With the shift to remote work, creating accountability and transparency with the IT hardware asset management has proven to be very challenging.
But why is IT hardware asset management so crucial?
IT hardware asset management is a crucial part of IT asset management (ITAM). It is the process of tracking and managing the physical components of the IT asset infrastructure, such as laptops, computers, USB sticks, and other devices.
To optimize IT costs, improve speed and efficiency, and enhance employee productivity, organizations need to have an effective IT hardware asset management system in place, which also includes IT onboarding, asset replacement, and asset modification.
Organizations that create local inventories of IT hardware to fulfill the needs of an increasingly expanding and distributed workforce must have complete visibility into the status of their assets, i.e., location, degree of use, cost, owned vs. leased, configuration, etc.
Moreover, fulfillment and service delays are inevitable without optimal visibility into IT hardware. Additionally, manual asset record-keeping leads to information silos, raises overhead expenses, and may increase the probability of asset theft and losses.
That’s where ServiceNow Hardware Asset Management (HAM) comes into the picture. Let’s explore more.
Introducing ServiceNow IT Hardware Asset Management (HAM)
ServiceNow IT Hardware Asset Management, a modern IT asset management solution, automates the entire IT hardware lifecycle on a single, unified platform. It empowers enterprises to approach hardware investment and utilization intelligently while reducing asset risks and costs.
ServiceNow HAM automates workflows and simplifies the six major asset lifecycle processes, namely –
- Order – The system creates catalog purchase requests for approvals by the finance department. It also automates the creation of purchase orders (PO) that are sent to the vendor.
- Ship – ServiceNow HAM automatically associates the advance shipping notice sent by the vendor with its corresponding purchase order (PO).
- Receive – On receipt of the asset, automatic updates run to bring the fixed asset records and asset repository up-to-par.
- Deploy – The system runs automatic updates on the asset status once laptops, PCs, loaners, and other devices are assigned to new hires.
- Track – HAM also tracks asset status in case of lost or stolen devices and updates the asset state accordingly.
- Disposal – HAM seamlessly integrates with the disposal vendor and auto-associates the certification of indemnification and asset state with the disposed asset once the disposal process is complete.
ServiceNow Zero Touch IT Asset Delivery
As discussed above, the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated organizations to reconsider IT hardware asset delivery and management for a geographically dispersed employee population.
This prompted ServiceNow to launch ServiceNow Zero Touch IT Asset Delivery. Zero Touch Delivery streamlines the IT asset delivery process and removes operational and financial inefficiencies by automating the following functions –
- Ordering – Employees are allowed to order a computer refresh after three years. They can do so by logging into the employee portal and reporting an issue if the asset is beyond its retirement date. The user must choose their preferred model and submit the address for delivery.
- Approval – The system determines eligibility for asset refreshment, automatically approves the request, and escalates it to the Value-Added Reseller (VAR).
- Delivery – The VAR ships an asset from the inventory to the employee and sends a shipping label to return the old one. Once the employee confirms receipt, the system notifies the Finance department to begin depreciation. However, in the case of non-delivery, ServiceNow HAM alerts the IT asset team to investigate the matter.
- Setup – Using technologies like the Now platform and Microsoft Autopilot, HAM auto-runs a 20-minute setup process, which begins when the employee enters the credentials.
Use Cases of ServiceNow HAM in Hardware Asset Management
ServiceNow HAM provides an intuitive, user-friendly interface to asset management teams and individual users to track and manage assets and simplify IT hardware management.
Below we will delve deeper into the use cases of ServiceNow HAM in ensuring optimal IT hardware management.
1. Automate Asset Lifecycle Workflows with ServiceNow Hardware Asset Management
As seen above, ServiceNow Hardware Asset Management (HAM) automates the entire IT hardware management lifecycle to create seamless customer and employee experiences. Prescriptive, out-of-the-box workflows eliminate manual processes and improve overall IT asset management.
ServiceNow HAM initiates a workflow to purchase or transfer the same on receiving an asset request. It then updates each asset record or configuration item and tracks inventory to identify leased assets that have reached their due date.
In addition, the system also guides asset teams through the asset disposal process, i.e., planning, scheduling, verification, departure, and final confirmation when the asset reaches the end of its useful life.
2. Simplify Inventory and Stockroom Management
In order to simplify inventory management, the ServiceNow HAM system can create assets, track assets in transit, purchase or transfer stock from different locations, audit inventory, schedule blind audits for offices and stockrooms, and create bundles from existing assets.
ServiceNow HAM also allows asset teams to visualize hardware data collected over time, analyze business processes, and identify areas that demand improvement.
Asset teams can examine health-related information like missing purchase data, asset incident trends, assets ready to retire, etc., and identify risks related to incomplete assets, frequent hardware issues, and compliance.
3. Save time and resources with automatic asset normalization.
Hardware normalization means standardizing IT asset data by model name, manufacturer name, and model number. HAM leverages the ServiceNow Content Library to populate asset inventory with metadata like the end of support, extended support, end-of-life, etc.
IT hardware management in ServiceNow eliminates manual work and automatically normalizes 129 model classes with asset information from thousands of known manufacturing models.
In fact, a global retailer achieved 96.5% of hardware assets normalized out of the box with ServiceNow Hardware Asset Management (HAM).
4. Support asset reservations
ServiceNow HAM enables employees to reserve temporary assets and allows the asset teams to track fulfillment and predict stock requirements.
Workflows automate the various stages, including request, waitlist, auto allocate, prepare, and asset deployment, enabling IT asset management teams to predict future demands and maintain consistent inventory levels.
How can Leidit optimize IT Hardware Management for your organization?
At Leidit, we design scalable, innovative, and data-driven processes to automate and optimize IT hardware management.
With over 20 ServiceNow certifications, Leidit offers novel ServiceNow workflow solutions, including the automated Record Inventory Management Application (RIMA) and MyAssets, to ensure optimal IT hardware management, even in a remote setup.
As a Premium ServiceNow Certified Partner, we understand the complexity of managing a plethora of IT hardware in the post-pandemic landscape and stand by you at every implementation stage while also providing pre-built, role-by-role training.
To know more about Leidit and our IT hardware management solutions, please feel free to contact us and schedule a consultation.
