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Some people tend to confuse Digital Asset management with management of IT inventories, but nothing can be farther from the truth. Rather it is about analyzing IT assets to make well-informed business decisions. Business organizations across all verticals are looking at data as a source of vital business assets that actually help them to make crucial marketing decisions. Boring data don’t the cut anymore and which is why companies need to focus on IT asset management so that they can have data presented in a visually appealing format. 

So, if your organization is planning to buy an IT Asset Management Software application to keep your data safe and secure, you need to chill out a bit. Don't make any rash decision. There are several factors to consider before making the final decision. Here we are going to analyze those factors so that you can select the best IT asset management for your company –

Easy Integration

The IT Asset Management application should be easy to integrate with other applications. Imagine spending hours just to integrate the IT Asset Management application with the helpdesk application that your company uses. It will be just sheer waste of time and hard work, and now imagine what will happen if your company decides to move to a different ticketing software . It will be a double whammy. Now, you will have to spend time to learn the new helpdesk application and at the same time you will have to ask an expert to spend a considerable amount of time to figure it out how to integrate the existing IT asset management application with the new helpdesk application that you have just purchased.

Set Your Expectation

You need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with the new IT Asset Management application that you are going to purchase. There should be no conflict of interest between your vision and the requirements of your IT team. You need to consult with the IT team first to understand their problems and then narrow down their requirements so that you can make a better decision while purchasing IT Asset Management application. Objectives are of two types – one is short-term objective and another one is long term. Solving the existing issues of your IT department is the short-term objective because your firm simply can’t function if your main department struggle all the time.

But the long-term objective should not be ignored at the same time. You simply can’t afford to purchase an IT Asset Management that does not offer room for growth because as your company expands, your IT department will be looking for more resources and functions and if your chosen IT Asset Management application fails to deliver in that front, your agency will get struck in the middle of nowhere. That is something that you need to avoid at any cost. Therefore, it is extremely important that you look at both the types of objectives before making the final call.

Ratings and Reviews

We all know that ratings and reviews can be fudged but in order to get some idea about the brand that have developed the  IT Asset Management application. You should not put your trust on some fly by night companies and believe me there are many IT companies masquerading as reputed agencies and therefore, you will have to do a lot of Google searches to get some ideas about the brand like how many years they are into this business or how many people have purchased their products. Last but not the least, you need to get some idea about their market positions and the market reputations of their founders. So, basically a lot of good old research is involved before you decide to make the final move.

Price

Your organization might have a deep pocket and is probably in a position to spend a fortune on software application, but believe me, there is no point in spending an astronomical amount on something that can be obtained for a few hundred bucks. There are hundreds of IT Asset Management applications available online and since the competition is fierce, you can easily make a good bargain and bring down the monthly fee. Even if you fail to bring down the monthly fees, you can still push them to add some extra features in the initial stage of a long-term successful collaboration. And don’t forget to find out if there are any hidden cost included in the package.

Proven Products

As we have explained earlier, there are hundreds of IT companies pooping up out of nowhere and are making bold claims like their IT Asset Management Product is offering a streamlined and simplified version of IT Asset Management application but the truth can be vastly different from what you have been told. Most of these IT Asset Management applications are untested or are in a stage of development. If not, these products are coded properly and since there are not many people involved in testing and fixing bugs, these cheap IT Asset Management applications bring down your operation to a complete standstill. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that you should put your trust on those IT Asset Management applications that are used by many people and have a reputation in the market. At least, these applications are stable in nature and can offer reliable and consistent performance in the long run.

Don’t Overlook Basic Functionalities

Sometimes people ignore the most important thing while scouting for the IT Asset Management Software. They look for sophisticated and advanced features in that application and the sad truth is those advanced features are rarely used by IT guys. Rather you need to focus on the basic functions. You need to confirm that your chosen IT Asset Management application has these following features - contract management, CMDB management, asset lifecycle management, auto-asset discovery and Inventory management. The absence of these basic features will make an IT Asset Management Software application useless.

You need to remind yourself the purpose of an IT Asset Management Solution and that is making the lives of your employees easier and increasing productivity at the end. So, select an application that promises to deliver these basics and your organization will be in good shape.

Vaishali Gopi