What is ITAM (IT Asset Management)?

According to TechTarget, ITAM or IT Asset Management is the policies and procedures put in place for managing the existing ecosystem of assets and technological equipment that exists within an organization. IT asset management can range from helping an employee reset their computer, to purchasing 500 computers and headsets for an entire department. When you are managing IT assets it is important to know some of the IT Asset Management Best Practices.

Document the current IT assets the company utilizes

The first step in best practices of IT Asset Management is to create an inventory of all your IT Assets, because you can’t manage inventory if you do not know what you have. Documenting your existing inventory allows you to do three core things, which are to obtain a comprehensive list of all of your hardware and software, identify where the hardware is and what department is responsible for it, and categorize a given asset by the type of equipment it is and its functional use.  Before you can begin managing your IT assets, you need to know what you have, where it is and how it is being used. Once you have identified those core areas, you can move on to the next step of implementing new IT asset management policies and creating useful best practices.

Develop policies for managing the equipment

Once you have created a comprehensive list of your organizations current IT assets, it is important to develop policies for managing the assets. As part of IT asset management best practices, you want to ensure that the policies you develop within your organization can be passed down, transferred and generally evolve to the current needs of the business. When developing policies, you may want to consider procedures for occurrences such as:

• How to handle an individual piece of equipment when an issue arises
• How to handle multiple units of equipment when issues arises across the board
• How to handle poor equipment performance
• When is the correct time to upgrade and what the budgetary constraints are associated with that

If you need help with figuring out when the best time to upgrade is, reach out to TeleTraders, we can help!

Regularly review and update asset inventory

When you are considering IT asset management best practices, it is not a singular event. Companies that execute the best practices for IT assets do say on a day-to-day basis. They are constantly reviewing their inventory, updating where equipment is physically, in its lifecycle, how often it’s being used and much more. Staying on top of regular updates and constantly reviewing thousands of units of inventory can be time consuming. When you’re developing policies for managing your equipment, you want to keep the fact that regular reviews will be required in mind. Utilizing the policies you developed to manage your IT assets, you will know when it is time for your organization to upgrade. TeleTraders specializes in giving you the best offer for your used IT assets and office equipment. If you are ready to trade in or sell your used IT assets, get a Free Quote today!

Track and monitor IT assets’ usage

Once you have developed useful and applicable policies for managing your organizations equipment, you should continue to track and monitor how your equipment is being used. It’s important to keep track of areas such as asset usage, general repair costs, and how employees like or dislike equipment. These factors can help educate IT directors on how the assets they purchase improve employee productivity and make their lives easier. Usage, maintenance costs, and employee opinion can all be vital factors in deciding upon budget usage for IT directors, managers, and IT departments overall. Showcasing the policies and procedures, usage and further detail that is collected around IT assets can impact how an organizations decision makers allocate funds throughout the organization.

Need help deciding upon IT Asset Management Best Practices?

If you need help deciding upon the best practices for managing your organizations IT Assets, reach out to TeleTraders via the form on our contact page. We can help you evaluate your equipment to see where it is in its current lifecycle and how you may benefit from upgrading your equipment. If you are ready to update your used IT assets, fill out the Free Quote Form to get an estimate on what your old equipment is worth, or reach out to us about our trade-in policies.