In today's volatile business climate, organizations need to keep a close eye on their IT resources to ensure that every asset is accounted for, cost-effective, and being utilized properly. Now more than ever, it is essential for IT decision-makers to have a clear and accurate picture of their IT ecosystem. However, as the array of valuable IT solutions continues to grow, many organizations are discovering that simply keeping track of their IT assets—much less optimizing them—is more than traditional IT departments can handle on their own.
To help visualize, organize, and coordinate IT assets, companies around the world use the IT asset lifecycle.
The IT asset lifecycle usually follows a formalized process and is often tracked and supported by software tools. While different organizations across various industries may have their own versions of the IT asset lifecycle, most adhere to the same basic format. Here, we explore the six stages of the IT asset lifecycle:
The first step in the IT asset lifecycle occurs before any assets are purchased or deployed. This request stage can also be seen as an ideation or planning phase, where stakeholders come together to discuss their objectives and determine which assets are needed and why. The culmination of this stage is a formal request for an IT asset.
Once a request has been made, it must pass through the proper channels for approval. Those responsible for approving IT requests should first compare available, in-stock assets to see if any can fulfill the request. If not, then the IT asset will need to be purchased.
With the appropriate IT asset or assets selected and made available, the next step is to deploy them into service. IT asset provisioning may utilize workflow automation, allowing organizations to automatically provide applications, cloud resources, hardware, etc.
The monitoring stage focuses on increasing visibility, ensuring optimal and efficient asset usage, and identifying and mitigating risks. During this stage, relevant data may be captured for analysis to inform future IT asset strategies.
Throughout the asset's life, it will require various forms of service to remain optimally functional. This may include ongoing maintenance, occasional upgrades, or even emergency repairs. Team members need to dedicate regularly scheduled time to ensure that these steps are taken for each individual asset, promoting efficient operation.
Finally, once an asset reaches the end of its lifecycle, it's time to dispose of it and replace it with a new asset. The IT team must understand and follow the established procedures to ensure that asset disposal does not lead to future security risks.
IT asset lifecycle management empowers businesses with the tools and strategies they need to ensure an optimal IT asset lifecycle. More specifically, it provides organizations with the following capabilities:
IT asset lifecycle management offers organizations an accurate and comprehensive view of all existing IT assets. This information can be used to analyze current IT asset footprints and optimize the entire asset lifecycle to support essential assets, enhance efficiency, and improve future effectiveness. In fact, effective planning informed by the right IT asset lifecycle management system can drive improvements across the board, from planning and purchasing to refresh cycles and asset retirement.
IT asset lifecycle management facilitates smart procurement by identifying opportunities for consolidation. These systems can also track upcoming warranty terminations and end-of-life dates for various company assets.
Provisioning can be improved through IT asset lifecycle management. Automated capabilities can directly populate relevant asset information into ITAM databases while linking to identity management systems and HR records—all with minimal manual input.
IT asset lifecycle management provides a comprehensive view of asset portfolios, allowing organizations to map usage trends and optimize the utilization of existing assets. Some IT asset lifecycle management systems can also integrate with ERP and other planning and analysis systems, facilitating seamless trendspotting across specific technology stacks.
Top IT asset lifecycle management systems can integrate with ticketing and helpdesk systems, enabling IT teams to automate necessary lifecycle maintenance interventions. Organizations can analyze maintenance trends and identify common recurring problems with specific asset types, vendors, or models. This insight helps strategy makers improve future purchasing and warranty decisions, ultimately reducing maintenance costs.
The right IT asset lifecycle management system also acts as a security manager, ensuring that all broken or obsolete assets are disposed of safely and securely. This minimizes exposure to various risks, vulnerabilities, and liabilities.
The capabilities provided by IT asset lifecycle management offer several clear advantages. Among these important benefits are the following:
IT asset lifecycle management provides complete visibility and transparency into IT inventories. This enables organizations to make well-informed decisions based on concrete data rather than estimates or approximations.
When implemented correctly, IT asset lifecycle management can significantly reduce the time and effort that organizations would otherwise need to invest in manually managing their IT assets. This not only saves businesses money on technology costs and labor hours but also promotes a more effective and efficient use of resources. Additionally, IT asset lifecycle management offers a clearer understanding of the total cost of ownership for each asset, allowing leaders to make cost-conscious decisions regarding tools and resources.
IT asset lifecycle management is an effective tool for tracking and enforcing asset policies and regulatory requirements, helping organizations identify and mitigate risks before they escalate into actual problems.
By ensuring that IT assets are well-maintained, regularly upgraded, and readily available, IT asset management can alleviate significant stress for IT employees, leading to a more positive workplace environment.
Getting the most out of IT asset lifecycles requires adopting the right approach to IT asset lifecycle management. Here are several best practices to keep in mind:
Different departments have varying needs that should be considered when making any changes to the IT asset infrastructure. It's essential to ensure that everyone affected by the changes is on board and that their requirements are taken into account.
Each type of asset has its own lifecycle. IT departments should fully map out these lifecycles and the associated processes to identify where their current technology may fall short.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should be established, measured, and reported regarding changes in IT asset lifecycle management. This allows all stakeholders and decision-makers to evaluate whether these policy changes have positively impacted the company workflow.
Automation in IT asset lifecycle management not only enhances efficiency and reduces human error but also allows organizations to maximize the number of human resources dedicated to tasks that cannot be automated.
Business growth can occur by either expanding the customer base or minimizing inefficiencies within company workflows. By improving IT assets, organizations can address inefficiencies, making company-wide operations more cost-effective.
To fully benefit from a clear IT asset lifecycle, organisations need tools capable of managing and administering these lifecycles, while also remaining adaptive to changing business needs. ServiceNow, the leader in enterprise IT management has the solution, with IT Asset Management.
Built on the award-winning ServiceNow AI Platform, IT Asset Management allows businesses to automate workflows through the entire asset lifecycle—purchasing, inventory, deployments, monitoring, servicing and asset retirement. IT Asset Management tracks assets between and within each stage of asset lifecycle management, providing unparalleled control and flexibility in managing the assets that so many depend on.
See how far your IT assets can take you with IT Asset Management.