What’s next for ITAM in the pandemic? Take stock of people, process, and planning

I love to exercise outdoors on weekends — mostly by cycling, boating, golfing, or downhill or cross-country skiing.  But it’s not just about the sport; it’s about working on your skills and upping your game.

During this ongoing pandemic, we’ve all been using our down time to think about upping our game in business, too. Let’s take a look at what that could look like with ITAM.

Move to digital processes and technology

It’s an excellent time to fast track ITAM digital transformation with cloud-based hardware asset management software. Faster and complete recording of assets thanks to barcode or RFID scanning is only the start. Automating your approach to managing hardware lifecycles will help ensure your database’s ongoing accuracy.

You’ll also develop useful and timely information about your assets to drive better ITAM strategy. The right asset tracking software gives you dashboard access to track KPIs, run reports and determine real-time valuation—across the enterprise and in WFH setups.

Plan for workforce challenges

Furloughs may extend longer than expected. Not all furloughed employees may be recalled, and some workers may choose not to return. Field technicians will be stretched thin, further limiting their availability for ITAM responsibilities. A managed services provider can provide critical support, especially now.

In the early days of the pandemic, one of our clients called: “Most of our employees are working from home, but we want to maintain our refresh schedule. We have 400 new laptops coming in – you’re still good to receive them, right? You’ll scan and add them to our ServiceNow database, right? With the environment we’re in, you’ll have to turn them faster than usual. Then 450 more are coming in April, OK?”

More than OK. For us, it was all in a day’s work.

Think of your environment today. A pallet of keyboards, monitors, headphones, and laptop bags arrives and you have to receive the inventory, unbox, unbag, then make and store user kits. Can you pull people off the floors to sort and stuff?

Your MSP can do this kitting and more. The MSP team will make sure the items fit securely in a box labeled for the user, ready for distribution. Following a JIT model, the team will prepare.