IT Debate: IT Asset Management

Implementation of an asset management system is a decision that has to be realized depending on specific company needs. Where one company would be perfectly satisfied with a simple list of inventory, others require a business solution - a process based on IT best practices and a tool which supports the process. If budget is an issue (when is it ever not?), it may be a good idea to do some research prior to investing into an asset management tool. Here are a few points to consider: management reporting - what is required, who will maintain the data and keep it accurate, what is the smallest component that the system will track (the desktop or the KB and mouse). Most important of all, first develop a process, and then consider which tools toimplement. If after carefull consideration there is no business justification for such an investment, then a traditional asset management system is not what your organization requires.

A company using only IS&T equipment needs to look around. Take the typical Internet company dominated by PCs and (maybe) mainframes. Asset management becomes a big thing because assets are PCs and mainframes including software that by today?s standards are determined to be an asset especially in those situations where the data in the software are of value (customer lists) to the company.

Now take the typical non Internet company (who also deals with asset management at the IS&T level) making light bulbs, sewing clothes or manufacturing cars. These companies have been involved in asset management for ever. However, they have learned that asset management is only a tool and the primary reason for managing assets is to meet the customer?s needs. Therefore, regardless of what the asset management (software) programs say, the equipment is bought or changed when it doesn?t serve the customer, meet the needs of the business or maintain leadership in the industry.

The promises that asset management were installed for can and must be trumped by good management sense regardless of what the asset management software supports. To suggest that it is the ideal by which leaders in the IS&T community must live by must be understoodin terms of it being used to help manage the business and not to be a restraint or constraint.

Budget pressures and daily demands is an oxymoron because a company that is making decisions regarding the use of assets on these bases is already behind the eight ball. When budget numbers become a pressure point it means that production and sales are not balanced and operating a business on a daily basis means the plan for the company has been discarded.

So, keep the CFO out of the IS&T arena and let the CIO use asset management software the same way a COO (Corporate Operations (Manufacturing) Officer) uses this tool to run his or her manufacturing plants.

Asset management will help in realizing TCO. We have implemented an automated process to track our hardware beginning with desktop hardware. Next, we will implement the software aspect. Some of the items we realized were being missed in our cost analysis were: Printers, routers, switches, cell phones, pagers,payment plans, maintenance agreements, and other items that do not connect to a network for any type of hardware or software scanning. Although, we are not as granular on the cell phone, pagers, and payment plans, the above may become obsolete, break and require new/updated maintenance agreements. End result is we have instituted a manual process to begin tracking these items. Knowing how many items will become obsolete and/or needing to be upgraded will help future budget planning. also, project planning is more detailed and better budgeted knowing this type of information for any future IT projects.

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