IT spending has recovered from its post-Y2K slump — but it hasn't regained its 1990s momentum. That's because organizations are looking for value and performance from their IT assets in a highly competitive business environment. This includes the network. The new "stakeholders" interested in IT asset return are CEOs and CFOs. This executive focus on asset management is challenging network administrators, system managers and IT executives to render detailed accounts of the network computing power that they use.

sset management is hot

How many times has a utility program, an application package or a piece of hardware sat on the shelf? Most organizations can list several instances. Some may not even remember the assets they are paying for annually but never using.

The daily goal is to keep systems running, but now corporate management also wants total asset accountability. Corporate IT is adopting formal asset management systems that can assist organizations by cataloguing all of the hardware and software they are paying for. Particular attention is being directed toward hardware and software license renewals, with the goal of alleviating or consolidating hardware and software when there is evidence that they are not fully and productively used by the organization.

The fact is, most organizations do find redundant hardware and software on their networks when they perform a detailed inventory. Elimination of duplicity creates cost savings. In some cases, assets may be identified that are being overused. This then becomes the basis for next year's budget requests. What is important to network professionals is that this asset investigation, traditionally the province of mainframe computing platforms, is now being extended to networks, servers and clients. Regardless of where it is applied, asset management is a path into the technology and information assets of a firm. If you are in a technology service chargeback environment, you can also let your internal customers know exactly what they are paying for.

In the enterprise

Because most enterprises have heterogeneous computing environments, they want a centralized asset management system, and a standardized set of policies and procedures that govern asset management.

Large enterprises have dedicated asset management staff that specializes in the business of tracking hardware and software usage, and in administering and negotiating technology contracts. This is in sharp contrast to the technical side of IT, which runs the network. Of course, if you are in a smaller shop, you are likely tasked with the job of doing both. In the past, it was acceptable to bypass asset management if it became a choice between keeping systems up and running or tracking their utilization.

The difference for many network professionals is the change in point of view. Now, corporate executives want both a running network and a tally of the hardware and software that is on the network. They want to know how each technology investment is benefiting the company.

Responding to asset-conscious enterprise IT environments, many computer and network vendors are introducing asset management software and services to assist technology accountability measures. Most of these IT service management initiatives were launched in early 2005.

The effect of a well-run asset management program can be substantial for sites. Studies by Gartner, GIGA and IDC all confirm that companies can expect to achieve 30 percent savings on their technology assets initially, and 5-10 percent savings annually on a go-forward basis, by eliminating technology assets that are redundant or that are not being used at all.

Best practices and skills needed

Looking at systems from the business side of technology, asset management specialists regard computer assets as corporate investments that need to be inventoried and evaluated on a periodic basis for "best value."
Asset management is a central concern for upper management and for corporate departments that are charged for network services because they want to know that the computer resources they pay for are resources that they are actively utilizing. This focus is often not in the forefront of the network professional's mind, because he is tasked with keeping systems running. At the same time, effective asset evaluations can only happen if network professionals who know the technologies get involved.

Three components are needed for an effective enterprise IT asset management program:

• IT assets must be accurately identified and logged.
• Asset management must be able to produce the kinds of reports that make sense to the organization (these reports will be unique to each organization).
• Data from the asset management reports must be able to be readily matched one-to-one with the items on vendor contracts and licenses.
  
  

Asset management should be done periodically, whether on a quarterly, monthly or bimonthly basis. Regardless of how often the exercise is done, IT should plan to be proactive, especially because compliance and audit risks are heightened in today's environment. Asset management that is done on a regular basis can readily be aligned with the budget process.

Benefits to the business

There are several key business benefits of effective asset management that network professionals should be aware of:

Asset management aids budgeting and saves expense. It does this by eliminating software and/or hardware assets that are replications of each other, or that are obsolete or unused.

Asset management assists with audits. With the advent of Sarbanes Oxley, auditors and examiners expect companies to be on top of all of their assets, including their information. It is not good for the company's operating expenses, or for the confidence of investors, when technology dollars are poorly spent, or when an organization isn't sure how they are getting spent.

Asset management can be used as input for evaluation of the overall IT architecture, and as a predictor of future growth. It can also predict software and IT infrastructure upgrades. These predictors are most evident in usage studies of hardware and software that are available from asset management reports. When these reports are combined with the know-how and experience of technical support, the results can be unbeatable.

Asset management helps disaster recovery and business continuation. It is extremely risky not to have a good inventory of software running on a system when it comes to disaster preparedness. Asset management software performs inventory, and it does so automatically.

Whatever a network professional's day-to-day focus is, there is still a job to be done that entails identifying cost savings. If you come up with a cost savings that you identified with the help of the asset management system and can save money on IT contracts, the organization is better off.

Issues for net professionals

Most computer industry vendors acknowledge that one of the barriers to entry for asset management policies and procedures can be the "silos" that respectively house both network support and asset management specialists. Asset managers typically do not have network support professional's detailed knowledge of network assets.

When these specialists are looking into what an asset management report tells them, they need contextual technical information. Sometimes, they encounter situations where no one is around to give it, or where there is hesitancy to give it.

Because there is often a communications gap between network technicians and asset management specialists, companies should commit to developing best practices to encourage cross-communication. Asset management specialists need to get data from network technicians, and network technicians need to get involved in asset management.

In a strong asset management program, software management and tracking are aligned so that network professionals concentrate on the network technicals of performance and asset management specialists administer and negotiate contracts and licenses.

When a successful working relationship between network support and asset management is formed, enterprise IT enjoys enormous benefits, especially in license renewal discussions with vendors. Both asset management and network technical management can meet with vendors in cases of software purchases or renewal decisions. If network technical support also has to perform asset management, it is advisable to sponsor formal training that allows network professionals to address the issues of contracts from the business side, and to have the soft skills needed to effectively negotiate with vendors.

The number one asset management problem for many shops is being oversold. If you can effectively use an asset management system to save infrastructure costs, everybody wins - because in many of today's IT shops, cost consciousness is now taking priority over having "best of breed" solutions.