What are we getting out of the IT investment?

If your organization cannot easily answer this question, finding the answer should be a high priority. This is where the ITAM process can unlock the answer. ITAM directly affects the effective management of finances. It also brings with it the certainty that IT aligns with—and drives—existing business services. The key to success in ITAM lies in managing IT assets on an enterprise-wide basis and throughout all the respective life cycles. Doing this requires taking a holistic approach and perspective based on the reality that asset management is not just IT's responsibility; everyone shares in it.

The following are the Gartner statistics on benefits of asset management:

• More highly leveraged buys: Reduce asset acquisition costs by 5-8%
• Better matching of software licenses to organization needs: Reduce software costs by 6-10%
• Enhanced service and warranty coverage: Reduce warranty costs by 3-15%
• Increased component standardization: Rescue mean-time-to-repair and improve uptime by 3-7%
• Reduced IT component complexity: Improve help desk first call resolution rate by 5-12%
• Better contractor/vendor selection process: Improve contractor performance by 20%
• Better negotiation of terms and conditions safeguarding performance: Reduce risk of noncompliance by 50%
• Improved asset tracking, proven usage compliance, and ease of audit: Reduce noncompliance risks by 80-90%

Source: Jack Heine, Gartner, Gartner Fall Symposium