About ITAM
August 31, 2009
ITAM is the set of business practices that join financial, contractual and inventory functions to support strategic decision making and life cycle management for the IT environment.
Up to 30% ROI in First Year
ITAM is a best practice that should be implemented in any organization. Per industry analysts, if an organization invests 2%–3% of their operational IT budget on ITAM, it could potentially realize a return on investment of as much as 30% in the first year. According to Internet.com (April 29, 2009), 25% of all hardware and software purchased is never installed. Toby Redshaw, Motorola’s VP of IT Strategy, revolutionized IT management and saved hundreds of millions of dollars in less than two years. He further stated, “If you focus properly, you can actually spend less money on I.T. and have more significant impact on your business. We cut I.T. spending by a third over the course of two years and we are actually doing more for the business than we used to.” This type of savings is achieved more often as organizations implement ITAM and use auto discovery tools (hardware and software applications that scan networks for IT assets) to get their hands around what they own. Any ITAM implementation that can identify this magnitude of excess would more than pay for itself in a short period of time.
Five-Step Process Maturity Model
Research published by Gartner also notes that organizations with no formal ITAM process will typically require 6-18 months to establish the proper procedures, processes and tools to address all life cycle phases of ITAM. Gartner’s five-step Process Maturity Model illustrates the path towards optimizing value through ITAM by moving from a chaotic state to a strategy driven, repetitive value process:
- CHAOTIC STATE—an environment with few Asset Management controls.
- REACTIVE STATE—limited focus and Accountability.
- PROACTIVE APPROACH—focusing on Life-cycle Management.
- SERVICE ORIENTATION—focusing on Service level Management.
- VALUE CREATION—focusing on Cost Recovery.