Why IT Asset Management (ITAM) for the Network Is More Critical Than Ever for Virtual-First Organizations
2020 has been a chaotic and disruptive year across the world. The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting changes in daily and occupational life have fundamentally changed the way that many organizations conduct their business.
One of the biggest changes we have witnessed thus far is the rise of virtual-first work environments. In-person working environments have become heavily impacted by the ongoing needs of pandemic mitigation, forcing many enterprises to shift their technology policies and procedures to high degrees of network virtualization and remote work activities.
Transforming an organization from a brick-and-mortar environment to a virtualized one comes with its own set of difficulties and challenges. At RAY ALLEN, Inc, we predict that the natural and logical outcome of this digital transition, based on our over 15 years of industry experience, will be one of rising expenditures, over- and under-purchasing, and network downtime.
Without a mature ITAM practice, it is incredibly difficult for an organization to track, manage, and maximize their ROI on their IT asset procurement. Though this is true in a traditional sense, in which the IT assets are located at physical locations within a physical building, it is just as, or more, important in terms of virtualized assets. As assets become virtualized and distributed throughout the employee base, keeping track of who has what, for how long, in what condition, can be a nightmare.
In 2020 alone, we have seen these issues rear their heads in discussions with our technology partners and prospective customers. As organizations transition to virtual-first workplace models, growing demand for hardware and technology refreshes is quickly surpassing supply. As a result, re-sale prices for networking hardware have peaked to unprecedented levels, with procurement lead times skyrocketing out into the future.
These trends show no sign of slowing down, which means having a sustainable and scalable ITAM practice and solution is more critical than ever. When introduced to an organization, an ITAM practice tends to reduce overall IT procurement costs by 30% within the first year. Inversely, this means that organizations that do not have mature ITAM practices are significantly over-spending on hardware and software asset purchases and their associated maintenance costs. These losses will only continue to worsen as the organization acquires and relies on more and more technology assets to run their organization’s day-to-day business functions.
Does your organization have an ITAM practice? Is it mature enough to accommodate your organization’s needs? Whether you have recently shifted to a remote-work environment, are navigating a new type of in-office work environment, or simply have not reviewed or updated your ITAM practices in a while, now is the time to assess your organization’s current technology asset practices and determine if they are robust enough to serve your organization during this time of disruption and change.