IT assets are all being utilized to their greatest capacity, although this can be tricky to accomplish, especially without an IT asset management (ITAM) strategy in place.

In my own house, I have a “junk drawer” – my spot to put odds and ends that don’t have a logical place to go. You never put something in the “junk drawer” with the assumption that it’s a permanent landing place, but it always seems to end up that way.

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Many organizations have a “junk drawer” equivalent when it comes to their IT assets, whether it be a closet, a cabinet, or other forgotten space. What starts as a temporary decision to “throw that laptop there and I’ll look at it later” turns into a hardware graveyard. My eyes water just thinking about the amount of dust accumulating!

The Security Risks of Rogue Assets

Beyond not wasting time and money with assets lost in your organization’s “junk drawer” equivalent, there can also be risk associated with not knowing what assets you have. There are major security implications if you have untracked assets. If you don’t know what assets you have, how do you even begin to secure them? This can lead to unpatched assets, which could provide hackers an open door into your systems.

Knowing the Asset Lifecyle

IT Asset Management isn’t just about tracking the physical location of an asset, it’s also about having visibility into the asset’s health and performance at all times. If you don’t know where your IT assets are in their lifecycle, you’re risking productivity loss and spending unnecessary costs for repairs.

One of our customers recently told us a story about how some of their new laptops started being problematic – they noticed issues with the battery life and system speed. Instead of wasting time trying to fix the issue, they knew that the laptops were still under warranty, so they were able to replace them, no problem.

Replacing assets under warranty isn’t the only benefit of tracking IT asset lifecycles. I recently spoke to Roisin Tims, Marketing Manager at Ivanti, who had a wonderful experience with Ivanti’s IT department. Roisin had her laptop for a few years and it was starting to slow down, although not to a point that it was really frustrating her or inhibiting her work in the office. Before it had a chance to become an issue, IT proactively approached her about getting a new laptop, since they had been tracking her asset and knew it was time for her to get a hardware refresh.

“I was really impressed by how proactive the IT department was. I had my laptop replaced before it became a problem and my work didn’t skip a beat,” Roisin said.

Not only did the IT department keep the assets fresh and at the top of their game, they also kept their users happy and working at peak performance levels. This is just one of the many benefits of having an ITAM strategy in place to keep track of hardware assets.

Reclaim and Redistribute Unused Licenses

ITAM isn’t just about hardware asset management. Another major component is software asset management. Software overspend to avoid audits is a massive problem in IT. It is crucial for organizations to know what software exists in their environment, track usage, and identify areas and ways that IT assets can work smarter.

Tracking software usage can allow you to reclaim unused licenses and reallocate software to maximize the performance and value of your software. This not only helps you minimize cost, but it can help mitigate the risk of audits. It also helps you get a handle on Shadow IT in your environment. Software asset management allows you to achieve a state of complete and license optimization.

At Ivanti, our goal is to keep both your users and your assets happy. With Ivanti’s ITAM and IT Service Management solutions, you can build an IT strategy that will get your assets smiling. Read our whitepaper about how ITSM and ITAM are better together to learn more.