as enterprises combine managing assets and services
BOULDER, Colo., June 5, 2008 – New research from Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) shows that IT asset management (ITAM) continues to mature with steady adoption and growth rates, and that early adopters are increasingly turning to Next-Generation-Asset Management (NGAM) processes to better integrate IT asset and financial management into a single practice. For its new study titled “The Changing Face of Asset Management: Merging Asset, Service and Financial Management,” EMA surveyed nearly 300 respondents and conducted a number of in-depth focal interviews to explore NGAM in the enterprise. Lisa Erickson-Harris, research director at EMA, led the research project and also will host a free webinar on the findings on Thurs., June 5, at 2 p.m. Eastern.
The new study found that the dynamics around managing IT assets are changing dramatically. Asset management has been a long-standing discipline with specific functions focused on tracking IT assets, their characteristics and location/use within the enterprise. While these traditional functions still remain critical, there is a new face for IT asset management which EMA calls ‘NGAM.’ NGAM takes an overall view of the central role that assets play in evolving IT organizations. It also looks at the lifecycle of an asset and how it interfaces and links to service management and financial planning requirements within enterprise environments.
“Asset management is being swept up in the cultural and maturity changes that are moving IT to a service-focused management paradigm surrounded by best practices that enable IT to meet service quality objectives,” said Erickson-Harris. “With 63 percent of respondents either managing or planning to manage assets and services together, evidence is clear that real-world IT shops recognize the need for an integrated approach that promises to make IT a true business partner.”
Key findings from this report include:
- While few enterprises are managing assets for service planning across all domains – from desktops to telecommunications circuits to the data center – more and more are looking to do so.
- Operations as a whole and organizations responsible for IT governance are most likely to drive a more cohesive approach to asset management across domains.
- IT financial governance leads the pack as the single most critical organization to consolidate and unify asset management (17 percent).
- NGAM success factors include organizational support and executive commitment, good communication across IT and a strong architectural team to integrate effectively.
- Only 51 percent of respondents indicated that their organization has a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) system currently deployed. Yet, almost all organizations suffer from redundant, poorly automated and uncoordinated sources of asset data.
- Inventory and configuration management were recognized as two of the most dominant technologies associated with NGAM.
Please join Erickson-Harris during a free webinar on the study and NGAM on Thurs., June 5, 2008 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Register for the event.
For more information on the new EMA™ Research Report “The Changing Face of Asset Management: Merging Asset, Service and Financial Management” or to purchase the full report, contact EMA at 303.543.9500 or sales@enterprisemanagement.com.
About Enterprise Management Associates
Founded in 1996, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) is a leading industry analyst and consulting firm dedicated to the IT management market. The firm provides IT vendors and enterprise IT professionals with objective insight into the real-world business value of long-established and emerging technologies, ranging from security, storage and IT Service Management (ITSM) to the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), virtualization and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Even with its rapid growth, EMA has never lost sight of the client, and continues to offer personalized support and convenient access to its analysts. For more information on the firm’s extensive library of IT management research, free online IT Management Solutions Center and IT consulting offerings, visit www.www.enterprisemanagement.com.