January 26, 2026
There are always jobs that get done because people think they “just have to be done”.
IT asset management has often been treated as one of these jobs. Nothing more than admin work that was done because a policy said so, or an audit required it.
This doesn’t work anymore. SaaS and Cloud have erupted across businesses of all kinds. Coupled with remote work, tighter security demands and constant pressure to control IT spend, you can’t afford to manage assets reactively.
If any part of your digital estate isn’t visible, you risk higher costs, increased security and governance risks, and decisions are made on poor data (or assumptions) rather than fact.
ITAM has outgrown its old responsibilities
The evolution of ITAM has seen it grow from something that used to be about counting devices and managing licences. Now it provides a complete view of your entire digital estate, including oversight of SaaS and Cloud resources.
As the way we worked changed, visibility and clarity went from convenience to essential.
Security teams need to know which devices are patched and which aren’t across complex estates.
Service desk teams need accurate information to support users in multiple locations and geographies.
Finance teams need predictable hardware and software refresh plans, instead of last-minute, unexpected spending.
ITAM has a role in supporting every team. It’s not something you now “do because you have to”.
It’s something you do to retain complete visibility and control of your entire IT infrastructure.
Is your ITAM philosophy holding you back?
About 43% of businesses still use spreadsheets to track IT assets.
The result of trying to track assets manually is always predictable. It’s assumed the data is up-to-date, devices get lost, unused hardware is unaccounted for.
Then your security doesn’t know the full attack surface of your business. And IT and finance teams approve new purchases based on incorrect information.
You make your business less secure and waste money.
And the visibility gap and disconnected IT tools can grow quickly, especially in large businesses. The problem is, once you can’t trust the data you have, your digital estate drifts with no control. And the cost of putting things right increases.
Using ITAM to get actual insights
Using modern ITAM platforms gives you clear, accurate information about what’s going on in your IT estate. It can tell you:
- What devices exist
- Where they are
- Who uses them
- If they’re secure
It gives IT and FinOps teams reliable lifecycle data that helps teams spot ageing devices early, extend the life of equipment that still works, and ensure you’re only spending money on new equipment when absolutely necessary.
This information can also help plan hardware and software refresh cycles and avoid the emergency purchases that happen when you don’t have accurate visibility.
Eventually, ITAM stops being a reactive function and becomes a proactive element of IT planning that tells you what’s happening on your estate in real-time, with the data you need to accurately forecast future use.
ITAM’s financial case
For large businesses, one of the biggest benefits of effective IT asset management is it finds significant cost savings.
It’s thought businesses waste as much as 30% of their IT spend on unused and underutilised SaaS subscriptions alone, according to one Gartner study.
By giving reliable information about your hardware and software usage or spend, you can avoid reactive spending and unnecessary purchases.
The most basic way ITAM supports budgeting and forecasting is that you can recover hardware you didn’t know existed, so would have spent money replacing it.
You can adjust or rightsize software licences based on real usage rather than guessing.
Even large-scale refresh cycles, for example, preparing for Windows 11, are controlled because your ITAM system shows you exactly which devices are compatible, and which you’ll need to replace.
Preparing for audits also becomes much faster and less costly when you can see everything on your IT estate and know you can trust the data you’re using.
This is where ITAM gets you a return. It’s not about counting and inventorying your assets, it’s about helping you cut waste by showing you exactly what’s out there and how it’s used (or not).
Where does ITAM help in your business?
Finance
Accurate lifecycle and ownership data for your hardware assets help make capital planning predictable.
Rather than having sudden spikes in spend, IT and FinOps are working to a clear refresh schedule based on accurate data. Without the data, assets can often be used beyond their recommended lifecycle, driving up costs and reducing efficiency.
It’s estimated that refreshing a computer every three years can reduce the total cost of ownership by around 24%, compared to using it twice as long, according to one study.
These extra costs come from additional maintenance and support costs rising every year when a device is used for longer.
The support costs can rise by about 12.9% between the third and sixth year of additional use, according to the same study as reported in The FinTech Times.
Security
Nearly half of UK firms have been hit by a security breach as a result of unmanaged devices.
Unknown or unmanaged devices are one of the most common openings for attackers.
This was demonstrated again in the WannaCry attack against the NHS in 2017 when attackers took advantage of unpatched devices.
Without proper visibility of your IT estate, there’s no way to be fully confident that you’re fully secure from threats.
Procurement
We’ve already mentioned that businesses waste around 30% of their IT spend on unneeded SaaS.
With no visibility of what’s on your digital estate, it’s easy to end up buying duplicate platforms or renewing tools and systems you don’t need.
It’s also impossible to identify any elements of Shadow IT that may be added to your estate.
You’re also in a weaker position when it comes to renegotiating contracts if you have no real data about how platforms or assets are being used.
With effective ITAM, renewals are based on what you’re actually using, and you can negotiate from a stronger position.
Service Desk and IT Operations
Having accurate device information can reduce service ticket times, reduce delays and support major IT changes like OS upgrades or hardware transitions.
For example, imagine someone comes to support because their laptop is running slow.
With a mature ITAM system in place your support team has immediate access to information like who owns the asset, the device model, age, OS or specs, any installed software, warranty status and last known issues.
Using this information, integrated into your ITSM tool, your support team could instantly report something like:
“The laptop is six years old, has 4GB of RAM and is out of warranty. It’s had seven performance tickets in the last four months and is below the company’s minimum spec standard.”
With this information it’s much easier for your support team to see that the equipment is below your standard and out of warranty, and can log a replacement request for a new laptop.
You can imagine in large organisations how many of these requests support teams get daily, and how much easier having the correct information can make everything.
Turning ITAM into a strategic function
ITAM supports everything from planning and risk management to financial control.
With strong ITAM in place you can reduce waste, strengthen security, increase forecasting accuracy and avoid hidden costs from shadow IT.
By treating ITAM like a strategic function and not a tick box exercise, you give your teams the clarity they need to effectively manage your IT estate today, and forecast accurately for the future.
