One of the earliest considerations during the adoption of ITIL by a corporation is establishing a starting point or roadmap from a list of greater than two dozen processes.  Several textbook examples of implementation strategies recommend customer-facing processes, such as change management, incident management or service level management.  While choosing an approach where end-user satisfaction with services is base-lined, measured and evaluated against improvement metrics and targets, there can be an often overlooked opportunity to deploy IT Asset Management and Configuration as a starting point.

IT Asset Management and Configuration can offer a complimentary entry-point to IT Service Management capabilities when immediate financial results are demanded by corporate management or an aggressive ROI target must be defended prior to acquisition of a complete service management solution suite.  IT professionals are often unable  to track technology assets, software and related support contracts; and IT  users rarely understand either the full costs of ownership or the incremental costs of adding functionality to baseline configurations.

Service management professionals understand the underpinning concept of “doing more with less” inherent in ITIL.  A comprehensive database that includes a record for every hardware component and software license, and the functionality to cross reference assets to service contracts and to analyze utilization of software is a capability that is difficult to achieve.  If the capabilities are achieved, real cost savings, and financial justifications for investments in expanding service management initiatives cannot only be measured, they will be championed.

Several examples are cited during ITIL fundamentals training courses.  A common cost issue discussed in financial management sections is the failure of organizations to cancel maintenance contracts on hardware that has been retired from service, with printers as an obvious concern.  Notebook computers, which tend to have a shorter useable life and are prone to high theft rates, and specialty devices such as plotters (or for that matter, any technology device that has a network connection) are further examples.  ITIL best practices call for maintenance contracts to be canceled immediately after a device is retired from service, which is difficult, if not impossible, without  good reporting and analytics.

The corporate standard software image, which is often decided based upon assumptions and policy rather than an understanding of utilization, is another area where a robust software tool can create an opportunity for cost reduction or avoidance.  Hard data that describes the use of software could defend a decision to deploy a viewer (or reader) rather than full-featured versions or costly software or upgrades.  Cost saving possibilities through thorough inventory and understanding of software holds a greater potential than hardware devices, since organizations typically know much less about installed software, invisible to physical inventory, and dynamic in nature.  Beyond the costs, software is often governed by policy and impossible to control, creating both legal and security risks.

While service desk and knowledge base components of service management systems are typically the focal point of software evaluation processes, organizations would be well advised to include IT Asset Management features as part of their functional and operational requirements and scrutinize these capabilities prior to purchase. Discovery features that can automatically detect and record both the existence of an asset and its utilization patterns can be especially useful.  The financial savings and efficiencies that accompany a strong ITAM competency  deliver a rapid ROI, and can provide the foundation for successful implementation of other ITIL processes.

So in summary consider the benefits of addressing IT Asset Management and Configuration early in your ITSM journey providing you have the process governance, cultural acceptance and automation requirements to ensure the CMDB can be maintained and kept up to date.

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