The state of ITAM in 2021

Insights from the latest Deloittes report following their global survey.

2500 individuals from all major sectors of industry across 18 countries were invited to participate in the annual survey of the state of ITAM in their organizations.

Many of the key findings  emphasize the basic requirement of effective tools and processes:

• A vast majority (84%) of respondents believe that they lack a truly effective ITAM initiative in place in their organizations;
• ​37% of respondents are currently in the defined, managed or optimized levels while 82% aspire to make significant progress over the next two years to reach these stages;
• Clear recognition of the need to upgrade ITAM tools and technology to address changing requirements including those related to reporting or performance metrics (67%). In addition to these technical facets of ITAM, we are also starting to see financial concerns being raised by participants. For instance, issues such as chargeback are becoming more and more relevant to respondents.

And of course the investment and value aspects are always front of mind:

Deloittes rightly call out additional measures that organizations should factor into the value equation:

• Cost savings achieved by the organizational IT asset management program year-on-year (33%)
  
• Results of license compliance audits year-on-year (33%)
  
• Timeliness and accuracy of IT asset management reporting (30%)
  
• Non-active IT assets repurposed (e.g., inactive IT assets/owner or location unassigned) (18%)

Given the challenges in collecting correct asset utilization data within the organization (29%) and recognition that a greater investment in ITAM tools and technology (25%) is required, it is not surprising that specialist third party support features in the report, in the main operating an on-premise ITAM tool (16%) or providing such as tool through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform (14%).  Other key areas where external assistance is being sought includes software vendor-specific licensing expertise that is not often readily available in-house (27%), followed by ITAM tool maintenance (20%) or strategic advice to transform ITAM teams (20%) 

Lets not forget the ongoing bugbear that is audits ... what did respondents face in the past year:

And finally, we wholeheartedly agree with Deloittes prediction "that the more progressive and astute organizations will increasingly recognize ITAM as a longer-term strategic investment that creates ongoing value across the entire organization going far beyond just their IT team." 

They also go on to say "this would be in sharp contrast to the more traditional (and increasingly fading) mindset that perceives this as a tactical one-off short-term fix, primarily aimed at minimizing costs related to IT assets." ​

... so if you're ready to get started with your SAM program - or want to move faster - we can help, just get in touch!