If you’re like most businesses, the economic downturn hasn’t slowed down your IT spending. As digital transformation takes hold, more software and hardware is necessary for business continuity and success. To support modernization initiatives and an increasingly distributed workforce, organizations are expanding their IT estate with the tools and technologies they need to compete in a fast-paced business environment that is increasingly distributed, mobile and global.
In fact, according to Gartner, IT spending worldwide is expected to reach $4.5 trillion in 2023, an increase of 2.4% from 2022, and spending on software is expected to grow 9.3%. With so much money being invested in IT, CIOs are under increased scrutiny to justify every purchase and expenditure.
To that end, IT asset management (ITAM) – the process of discovering, accounting for and managing all of the software, hardware and virtual assets that comprise your IT estate – is an essential practice for organizations looking to reduce costs and improve the ROI of their IT assets. From routers to mobile and IoT devices, operational technology and cloud assets, ITAM enables teams to track and manage IT spend and waste, and help maximize the impact of every dollar.
In this blog post, we’ll examine how ITAM can help you not only cut costs, but optimize spend while supporting the needs of the business. We’ll also explain how Lansweeper’s IT asset discovery and inventory solution can help you manage your IT infrastructure effectively, reducing overall IT costs and helping you get more out of your IT investments.
A Quick and Effective Way to Manage Spend
Purchasing, implementing and maintaining all of the hardware and software a business needs today is extremely costly – and it’s even more expensive when you don’t know what you already have. An effective ITAM program enables you to maintain a complete and always-accurate IT asset inventory, eliminating guesswork.
Traditionally, tracking IT assets has involved using spreadsheets, which are essentially outdated as soon as they’re complete. Think of the time wasted running around taking inventory of your existing assets using manual methods. ITAM automates these manual processes, not only reducing time spent on manual tasks, but improving the accuracy and accessibility of IT asset information, and enabling staff to focus on more valuable work.
Organizations can reduce OpEx by 8-15% annually per asset, by implementing an IT asset management program.
In addition to reducing OpEx, ITAM reduces CapEX. Organizations often have idle and unused hardware sitting around and don’t even know it – devices that can be reallocated to new hires or used to replace broken equipment. Using ITAM, organizations can also identify where resources are underutilized or overprovisioned, and make cost-saving adjustments.
Not only does ITAM help save you from purchasing new equipment you don’t really need, it can boost productivity by getting employees the technology they need to do their jobs, faster. And, with access to a complete and accurate IT inventory at all times, teams can pinpoint and troubleshoot any issues rapidly, reducing the risk of downtime that can impact business continuity.
Radisson, for example, uses Lansweeper to scan the administration network of 60 hotels, including workstations, servers, switches and printers, and uses the data to inform various IT projects, implement cybersecurity measures and support budgeting decisions. (Read the full story here).
“The time and cost savings we realize from using Lansweeper Cloud to collect and consolidate all technology asset data across all our properties is substantial. We gain unprecedented insights that help us optimize IT spend and performance across the enterprise.”
Ben Vrijsen, Manager IT Field Services EMEA, Radisson
A Powerful Weapon for Fighting CyberCrime
One of the primary responsibilities of the IT department is to prevent cybercrime. A data breach can be devastating to a business, and attacks are on the rise. However, it’s much easier to protect your IT infrastructure if you have visibility into all of the technology assets connected to your network. In other words, if you can see it, it’s possible to protect it. It’s also helpful to have detailed information about the hardware and software assets in your IT estate, so you can more easily identify any vulnerabilities or security gaps that need to be addressed.
Lanweeper, for example, provides a number of Insights reports to help you uncover potential vulnerabilities and ensure all of the necessary updates and upgrades have been made. Our Risk Insights report draws information from the NIST Vulnerability Database, providing a complete overview of all known issues that may threaten your business, so you can take a proactive stance.
Herman Miller, for example, used Lansweeper to increase the visibility into its complex IT environment and leveraged Lansweeper’s reporting features to keep the CIO up to date on the health and security posture of the infrastructure. (Learn how they do it. )
“Lansweeper delivers detailed information about a security incident in minutes, providing incredible time savings and helping us to minimize or eliminate potential damage.”
– According to Kristopher Russo, Information Security Analyst Architect, Herman Miller
The Easiest Way to Improve Vendor and Software License Management
Businesses can’t function without software, but much of the software deployed in an organization isn’t even being used. In fact, the average value of unused software per employee is $224! If you have thousands of employees, these costs can add up quickly, taking a significant bit into your budget.
With ITAM, you can negotiate better contracts and pricing with software vendors based on versioning and usage data. You can also standardize on software to reduce the cost of managing and supporting various platforms, eliminate duplication and overlapping functionality, and gain a better understanding of how alternative licensing options can be used to avoid making unnecessary purchases.
Understanding your usage under Microsoft’s licenses can be critical for not overpaying licensing fees. With Lansweeper’s Licenseware integration, you can get an accurate account of what you are paying out-of-pocket, how many resources you are utilizing, and if you are either being overcharged or are paying for services you aren’t using.
Compliance is another benefit. With a complete and accurate inventory of your software assets, it’s much easier to ensure compliance with license agreements. It can be your saving grace during software audits, saving you time and hassle, and helping you to avoid fines. For example, one Fortune 500 automotive retailer passed a Microsoft License with flying colors using Lansweeper. (You can read the full case study here.)
“We were audited by Microsoft and were able to complete it in less than 2 days due to the Lansweeper database already having all the data they needed.” – IT DIrector, Fortune 500 Retailer
A Well-Managed IT Infrastructure is Key to Business Success
While the cost of running a business, no matter the size, will likely continue to increase, managing and optimizing IT spend is a great way to save money. It’s a savvy approach to boosting productivity and uptime, as well as your company’s ability to drive growth and revenue.
Lansweeper is helping companies elevate ITAM from a niche specialty into the foundation for a modern, well-managed IT organization. With this single source of truth, data can be leveraged across all IT scenarios to drive and inform processes, support strategic decisions and ensure alignment of internal and external IT teams. Not only will Lansweeper help you realize ongoing cost efficiencies and optimize IT spend, at about a third of the cost of competing solutions, it provides great value out-of-the-box.
Don’t leave IT spending and optimization to chance. Learn how Lansweeper can help you increase the ROI of your IT investments by lowering OpEx and CapEx, and helping to protect your organization from costly cyber attacks.
Try Lansweeper for free today.
