IT asset management vs. IT inventory management

The greatest challenge for an IT asset manager is to maintain a precise record of the whereabouts and status of every asset owned by the organization, as a large portion of the IT budget is dedicated to purchasing assets. To answer a typical question such as "where is that asset?", IT asset managers often need to scour through their digital asset estate in a way that's like searching for a needle in a haystack, but this haystack is constantly moving, growing, and sometimes, vanishing altogether. This dynamic asset landscape is largely due to factors like poor employee offboarding practices, the emergence of the hybrid work, and increasing adoption of bring your own device (BYOD) policies. Trends like these lead to assets getting dispersed beyond corporate boundaries, adding to the prevailing asset tracking complexities.

A robust inventory and asset management system is the key to tackle these challenges, enabling IT asset managers to pinpoint the location and status of every asset with ease.

But, how alike or different are these two practices?

While IT asset management (ITAM) and IT inventory management (ITIM) might seem similar, understanding their distinct roles is essential to create a comprehensive IT asset portfolio, enable real-time tracking of the assets, and tread through each of their lifecycles. Let's delve into understanding how both inventory and asset management systems simplify work for the IT asset managers.

What is IT inventory management?

ITIM is the process of identifying, documenting, organizing, storing, and tracking an organization's IT assets and their key details in a single location. Essentially, it is about creating a single source of truth for all IT hardware, software, and other IT resources owned by the IT department. This includes everything from laptops, servers, software licenses, and cloud subscriptions, to components and consumables.

Implementing comprehensive inventory management software simplifies this documentation process by capturing the asset specifics, including unique identification IDs, configurations, location, related hardware and software, user details, assignment dates, and other relevant information. This allows for effortless asset tracking and retrieval, eliminating the likelihood of misplaced or ghost assets.

In fact, the goal of inventory management is two-fold. One is to guarantee that the organization has a steady supply of IT assets for the current and future operational needs. This includes a steady supply of workstations, peripherals, components, or software licenses. This way, inventory management can contribute to optimizing IT asset spend by striking a balance between keeping sufficient stock in hand and avoiding the pitfalls of overstocking or under-stocking. The other goal? Know exactly what assets you own and where they are located. This helps in knowing what's missing before it's too late, pinpointing areas for potential security vulnerabilities. Thus, inventory management is not just a mundane task. It is the key to determine the availability of resources, predict future needs based on usage patterns, and optimize asset expenditure.

Assuming your job is complete after inventorying your IT assets? Congrats, you've just handled the first of many tasks. ITIM is a subset of the broader practice of ITAM.

While ITIM focuses on identifying, tracking, and documenting IT assets, ITAM encompasses a broader range of activities aimed at optimizing the value and cost of IT assets throughout their lifecycle, along with ensuring compliance with regulations.

What is IT asset management?

ITAM is a continuous process that involves end-to-end tracking and management of IT assets. Here's a small breakdown of the various practices involved in the ITAM journey:

• IT asset discovery: Identifying all IT assets within the organization, including those that may not be documented.
• IT inventory management: Creating a detailed map of your inventory, listing each asset and its location.
• IT asset lifecycle management: Planning for the acquisition, deployment, maintenance, and disposal of IT assets.
• IT financial management: Tracking the cost associated with IT assets and making sure you get the most out of them.
• IT compliance management: Ensuring that software and hardware assets are regularly audited and managed in accordance with relevant regulations and licensing policies.

ITAM can be also integrated with different IT service management (ITSM) practices to track asset-related incidents, problems, and even changes. Additionally, ITAM handles tasks such as streamlining asset procurement, tracking asset depreciation, and managing all aspects of asset lifecycle.

For hardware, ITAM helps in managing the lifecycle of assets from their initial purchase, through assignment, maintenance, and eventual retirement. By doing so, assets can be used to their fullest potential and disposed of properly when they are no longer needed. For software, ITAM results in adherence to software license agreements being reviewed regularly, upgrading or downgrading them whenever required. This way, it helps avoid potential security vulnerabilities associated with non-compliant software and also reduces the risk of legal penalties.

Asset management vs. inventory management

Key capabilities to look out for in an asset and inventory management software

Inventory management is crucial to kick off your IT asset management journey. Here are some of the essential and core capabilities of inventory management software.

Inventory management is just one piece of the IT asset management puzzle. A full-fledged IT asset management solution is essential to manage the assets effectively and integrate inventory management with other aspects like financial management, lifecycle management, and more. Below are some of the features of a robust ITAM solution, apart from the ones already listed above.

Explore how ServiceDesk Plus' extensive inventory and asset management capabilities can help you stay on top of your IT assets.

Wrapping up

Inventory management serves as the backbone for comprehensive asset management. This process helps you maintain a log of your IT assets and track them to know their whereabouts. Asset management takes a broader perspective and offers a set of systematic practices—like real-time discovery of assets, lifecycle management of assets from acquisition to disposal, integrations with ITSM practices, and more—to optimize the return on investment for IT assets. The synergy between these two disciplines can be extended beyond the realm of IT, where organizations can get a hold of diverse assets across the entire enterprise. Ultimately, a well-structured asset management system, built upon a solid inventory foundation, is key to stay audit-ready.