GigaOm Key Criteria for Evaluating IT Asset Management (ITAM) Solutionsv1.0

1. Executive Summary

Information technology asset management (ITAM) enables fiscal management of IT assets, providing controls and financial management for all IT assets. ITAM is becoming increasingly more important due to economic factors related to IT spending. ITAM solutions offer visibility and actionable insight that can reduce the cost of IT assets now and in the future. The technology applies across all vertical segments and is crucial to helping IT operations remain compliant and minimizing asset costs.

At its core, ITAM offers inventory of assets and data collection, oversight and compliance, financial management, risk control, and vendor management through contract functionality for all IT assets: hardware asset management (HAM), software asset management (SAM), network infrastructure devices, and cloud asset modules (CAM). ITAM is closely aligned with FinOps because it offers finance and risk capabilities while also aligning with information technology service management (ITSM), especially for organizations that have adopted Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL 4) certification and training.

Business Imperative
ITAM matters to a wide-ranging audience, including IT technical staff and management responsible for tracking assets, C-suite executives, and legal professionals focused on corporate compliance. From a risk management perspective, ITAM monitors asset deployment and usage for contractual compliance. Assets can be reallocated as needed to remain compliant and avoid additional spending. C-suite executives will appreciate avoiding the risk of potential fines because ITAM provides insight and analytics for all IT assets. Finally, distribution, discovery, and control functionality support “feet on the ground” asset management and ITAM staff.

While ITAM solutions have been available for decades, the expansion of their feature set to address cost and risk management in recent inflationary times has once again raised the visibility of the need for and desirability of ITAM solutions. Economic pressures along with increasing labor costs are driving corporations to focus on reducing costs and improving efficiency. ITAM provides a means to automate processes and identify unused or limited usage resources that can be reclaimed to avoid ever-expanding acquisition creep.

Sector Adoption Score
To help executives and decision-makers assess the potential impact and value of an ITAM solution deployment to the business, this GigaOm Key Criteria report provides a structured assessment of the sector across five factors: benefit, maturity, urgency, impact, and effort. By scoring each factor based on how strongly it compels or deters adoption of an ITAM solution, we provide an overall Sector Adoption Score (Figure 1) of 4 out of 5, with 5 indicating the strongest possible recommendation to adopt. This indicates that an ITAM solution is a credible candidate for deployment and worthy of thoughtful consideration.

The factors contributing to the Sector Adoption Score for ITAM are explained in more detail in the Sector Brief section that follows.

Figure 1. Sector Adoption Score for ITAM

This is the first year that GigaOm has reported on the ITAM space in the context of our Key Criteria and Radar reports. This GigaOm Key Criteria report highlights the capabilities (table stakes, key features, and emerging features) and nonfunctional requirements (business criteria) for selecting an effective ITAM solution. The companion GigaOm Radar report identifies vendors and products that excel in those decision criteria. Together, these reports provide an overview of the market, identify leading ITAM offerings, and help decision-makers evaluate these solutions and make a more informed investment decision.