You can start a business with a handful of equipment, but as your organisation grows, your inventory expands simultaneously. So, how would you manage hundreds of equipment across multiple locations? That’s why you need an IT asset manager. Before looking into the roles and responsibilities of an asset manager, let’s start with the basics of IT asset management.
What is an IT Asset?
IT assets refer to the software and hardware, used by employees to complete day-to-day operations and business activities. These comprise desktops, laptops, printers, accessories, licences, warranties, and including the data or information related to the assets and personnel.
What is IT Asset Management?
IT asset management (ITAM) involves end-to-end tracking and management of all IT assets and related information, from the domain to the end user. Which device is issued to whom and at what location along with necessary data identifying the device, and records of its warranties and software licences; IT asset management gives you a magnified view of the software and hardware lifecycle within your system, ensuring their effective use. If you want to learn more, here’s an insightful resource about what is ITAM.
IT asset management is essential to run an organisation because it facilitates business operations, reduces unnecessary spending, and promotes organisational growth.
Read one of our previous blogs to get a full checklist concerning the fundamentals of IT asset management. It will come in handy and help you understand the role of an IT asset manager discussed below.
Who/What is an IT Asset Manager?
IT Asset Managers are responsible for the daily and long-term strategic management of software and technology-related hardware within the organisation. It includes planning, monitoring, and recording software licence and/or hardware assets to ensure compliance with vendor contracts.
The IT asset manager assists in forming procurement strategies to optimise IT spending across the organisation. They also develop and implement procedures for tracking company assets to oversee quality control throughout the asset's life cycle.
What falls under an IT Asset Manager’s Job Description?
Here’s a glimpse at some IT asset management roles and responsibilities:
Perform daily and long-term operational and strategic management of hardware and software
Strategize, monitor, and record hardware assets and/or software licences to make sure they comply with vendor contracts in different software tools.
Provide supervision to staff for procurement analysts.
Maintain a schedule and follow it to provide KPI/Metric information along with standardised and unscheduled reporting as per the management's demand.
Participate in various projects and offer support to the VPs (Infrastructure and Finance).
Recruit a small team of asset analysts and supervise their performance.
Manage inventory of CIs and assets (including dependencies and attributes) while ensuring any modifications, withdrawals, and additions to the existing assets are recorded accurately by the teams.
Manage the lifecycle of hardware and software models in the DML, right from their introduction to the end of life.
Supervise and manage activities concerning licence compliance audits. It enables them to acknowledge requests from software editors effectively.
Ensure process efficiency by implementing the key performance indicators while suggesting improvements to the process consistently.
Participate in other IT asset management processes or, if required, perform as a backup to maintain continuity in operational activities.
What Formal Education & Certification Do You Need to Become an IT Asset Manager?
Anyone aspiring to be an IT asset manager should acquire the following:
Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, engineering or business administration or 7 years of equivalent experience.
Associate’s degree in computer science, information technology, engineering or business administration or 10 years of equivalent experience.
Acquire one or more security certifications, for example, Certified Information Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Information Security Systems Manager (CISM), or Certified in Healthcare Privacy and Security (CHPS). Although adding to the required formal education, these certifications strengthen the asset manager’s profile.
Manage Your IT Assets with AssetRemix
The role of an IT asset manager is quite daunting. Employing legacy practices like ledgers and spreadsheets makes the task time-consuming and more challenging than it already is. That’s where highly-functional and automated IT asset management software like AssetRemix comes to your aid.
AssetRemix is a fully integrated IT asset management software by AdminRemix that helps organise your software and hardware along with the related data in one centralized database, making it easily accessible by concerned personnel. It simplifies the task of asset management, where you have complete control and visibility of the inventory process.
Using IT asset management software, your teams can stay more productive, communicate better, and always stay on top of the fixed assets.
Want to integrate your system with well-featured IT asset management software? Get a free consultation from our experts and kickstart your journey with AssetRemix today. Try out the software for free. You are able to manage up to 50 devices; with no extra charges levied.