Former FAST chief bangs IT asset management drum

John Lovelock is keen to enlist UK resellers as he heads up new body IAITAM

Asset management guru John Lovelock has bounced back into the industry with his new role as chief executive of the International Association of IT Asset Managers Europe (IAITAM).

Lovelock (pictured), who was best known for his previous role as the head of the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), is on the hunt for resellers to sit his courses and pass on the benefits of an independent asset management qualification to their customers.

The organisation is offering a choice of three courses – CSAM (Certified Software Asset Management), CHAMP (Certified Hardware Asset Management) and CITAM (Certified IT Asset Management).

“This is really to up the qualification levels of the IT professionals,” explained Lovelock. “Firstly for individuals who aspire to greater things, as it will give them more scope for promotion, and from a wider point of view it is better to see more IT professionals on board with everybody singing from the same song sheet.”

He explained the certifications offered by IAITAM will not overlap with any other vendor- or organisation-specific qualifications, but is instead a “truly independent and vendor-neutral” qualification covering the gamut of asset management from software licence management to IT asset disposal.

“We do not compete with anyone else,” he stressed. IAITAM Europe was registered on 15 July and since then has already forged ties with Australia, India, Poland and Russia, with other countries rushing to get on board and spread the IT asset management message, Lovelock said.

“We already have more than 6,000 people following us on LinkedIn and there is a huge appetite for this,” he said. From a reseller point of view, Lovelock is confident IAITAM can add an additional revenue stream through the qualifications on offer.

“We would like to see the reseller channel embrace the certification,” he added. “Resellers have a great role to play in spreading the message that managing IT assets can lead to huge cost savings for their customers. It is a real opportunity for resellers not only to upskill themselves, but to deliver these programmes to their customers and ensure there is some uniformity that maps on to the ISO SAM standard.”

The first courses are being held in London on 22 and 23 November. For more details on prices and courses on offer, check the IAITAM website.