1. Vendor Landscapes Plus: Automated IT Asset Management Solutions Practical IT Research that Drives Measurable Results

2. Who should read this: At the end, you will be able to: Articulate the benefits of creating an ITAM process and automating it. Create a shortlist of ITAM vendors and select the best fit for your organization. Prepare an RFP and have a script ready for vendor demos. Establish architectural and policy requirements to successfully implement an ITAM tool. 250 or more devices. A complex or constantly changing environment. Plans to improve its ITAM practice using automated tools. Optimized IT Asset Management (ITAM) involves people, processes, and technology. Assets can be tracked using spreadsheets or databases, but to optimize the ITAM practice by automating repeatable tasks, generating detailed reports and analysis, and integrating with help desk and business applications, there must be an investment in automated tools. IT Managers. IT Asset Managers. Introduction This research will help those who are selecting a vendor, will provide insight on determining business requirements, and will provide guidance for those ready to implement. In an organization with:

3. Executive Summary Understand Strategize Compare Implement Select Implement a strong IT asset management (ITAM) solution to enable your company to save as much as 30% on software and 15% on hardware costs, create efficiencies around all processes relating to IT assets, and avoid risks and associated costs of being audited and found out of compliance on software. Processes and policies are extremely important to the success of an ITAM solution, regardless of the size of the organization. However, once an organization reaches 250 or more systems, policies may be difficult to enforce and the potential cost savings are minimal unless automated tools are in place. Numerous options exist for ITAM tools that range from simple open source products to commercially available tools that manage environments with varying levels of complexity. This solution set will contrast the two and show where open source options are appropriate and where commercially available products produce value. This solution set will identify Info-Tech’s criteria for choosing the products we reviewed, introduce you to 12 vendors that meet this criteria, and provide you with tools and tips for shortlisting vendors. Installation of an ITAM tool provides up-to-date inventory reports, but won’t provide the savings or efficiencies promised without a proper implementation. This report will provide tips for implementing tools and features and populating databases to get your ITAM practice working quickly for you.

4. CompareStrategizeImplement Understand Select Start with a strong ITAM base. Know the benefits of ITAM. Know the limitations of ITAM tools. Roadmap Build your ITAM solution from the ground up 42 1 3 Next Section in Brief

5. Extend your ITSM practice to include IT Asset Management for quick wins with process efficiencies & lower costs Save money – Reduce asset costs by as much as 30% through redeployment of hardware & software, tracking missing equipment, returning leases on time, and knowing what hardware still fulfills minimum requirements for future use that will justify lease buy-outs or extensions. Create efficiencies – Integrate ITAM into IT Service Management. Save 15-20% off the cost of asset lifecycle management by directly tying specific asset data to workflows; incident, change, and problem management; and having instant access to configuration data to solve IT issues. Lower costs and risk of non compliance software – External audit requests are invasive and expensive, including fines at three times the retail price per incident, consultants & auditors at a cost of $800-$2,000 per day, and legal fees. Tools that will automate the majority of the audit process and provide insight into usage will significantly reduce the probability of an audit as well as associated costs. Organizations typically see the most dramatic savings within the first year, but will see continuous savings throughout the IT Asset Management process. Info-Tech Insight:

6. Build the ITAM base starting with people, processes & policies to ensure the technology is not a waste of money People – Assign a detail-oriented person who is as competent with numbers and contracts as with IT terminology to act as IT Asset Manager. Extend the team to include IT, Accounting, HR, and Legal as appropriate to ensure policies are enforced and software can be managed at all touch points. Policies & Processes – Create policies to document how IT assets will be purchased, installed, and managed within the organization. Integrate IT asset management into the service management practice to provide visibility and link assets to help desk tickets, lease detail, contracts, and support agreements. Technology – Use discovery tools and workflow to report and enforce policies, to provide insight into asset inventory and usage, and to automate repeatable tasks. Optimize the IT practice by integrating ITAM & ITSM tools; optimize the business practice by integration with purchasing, finance, and ERP systems. Purchasing the technology without first assigning a dedicated administrator and implementing policies and processes often results in the technology not being used. Refer to Info-Tech’s solution set, “Manage Software Assets Efficiently” to get the right people, policies, and processes in place.Manage Software Assets Efficiently Info-Tech Insight:

7. Minimal tracking tools are in place. Typically there is a combination of overspending and non-compliance. Chaos Use discovery tools and spreadsheets to manage software, which often results in overspending. Reactive Monitor & maintain compliance effectively using discovery and inventory tools to manage software. Controlled Achieve cost savings using tools that provide usage reports and ensure timely renewals and lease returns. Proactive IT: Integrate ITAM tools with ITSM to automate tasks, workflows, policy enforcement, software & patch distribution. Business: Integrate ITAM tools with business applications to manage purchases, contracts & leases, financials & workflows. Optimized Use automated ITAM tools to quickly reach a controlled state and propel you to an optimized ITAM status Larger enterprises will see the highest value from optimizing ITAM with business processes, but the majority of organizations will benefit from optimization of IT and some business integration. Info-Tech Insight:

8. Moderate levels of implementation yield the lowest levels of implementation success Source: Info-Tech Research Group N = 66 Companies who have excellent tools in place to track and manage their assets, and therefore spend minimal effort on ITAM, reap the rewards of a successful ITAM practice. Success rates are relatively high for high levels of effort Companies who spend a great amount of effort on ITAM and do not have automated tools in place also see success in their ITAM practice. Achieve success with strong ITAM processes – either with great tools & minimal effort or poor tools & colossal effort Companies who spend a moderate amount of effort on their ITAM practice and don’t have the right tools in place experience the least amount of success in managing their IT assets. ~ See appendix for our measure of success ~

9. No tool will provide 100% automation for your ITAM practice, so prioritize your needs & choose the closest match Reduce, reuse, recycle Extend technology lifecycle and reduce costs through redeployment of software licenses. Product usage & upgrade reports Find out what software is rarely or never used and what hardware can be upgraded or costs too much to maintain. Your Requirements:ITAM tools can help with: Proactively manage complex licenses Manage PVU, per processor, SAP, Oracle, and Citrix licensing with minimal manual intervention. Address stolen laptop issues Reduce costs of stolen laptops and risks of exposed data. Sophisticated license management Choose a tool specifically designed to manage these apps to avoid having to manually track installations and licenses. IP address tracking and remote erase Lost or stolen laptops can be recovered through agent tracking and remote erase can be launched to clean drives. Improve hardware inventory processes Handle inventory faster with more accuracy in managing asset tag data including serial numbers. Bar-coding and RFID Scan computers for inventory adjustments and auditing or quickly locate assets with RFID.

10. Case Study: A manufacturing firm has all the tools but is still looking for the right solution The situation: A manufacturing firm is currently running three inventory products, one it bought years ago because it was inexpensive, one that came bundled with its help desk, and one that was part of a server bundle (it has asset discovery functionality, but that is not its primary function). For a variety of reasons, none of these tools can be relied upon to collect 100% of the asset inventory accurately. This company has moved to an alternative help desk product and is looking for the best way to consolidate and make better use of the asset data. The solution: The new help desk product has the option to add modules for discovery & dependency mapping and license management. The CMDB is already in place for help desk data, but needs a way to feed the information into it. Two out of three of these products do not work well with other products. Purchase the additional modules to discover assets and feed into CMDB. Set up policies and workflows to recognize installations that do not fit policies and to initiate workflows to remove or update software automatically. Provide training for the ITAM manager to quickly learn new modules and start using immediately.

11. CompareUnderstandImplement Strategize Select Assess alternatives. Determine requirements. Roadmap Determine the needs best suited to your environment 42 1 3 Next Section in Brief

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