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An asset management solution lets a business regularly monitor equipment and schedule maintenance when needed. Doing so allows businesses to cut down on downtime, improve productivity, and extend the lifetime of assets.
Implementing a structured IT asset lifecycle management process is imperative to give businesses complete visibility and control over their IT assets from the planning to the disposal stage.
ITAM is the process of being able to plan for, manage, maintain, and track various IT assets over their lifecycle. Each IT asset’s lifecycle is different and depends on whether the asset is software, hardware, or an on-premise solution. When it comes to SaaS systems and solutions, the IT asset’s lifecycle often depends on whether the SaaS vendor supports, maintains, and updates their systems and solutions. But even if the IT asset is cloud-based and vendor-controlled, being able to monitor that asset needs to fall within the scope of ITAM.
ITAM is vital for the management and maintenance of IT systems in an efficient manner. With the help of ITAM, IT budget holders, asset owners, decision-makers, and users can improve their efficiency levels. In short, IT asset owners can use ITAM to optimize the use of their resources, reduce waste, and increase their business’s bottom line. Furthermore, the management can use ITAM to get knowledge and relevant insights for making intelligent purchase decisions. They can also manage and monitor their IT assets effectively throughout the lifecycle of each IT asset.
Let’s take a close look at the six stages of asset lifecycles:
An essential activity in defining an organization’s IT strategic objectives and goals is to evaluate the current state of the company’s internal and external IT environment to plan how to reach a future target state. During this activity, the company stakeholders should review whether existing IT systems are fit, function cost-effectively, and meet necessary compliance requirements.
Businesses need to make a plan before purchasing any IT hardware or software assets. This step usually involves knowing any pain points or problems that need to be solved.
Examples are – “We need to tighten up security,” “We are running short of cloud storage,” or “The IT Helpdesk needs tools to keep up with demand.”
During the planning stage, businesses should be able to identify the following:
– What problem(s) need solving?
– Who is the solution for?
– What IT assets will solve the problem?
– Does the business have an existing solution, or should it be a brand-new purchase?
– When does the business need the solution?
– What RoI will the business get if a particular solution solves the problem?
– What is the budget?
The budget for these IT assets needs to be drawn up, mentioning funding sources, acquisition sources, ROI of the IT assets, and any financial policies that need to be considered regarding depreciation. Plans should be prioritized and presented to the company leadership for approval, along with budget estimates.
After the business gets answers to the questions in the above stage, the next step is to go to the acquisition stage.
If it is a small IT purchase (e.g., a SaaS software product that costs less than $100/month), the business can get someone to sign up for a free trial and evaluate it. If the team using the software is satisfied, then the paid version can be purchased and deployed.
When it comes to a large IT purchase decision, this may take months. Budgets must be fixed, vendors shortlisted, proposals evaluated, and trial deployments checked out until a purchasing decision is made.
There are multiple approaches that companies can follow in the acquisition stage. Some of these are outright procurement, procurement through leasing, and BYOD or “bring your own device.”
During the acquisition stage, all acquired IT assets should be onboarded for use in the company’s IT environment. The first step is registering the IT asset within the company’s inventory. The next step is to tag the asset with an identifier or a label for the purpose of traceability. Some businesses tag assets with the help of RFID tags, barcodes, or QR codes. The IT asset should be logged into a company’s IT asset register, which helps track the deployment and use of IT assets across the company. Using a digital IT asset register rather than a manual one is advisable.
The previously registered asset is ready to be deployed into service during this stage. Some assets come preconfigured from vendors. Others need the IT team to set them up for use per the company’s IT policies. The setup should include configuring company-approved operating systems, setting security controls, and installing software applications. The company’s IT asset register must be updated after assignment to the relevant personnel.
In the case of end-user devices, assignments may be done via the approval of requests raised with the help of the IT service management software. Some companies may require users to agree with acceptable usage policies before giving them access to the device. In the case of IT assets in a data center, deployment and configuration may be a planned exercise along the line of the company’s change enablement policies. On the other hand, IT assets in the cloud should be deployed and configured automatically with the help of CI/CD (continuous integration and delivery).
After assignment and deployment, IT assets should be monitored regularly. By doing so, businesses can ensure that the assets are being used effectively and efficiently. They should also ensure that the assets are aligned with compliance requirements and business needs.
Monitoring utilization is vital to ensure that the IT assets and relevant licenses are being used correctly and in full. Other areas to be monitored include support contracts, warranty expiration, SSL certification, any upgrade requirements, compliance requirements, vulnerabilities, etc. It is essential to carry out regular business impact assessments and risk assessments. By doing so, businesses can ensure that they get a deep insight into the current value of the IT assets periodically so that necessary actions can be taken to optimize the usage of the assets.
All IT assets should be optimized regularly to ensure that they stay fit for the purpose they were obtained. It is vital to upgrade, service, and maintain them regularly. Any problems or issues that may arise with IT assets must be addressed effectively and quickly. Furthermore, any occurrence of problems or issues should be recorded to ensure that this data is captured in the monitoring stage and reports reviewed to confirm that the assets are still fit to be used.
All end-user devices are linked closely to the lifecycle of the employee. If employees change roles or leave the company, the IT assets they were using should be reconfigured appropriately. After reconfiguration, those assets may be sent for storage or transferred to another new user. Also, all cloud assets should be monitored regularly to either facilitate the shutdown of instances or to retract any unused licenses.
IT assets no longer useful to the business should be removed from service. This is the decommissioning stage, and some triggers for this stage are warranty expiry, end of life, loss, damage, depreciation, and lack of spares.
Decommissioning may sound simple, but not having visibility, accountability, or proper direction may hamper the effort. There should be clear ownership of the IT asset and guidance on how and when. Furthermore, the management should lay down rules to ensure proper responsibility is fixed for this stage.
In the case of IT assets that support business data and applications, service removal should be a controlled process via the change enablement practice. There should be a thorough risk assessment to determine whether decommissioning an IT asset may adversely impact any live services. IT assets should be retrieved from the IT environment and any users. Furthermore, steps should be taken to ensure that the status of the IT asset is updated in the asset register.
In this stage, media should be sanitized with the help of data transfer to either replacement or storage devices. In some cases, outright deletion should be done in a controlled manner to ensure that any adverse security incidents, such as improper access, do not take place. After sanitization, the IT assets must be stored securely while awaiting the disposal stage.
All software licenses need to be tracked for reuse or return to the software vendor. In the case of any cloud assets, the decommissioning stage may involve deleting or turning off instances. If any devices are stolen or lost, appropriate steps should be taken to remotely wipe any data on the device to ensure proper decommissioning of the assets.
Any decommissioned IT assets not fit for redeployment are now ready to be disposed of. Disposal decisions depend on procurement approaches, compliance and sustainability requirements, and company policies. Options for IT disposal include:
Some companies may donate their IT assets to charitable or educational institutions.
If the IT asset has value, it should be sold off to the highest bidder. A formal valuation process should be undertaken, and sale details should be captured in the IT asset register.
Some IT assets might be recycled, and parts may be salvaged for usage in other systems.
Any IT assets that were leased should be returned to vendors. BYOD devices should go back to the original owners.
If the above options are not relevant, the decommissioned IT assets should be destroyed completely. It is vital to carry out this destruction in line with sustainability policies and e-waste regulations.
Whatever disposal method is followed, the IT asset’s status should be updated and tracked in the IT asset register.
– Offers complete visibility to stakeholders by giving them an in-depth view of the company’s IT environment. With its help, an organization can define and control its entire IT infrastructure.
– Helps businesses stay compliant, reduce security and legal risks, and prepare for audits.
– Cuts down unnecessary IT spending by controlling asset purchases and optimizing the use of IT assets.
– Businesses should implement a governance framework for all the stages of the IT asset lifecycle.
– Businesses should use an automated asset register to track the statuses of the IT assets throughout their lifecycle.
– Businesses should consider investing in an IT asset management solution and use it to discover IT assets effectively and track the status of their lifecycle.
– The status of each IT asset lifecycle should be verified independently.
IT asset lifecycle management is vital to efficiently maintaining and managing IT systems in a business. Asset management is essential to assist IT asset owners, users, budget holders, and decision-makers make procurement decisions efficiently. Proper IT asset lifecycle management gives business leaders the insights and knowledge needed to make smart IT decisions. It also gives them the necessary tools to manage and monitor the company’s IT assets from deployment to disposal.