Improving productivity

Internal efficiency tools: IT asset and service management

If your organisation has made significant investments in technology equipment and systems, it may benefit your organisation for you to spend some time assessing your IT needs and how to get the most out of your existing technology. A range of IT asset and service management methods are available to suit the size of your organisation and the complexity of your needs.

IT asset management (ITAM) and IT service management (ITSM) are the terms for two sets of widely adopted principles and frameworks for better management of IT assets and services. The rigorous application of formal ITAM and ITSM processes is likely to suit larger organisations, but even small organisations can benefit from learning the main principles and applying what is appropriate.

ITAM and ITSM incorporate methods, business practices and solutions that help you improve:

• management of the full lifecycle of all IT assets within your organisation, including inventory, hardware equipment, software licensing, financials, contracts, provisioning and maintenance
• management of all IT systems, processes and tools you rely on to provide sales or support services to your clients.

IT asset and service management were initially designed for large organisations. With Software as a Service, these solutions are now widely available to small and medium organisations. If you have more than approximately 50 IT assets (computers, printers, mobile devices, etc.), or if you run a service desk internally (IT support) or externally (customer support service), ITAM or ITSM is worth considering. However, as with CRM and ERP, the deployment of ITAM and ITSM solutions requires financial investment, time and resources. It is important to assess your needs and the potential benefits before committing your organisation to these systems.

The most widely adopted framework for implementing ITSM is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), based on a concept known as a service lifecycle, which has six parts:

• Business requirements: Working out what capabilities the organisation needs from its IT systems.
• Service strategy: Thinking about what IT service capabilities will deliver the most value to clients and how to best use scarce resources.
• Service design: Designing IT services that best facilitate improved business outcomes.
• Service transition: Building and implementing the service design.
• Service operation: Delivering IT services to internal and external clients to required standards on an ongoing basis.
• Continual service improvement: Techniques to measure and improve IT service quality, efficiency and effectiveness.

Visit the ITIL official site (below) for more detailed information and guidance on this subject.

In deciding how your organisation should manage its IT assets and services, it is important to consider what capabilities you need within your organisation, and what capabilities or services you are better off outsourcing. IT outsourcing consultants can provide you with advice on what outsourcing options available to you. Your accountant can give you advice about the respective merits of purchasing assets or leasing or renting them.

These are some useful links that provide further information about IT asset and service management topics and providers:

• ITIL official site
• ITIL
• itSMF
• Tivoli
• Centennial
• Altiris (Symantec)
• Easyvista
• Hardcat
• Livetime
• Landesk