GigaOm Radar for IT Asset Management (ITAM)v1.0

1. Executive Summary

Information technology asset management (ITAM) provides insight, compliance, and cost management for all IT assets in every technology domain, from hardware to software to cloud computing assets. ITAM solutions are designed to track an abundance of business and technical data related to assets and their use within the digital network environment. Fiscal management of all IT assets is enabled in the areas of process control, compliance, and financial management.

Demand for ITAM is becoming increasingly important as the need to better manage assets expands for economic and control reasons. ITAM solutions offer visibility and actionable insight that can reduce the costs required to purchase IT assets and maintain them for the life of the asset. Other cost factors come into play when considering the millions of dollars spent on IT assets and the potential fines that may occur upon being audited for any asset use that is not in compliance with applicable government regulations. ITAM technology applies across all vertical industry segments and business models. It is crucial to helping IT remain compliant and minimizing asset costs.

ITAM provides inventory and data collection, oversight and compliance, financial management, risk control, and vendor and contract management for all IT assets via the following: hardware asset management (HAM), software asset management (SAM), network infrastructure devices, and cloud asset modules (CAM). It is closely aligned with FinOps in that it offers finance and risk capabilities while also aligning with information technology service management (ITSM), especially for organizations that have adopted the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) ITIL 4 process standards.

Implementing an ITAM practice and toolset is crucial to many audiences both inside and outside of the IT domain. C-suite executives and legal professionals are likely to be the most focused on managing risk and reducing spending. Yet, technologists will also want to implement an ITAM practice to better track, manage, and plan for IT assets and their deployment.

Organizations are investing in ITAM solutions for several reasons, including:

• Avoiding the possibility of compliance breaches, primarily for software assets, which occur when software is being used in some places around the corporate environment without legal rights to do so. This typically happens inadvertently in large, enterprise environments where operational and system controls are inadequate to ensure that compliance is in alignment with purchase agreements and distribution of any type of asset.
• Management and control of IT assets that support technology staff and all employees across the enterprise. The rollout of an ITAM program and associated toolset empowers asset managers to track detailed data, plan for purchases, automate lifecycle triggers and policies, and ensure that assets purchased are in active use.
• Serving C-level executives’ interest in the bottom-line and top-line usage of their investments. Understanding the need for IT asset spending and oversight of prudent management of all investments is important to this group. Additionally, they will appreciate controls that are in place to avoid the possibility of unwanted press or other hits to reputation related to contract non-compliance.

This is our first year evaluating the ITAM space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. This GigaOm Radar report examines 18 of the top ITAM solutions and compares offerings against the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) outlined in the companion Key Criteria report. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading ITAM offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions so they can make a more informed investment decision.