IT asset management is often called ITAM, and there are a number of important benefits to having a robust ITAM process in place. First off, it provides clear visibility into everything that you own, or that you’re managing on behalf of a customer environment. This list will include physical assets, such as all machines, laptops, printers, routers and servers, and also intangible assets that are your responsibility, including software licenses and subscriptions, contracts with third-party vendors, and purchase orders.
If you don’t have an IT asset management solution, you’re relying on manually recording all of the information about each of these parts of the business, and trusting that when ownership changes, when a problem occurs, or when an asset is either removed or added to the environment, the right stakeholder will update the spreadsheet or the file. That’s your best-case scenario. More likely, you’ll end up with gaps and blind spots.