According to Gartner, global spending on enterprise application software is expected to exceed US$4 trillion in 2022. While rapid progress in cloud technologies and IaaS are transforming industries, an organization’s capacity to control these new and varied forms of ServiceNow IT asset Management has remained constant.
But why?
Why do Organizations need ITAM?
All IT assets have a limited lifespan. Therefore, it is in the best interest of organizations to ensure that they continue to derive maximum benefits from them for as long as possible. However, this is not possible without an effective ServiceNow IT Asset Management (ITAM) system.
With inadequate ITAM controls, organizations are running a risk of paying for unused or under-used IT assets. In addition, ITAM that is built around legacy frameworks and applications is filled with tedious, laborious, and time-intensive tasks that require a vast amount of time and money to complete. Not to mention that they shift focus away from higher impact tasks that could have directly improved the organization’s growth and profitability.
Therefore, ITAM, which simply refers to the most optimal monitoring, updating, safeguarding, and disposal of IT assets across its entire lifecycle, is critical to organizations. Without a central repository of up-to-date IT asset data and real-time visibility of it, which an effective ITAM system should provide, there is always the risk of blind spots and surprise expenses, which lead to audit penalties and non-compliance.
Click here to learn more about the potential benefits of ITAM at your organization.
Why choose ServiceNow ITAM?
Now that we understand why ITAM is critical for organizations today, let us look into why you should choose ServiceNow ITAM.
ServiceNow ITAM automatically divides IT assets into 3 classes –
- Hardware IT assets
- Software IT assets
- Consumables (low IT cost accessories)
This enables the IT asset managers to track and gather different types of relevant information based on the IT asset classification by default. This not only adds to greater visibility over the IT asset data (financial, contractual, performance, and physical) but also better tracks the IT asset’s net worth and estimated depreciation/amortization and salvage values for a more efficient decision making regarding upgrades, maintenance, repairs, write-offs, and disposals.
In addition, ServiceNow IT Asset Management, being built on the Now platform, scales with your organization. Simply put, it enables you to automate workflows quickly and seamlessly to run them at scale – not to mention its powerful performance analytics capabilities that enable you to anticipate trends, prioritize resources, and drive service improvements.
The Now platform also comes with Edge Encryption that automatically encrypts all data before it goes to the ServiceNow cloud. This makes sure that your data is protected against unauthorized use and data breaches, without impacting user operations.
Furthermore, without an effective ITAM setup, individual departments within organizations tend to make purchases of expensive IT assets directly. These are often neither approved nor known to the IT teams. These “shadow IT” assets lead to an elevated risk of data breaches, non-compliance, and financial liabilities. The recommended course of action, therefore, is to leverage ITAM to execute organized, uniform data security measures across the entire organization.
To further highlight the impact of ServiceNow ITAM, let us look into specific use cases where it can create a powerful, positive impact on your organization.
Use Cases for ServiceNow ITAM
1) Smart Workflows
ServiceNow ITAM enables organizations to automate multiple processes together using a graphical workflow engine to recreate workflows.
For instance, ServiceNow ITAM enables you to create smarter service catalogs by creating smart workflows that can completely transform what can be done with a service request. After a software request is approved, the workflow can check available licenses and then automatically create an entitlement record under that license to record the approval. Multiple assets can be grouped into order guides to streamline the user experience.
Creating smart workflows can include something as simple as notifying a purchasing group to replenish low inventory or something more advanced like identifying a software violation and offering some instructions for correcting the said violation.
2) Powerful Analytics
The ServiceNow ITAM reporting engine makes it easy to access and analyze any piece of information by any authorized person. In fact, it enables them to create and customize dashboards, and obtain and share reports with relevant personnel, in a matter of seconds.
This means that decisions can be made much faster, without having to compromise on the quality of data at hand, something that used to take weeks with spreadsheets and legacy ITAM systems.
3) Data “Discovery”
ServiceNow ITAM enables organizations to bypass the complications associated with using multiple technologies that require a lot of time and money for constant reconciliations, synchronizations, and replications, by providing a robust Discovery tool.
ServiceNow Discovery collects configuration details and maps relationships in the Configuration Management Database (CMDB) directly. As a result, once the IT asset is defined and classified, the records are automatically kept synchronized. Discovery can be used at any stage of the asset lifecycle to streamline a process.
For instance, after an asset is unboxed, it can be immediately scanned and recorded into the IT asset repository. After new software is installed, discovery can be triggered to validate the installation on the target machine as well.
4) Vendor Optimization
ServiceNow ITAM arms your organization’s IT teams with critical vendor and IT asset usage data to help determine the most optimal mix of vendors. This will help you to consolidate vendors by identifying overlap of similar products across all categories of IT assets, removing redundant products, and focusing on purchasing from fewer vendors.
This would lead to a massive reduction in IT asset expenses by helping you negotiate higher discounts and personalized product bundles (due to higher purchasing power) that could yield millions of dollars in savings.
Use Cases for My Assets Built on Now™ Application
1) Asset Assignment
When an IT asset is assigned to an employee, the asset management requests the user to either sign a paper or an electronic form to acknowledge the receipt of the IT asset. These forms are usually saved in siloed file systems and not usually tied to the asset IT system.
The My Asset application allows asset managers to send the employee an automated message from ServiceNow for the employee to acknowledge the receipt of their asset. The employee is directed to the My Assets application to certify their asset. The asset record in ServiceNow is ultimately where this certification information resides.
2) Automated Annual Asset Inventory
Asset Management teams perform annual asset inventory to maintain an accurate count of their managed IT hardware assets. Since 2020 most organizations ended up with a distributed workforce due to Covid restrictions. The “wall to wall” inventory wasn’t feasible anymore. ServiceNow IT asset management teams ended up using email to follow up with employees on their asset statuses to update their inventory database. My Asset application allows asset management teams to kick off the assert validation workflow which sends automated messages to employees based on their location or organizational unit or any other grouping mechanism to certify the assets in their custody. Employees access a well-designed portal page where they can certify or dispute assets, or inform asset teams of unlisted assets in their custody.
3) Centralized view of asset historical data
Asset management teams have a centralized view of all IT hardware assets and the history of each asset assignment and certification. This allows asset managers to confidently claim their control over IT assets.
Conclusion
These use cases provide only a brief glimpse of how organizations are using ServiceNow ITAsset Management to move further along in their IT asset transformation journeys. The underlying fact remains that by having a single, central system of IT asset records, workflows can be automated, accountability can be ensured, and resource efficiency can be achieved. ServiceNow ITAM truly enables a truly transformational ITAM that breaks down the silos that fully optimizes the outcomes of their IT assets.
As a Premium ServiceNow Certified Partner, we – at Leidit – stand by you at every stage of implementing the transformational ServiceNow ITAM solution, including delivering pre-built, role-by-role training to unlock the value you need. Our team has the expertise and the experience to understand the complexity involved in managing an accurate and up-to-date collection of a plethora of IT assets, all of which help to ultimately modernize and automate your ITAM processes for greater efficiency, cost savings, and operational outcomes.
Our novel Built on Now™ application, MyAssets, which transforms ITAM in the digital age and allows clients to keep up with their evolving workforce, finally offers a solution that complements ServiceNow native ITAM by allowing the workforce to proactively certify or dispute their assets and reduces an annual inventory process from weeks/months to days/hours.
To know more about Leidit and our IT asset management services, please feel free to contact us and schedule a consultation.
