The 5 types of IT asset management

What devices does a company own, who is using the device, when can a new device be ordered, where is the leased device that needs to be returned?

These are just a few questions that a company’s IT department often has to answer in their day-to-day operations. Without an up-to-date device inventory or ITAM solution, it can easily take a lot of time to clarify these issues, and in the worst case, information may not be found at all.

In this blog, we examine different types of IT asset management solutions and consider their pros and cons.

What is Device Inventory?

In short, device inventory is a list that includes the basic information of your organization’s devices. Additionally, you can see information such as user, location, procurement, warranty, and maintenance information.

Device inventory is typically overseen by separate IT Asset Management (ITAM) software. With ITAM software, companies can streamline their operations, save time and ensure optimal usage of devices across their lifecycle. Knowing your assets is also an essential part of cybersecurity and risk management.

Excel as the Company’s ITAM solution

Pros:

Excel is a familiar tool to everyone and building different lists takes little time. As mentioned, a device inventory can very well be just a simple list maintained in Excel. In addition to simplicity, Excel as the ITAM solution is practically free.

Cons:

As the number of devices grows, managing them in Excel starts to take significant manual work. Excel does not offer ways to limit the visibility of information to different users. Due to the lack of integrations, manually entering data is time consuming and prone to errors, and the device information cannot often be fully trusted.

Financing Company’s Device Inventory

Pros:

Financing companies almost always offer a simple “device inventory” for managing leased devices. This is a web portal that shows what devices the company has financed, when contracts end, what the leasing obligations are, etc. If all assets are leased from the same financial company, this solution does not cost any extra.

Cons:

Unfortunately, the device inventory provided by financing companies is often just a “contract inventory” for financed devices and does not contain customizable automations to other systems. It is typically not possible to give user rights to different staff groups, and the device inventory remains just a “management” tool. These solutions do not properly serve owned devices either so you will need to manage them separately.

Supplier’s Purchase Register

Pros:

If a company has centralized its device purchases to one supplier, the supplier’s provided purchase history can serve as a simple device inventory. With the purchase history, the company sees what devices it has purchased, when they were bought, and their price information.

Cons:

Static purchase history does not really serve as an efficient asset management solution. The register does not know where the device is being used, nor can the information be used to build automations to other systems.

In addition, the register interface can be very clunky and there aren’t much you can do with it. Another downside is that if purchases are spread across different suppliers, it is very difficult to get an overall picture.

Traditional IT asset management solutions

Pros:

Traditional IT asset management solutions are focused on the in-use tracking. These systems often have some integrations, e.g., to UEM systems, and device information can be updated automatically. This helps to prevent errors and saves time from manual work.

Cons:

Traditional IT asset management solutions do not usually offer features that help you to manage the whole lifecycle of your devices. In other words, ordering devices and secure recycling need to be carried out manually through another route.

The return process for leased devices also needs to be handled manually through the financing company’s own system. In addition, traditional IT asset management solutions do not offer an ecosystem model in which brings all your partners and vendors under one roof.

Modern IT asset management solutions

Pros:

New IT asset lifecycle management software have emerged alongside traditional IT asset management solutions. Procurement and recycling have been brought alongside device management in one seamlessly integrated software. In addition to owned devices, you can also manage leased devices in the same system from multiple financing companies.

IT asset management software also lets you automate most manual tasks. It works with an ecosystem model, so you can add partners like suppliers, service companies, and financing companies to the system.

Cons:

These solutions contain many features that may not be necessary for small device numbers (under 100 devices), especially considering the higher price of the software.