The importance of IT asset management in cost-saving programs
IT asset management is the efficient administration of IT assets over the entire lifecycle, such as software, hardware and cloud resources. The goals of IT asset management in addition to asset tracking to achieve transparency, are the cost-efficient use of IT resources and the reduction of IT risks (e.g. within license management or IT security).
Within IT Asset Management various departments work hand in hand
Along the lifecycle from requirement analysis to retirement, different divisions are involved with a large number of interfaces. These range from departments with a more commercial focus, such as license, provider and contract management to portfolio or IT service management and cyber security. Successful collaboration is particularly important when considering IT asset management from a commercial perspective as part of cost-saving programs.
Ideally, cost optimization takes place as part of operations at the beginning of the lifecycle. Assets can be selected according to a standard catalog for the hardware and software portfolio. Then demands are consolidated to achieve the best possible prices as part of procurement. During the deployment phase, costs for licenses can be reduced by selecting the optimal combination of software and hardware or cloud resources.
During operations, assets should be specifically monitored and actively managed to make necessary adjustments with the help of current data and transparency on the assets in use. This can reduce risk, improve utilization, and contain expenses by avoiding unnecessary purchases as well as reducing licensing and support costs for redundant resources or unused instances.
In conclusion, active management in the context of retirement is crucial to ensure that unused instances, devices and software are uninstalled, thus freeing up capacity and licenses. As a result, license and operating costs as well as compliance and security risks can be reduced with targeted monitoring and management of IT assets along all phases of the lifecycle.
There are many hurdles to cost optimization in IT asset management
But efficient IT asset management also comes with significant challenges. The fundamental prerequisite for successful IT asset management is accurate, complete and current data, which often stems from various sources such as databases, cloud platforms and ITSM systems. But the complexity of data from different source systems often poses a major obstacle. Not only the technical interfaces are a potential source of problems, but collaboration at the interfaces with those responsible for the different phases of the lifecycle and different source systems can also be difficult. The responsible parties have other priorities within their area of responsibility and collaboration with IT asset management is often put on the back burner. Guidelines and processes are crucial at this point in order to act efficiently and clearly define roles and responsibilities.
In addition, IT infrastructure has changed significantly in recent years. With the increasing use of the cloud and managed services, organizations must also evolve IT asset management to adapt to this transformation. Know-how and best practices are also still evolving in this area, as Gartner already pointed out back in 2018 (Prepare Your IT Asset Management for 2020 (gartner.com). The flexibility of cloud and service usage, as well as decentralization of purchases and installations within the organization, add further complexity. Increasingly, software and other IT assets are being procured, managed and used without the knowledge of IT Asset Management. This can lead to a partial loss of asset transparency and an increase of unknown issues in the IT infrastructure of organizations.
Cost-saving programs benefit from efficient IT asset management
Many companies are constantly going through new cost-cutting programs especially due to the current economic uncertainty.
This also includes IT asset management, which can identify targeted cost-saving potential. Ideally, costs are already optimized during operations, but dedicated measures can often be used to realize further cost-saving potential. However, this requires valid and current data and successful cooperation at the interfaces in order to implement defined cost-saving measures. Companies can amongst others drive forward server consolidations or optimizations. Transparency about usage behavior, e.g. through software metering, can help to free up unused licenses or instances.
However, despite all efforts to reduce costs, this should not take place at the expense of strategic corporate and IT development or innovation. To remain competitive and continue future development, a balance between cost avoidance and innovation is essential. This may include, for example, diversifying the infrastructure with corresponding additional costs in order to avoid a vendor lock-in situation or to promote infrastructure resilience. But transparency about the current infrastructure and existing assets is also of immense importance for these strategic decisions.
Author: Jessica Loi Müller