IT asset management is 'moving out of the shadows', claims newly formed body
ITAM will be critical in helping firms cut costs during recession, according to new trade body launched today
IT asset management (ITAM) is increasingly becoming a boardroom priority, according to a new trade body promoting the global ITAM industry.
Founded by industry stalwart Martin Thompson, the ITAM Forum launches today with a board of 15 trustees from across the ITAM industry.
Thompson's previous not-for-profit, the Campaign for Clear Licensing, pushed for clearer licensing from software vendors, sometimes butting heads with the likes of Oracle and SAP.
Thompson claimed that ITAM is enjoying more seniority and board level exposure than ever before, with recent research he conducted finding that ITAM teams reporting into the board rose from 17 to 37 per cent between 2011 and 2018.
ITAM will become even more important post-lockdown as companies look to get a handle on their IT estates and cut costs, he predicted.
"It is worth recognising the unprecedented times in which the ITAM Forum has launched, as societies come out of their respective lockdowns and potentially straight into a global recession," he said.
"The priority for many businesses at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was to invest rapidly in remote working solutions so they could maintain day-to-day operations as best they could, whatever the cost. Now that the dust has settled and businesses adapt to the new normal, IT asset managers have a huge role to play in documenting and unpicking this rapid and unplanned investment. Looking longer term towards the onset of a global recession, cost cutting truly has become the priority for businesses once again."
The ITAM Forum launches with two objectives, namely to educate and evangelise, and to promote best practice.
It also holds a longer-term objective of being the caretaker of a new organisational certification program for ITAM based on the global ISO standard for the ITAM industry - ISO19770 - which was first published in 2006.