A list of what you need to streamline your IT asset management

Has your business ever hit a point where it felt like its IT infrastructure is a tangled mess? This often happens at some point in an organisation's journey, no matter the size, and ends up costing the business valuable time and money. Inefficient IT asset management (ITAM) can lead to lost devices, wasted licenses, and security risks.

By streamlining the ITAM process, you can gain control of your IT workflow, boost efficiency, and save your business some real money. Let's look at this comprehensive list of what your business needs to do the same.

Procurement and vendor contracts:

Standardise your purchasing process - define clear rules and procedures for acquiring new IT equipment and software.

For small and mid-sized businesses, the largest chunk of the IT budget spent is allocated to purchasing hardware - Spiceworks State of IT Report 2024

Negotiate contracts with vendors that require them to provide detailed asset information during purchase (model numbers, serial numbers, device specifications, etc). This ensures you have accurate data right from the beginning.

Try to minimise the total number of vendors your company deals with, this can reduce time spent on processes like procurement and allows your business to establish a good, loyal relationship with one or two reputed vendors. This can be done by sourcing from vendors who offer services that cover the IT asset lifecycle from end to end. (Read here to know more about choosing the right vendor).

Tagging and tracking (unique asset IDs):

Your company should tag all of its IT assets right from the get-go. Implement a systematic labeling system using barcodes, QR codes, or other such methods. This allows for easy identification and tracking.

Create a centralised asset dashboard - a digital record of every single IT asset your company owns. This can be done through spreadsheets, but it is remarkably easier and more effective to implement an IT asset management software instead. Read here about why spreadsheets might not be the best idea.

Include details like model, serial number, purchase date, assigned user, and warranty information when you make a record of all your company's IT assets.

IT policies and creating a knowledge base:

Develop clear and concise IT policies for all employees and end-users. These policies should outline acceptable IT asset usage, access control measures, and data security protocols. Make sure to also educate them about Shadow IT, and its risks.

These policies and methods of educating the users help ensure compliance and minimise risks.

Empower your team with a comprehensive knowledge base. This should include user guides, troubleshooting steps, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and giving them access to relevant vendor manuals.

A well-maintained knowledge base reduces reliance on IT help desk for basic issues, saving everyone time. At the same time, when employees are fully aware of the how-to's and other aspects of their devices, worker productivity and efficiency are also likely to improve.

Repair and maintenance:

Establish a clear process for tracking and managing asset repairs. This includes logging repair requests, assigning technicians, and monitoring repair progress.

Implementing a consistent routine for repair and maintenance of your company's IT assets can save money and time, and even drastically reduce the chances of unexpected crashes or errors.

ITAM tools can help implement a robust preventive maintenance schedule, yet another reason why your business needs ITAM software.

Businesses can reduce around 12-18 percent of costs using a preventive maintenance approach over reactive maintenance - EERE Research

Define escalation procedures for device failures so that employees know what they need to do when something goes wrong. This ensures timely resolution.

IT asset disposal:

Don't throw your IT assets away, or even worse, don't just give them away. Adopt a secure and environmentally responsible strategy for disposing of old IT assets. Read more about the importance of proper IT asset disposition.

Recycle and reuse what you can, this can help save you procurement costs, or even add a bit of extra revenue for your business by selling off your old or dead devices to the right disposal vendor.

IT managers have reported data security as the top priority when it comes to disposing of retired devices – Annual IT Asset Disposition Report by Cascade, 2024

Ensure your disposal methods comply with relevant data security regulations to prevent information breaches.

ITAM software:

Consider investing in dedicated ITAM software. Your business can harness the power of such tools to: automate many manual or mundane IT tasks, establish clear visibility and control of your IT assets, generate and use insightful data and analytics to make better decisions, and so much more.

Ultimately, ITAM tools are a cost-saving investment that can directly support your business growth, and save you both time and money.

Assetze's all-in-one ITAM platform is a simplified but powerful solution for all your ITAM needs. Streamline your IT workflow with our tool, and gain access to our end-to-end IT services for when you really need them. Sign up for a demo today.

By following the above checklist and implementing each step, your business is well on its way to a streamlined ITAM workflow. The benefits that follow are: reduced costs, greater efficiency, better or stronger security, and the countless other advantages of effective ITAM.