ITAM: 3 crucial steps to save time in its use

In a previous article, we guided you in choosing an ITAM tool. 

Today, let's take a look at our tips for optimal use of the latter!

We suggest 3 steps to ensure that your ITAM brings you its many benefits:

• Avoiding mistakes and losses;
• Protecting your sensitive data;
• Save time, and therefore improve your productivity.

But before we discover the 3 best practices for using your ITAM, a little reminder is in order 🙂

‍

‍

ITAM and MDM: an ideal combo, but not imperative

‍

Some of the ITAM solutions on the market include MDM, and some do not.

In fact, it is important to note thatan ITAM is not a substitute for an MDM. Conversely, an MDM solution is not a substitute for an ITAM.

If the acquisition of both tools represents too large an investment, it is possible to use an ITAM solution, without MDM.

‍

Still have doubts? Learn more about MDM solutions →

‍

The Rzilient platform offers both options, to best fit your budget!

Finally, the benefits of connecting your ITAM to an MDM solution are numerous. For example:

• Increased visibility into mobile devices. Connecting the two solutions gives you a complete view of the mobile devices used in your company. You benefit from an in-depth understanding of device usage and installed software.
• Better license management. Your ITAM, as a reminder, manages software licenses, keeps track of the number of available licenses and notifies you of any overages. By connecting your ITAM to an MDM solution, licenses can be managed more efficiently for your company's mobile devices .
• Update tracking. Operating system and software updates can be centrally managed using an MDM solution. This optimizes the status of updates, ensuring that mobile devices are always up-to-date.
• Asset management. Connecting ITAM to an MDM finally allows you to track mobile assets, such as smartphones and tablets, and integrate them into overall enterprise asset management. You can then measure the costs associated with acquiring and maintaining these assets.

‍

‍

Manage your inventory on an ITAM in a few steps

How do you create your inventory so that it is actually usable, and used, by your company's IT and HR departments?

At Rzilient, we have found that the majority of small and medium-sized businesses still use an Excel file to centralize information about their IT fleet and the employees who use this equipment.

Using a spreadsheet presents several major problems:

• The tool is not adapted to the complexity of managing a computer fleet with large volumes of data;
• Difficulties in updating and monitoring data collaboratively, particularly in the case of regular staff entries and exits (interns, alternating work-study, fixed-term contracts, etc.);
• Less secure access to the tracking document;
• Inability to link data from this spreadsheet to other data sources (e.g. your MDM), resulting in the lack of a single authoritative data source.

The best practice is to use an ITAM to centralize all data: employees, hardware and software.

‍

‍

Step 1: List your assets

‍

No magic (although ... )! For an IT inventory manager to be useful, you need to start by listing all your IT equipment and employees.

Whether it is for the listing of your equipment or your employees, you have several options:

• Connect your IS/HR tools to the platform (our favorite!);
• Loading a CSV file ;
• Or add assets one by one directly from the Rzilient interface.

We know that this can be a tedious task but it is crucial for the future. Do not hesitate to contact our teams who can give you all their advice for this step.

‍

Step 2: Specify all relevant information

What to put in your ITAM?

As we mentioned in the previous step, everything that is useful for tracking your IT inventory over time should be included:

• Hardware, which includes both traditional data (such as serial number, type of equipment, year of purchase, etc.) and MDM data (such as whether the hardware is registered in the MDM);
• Software, to centralize all the applications installed and available by your teams;
• Employees, hardware and software users. You should be able to enter different levels of granularity in your ITAM tool concerning them: the site where they work (if your company is located on several sites), their department and their office.

In order to save time and avoid errors, everything must be centralized in the same tool.

It should be noted that by using the Rzilient platform, you benefit from advanced filters, which allow you to quickly find useful information.

‍

For example, in our employee tracking tool, you can:

• Sort employees by department;
• Identify those not yet assigned to a department;
• Assign them to a department of your choice, in 3 clicks and 1 minute!

‍

Step 3: Automate the update of your inventory

Managing your inventory using an ITAM brings you many advantages.

But the right data must be inserted at the right time, otherwise the tool will not reach its full potential.

In order for your ITAM to perfectly reflect the state of your IT inventory and the exact composition of your teams, it is necessary to set up structured processes, especially during onboarding and offboardings.

Any movement of equipment internally should be noted and reflected in your ITAM. For example, when an intern is hired and receives a new computer from a departing employee.

Finally, the management of IT equipment inventories must also be monitored and accurately managed.

The Rzilient platform allows you to manage all these monitoring tasks in a simple, quick and intuitive way. And some actions are even automated!

‍

Using your ITAM well: simple and effective practices

For your ITAM to be of real service to you, it must become the one and only gateway to the inventory of your equipment, software and employees.

‍

Ideally, this same tool should also take care of support tickets, via an integrated and manageable ticketing tool. And that happens to be exactly what we offer at Rzilient 🙂

‍

‍