Part 1

2021 Gartner Software Asset Management Magic Quadrant Leaders, Livingstone Group recently joined The ITAM Review for an online seminar to discuss the value of ITAM in today’s changing times.

In Part 1 of this follow up blog series, I will look at the current state of ITAM, including challenges and issues it is facing.

View the full online seminar

The current state of ITAM

ITAM as a discipline is being challenged. The value it brings and its relevance now and in the future are being questioned in the wake of a crisis that has seen organizations across the board tighten their purse strings and look for ways throughout their operations to make cost savings.  In addition, the arrival of new solutions like FinOps is grabbing management’s attention and budgets, and ITAM appears to be behind the curve and stuck either managing ‘on-premises’ elements or only dipping its toe in the water with the likes of Office 365 or Adobe user management.

In this light, we, the ITAM community need to change the narrative. We need to be able to demonstrate ITAM’s value and relevance or we risk becoming part of these cost cutting exercises.

ITAM challenges

Even before the pandemic, but especially in today’s financial climate following the challenges of the past few years, CFOs and management teams are always looking for value across a business, from the sales teams to the HR department. The problem with ITAM is that it can be seen as being purely within IT or procurement’s remit and worse as a ‘black box’ – but this is what needs to change. Instead, ITAM needs to be positioned to show how it can deliver and drive more value from across an organization, ensuring everything from Salesforce to payroll to Office 365 is delivering maximum value from investment.

There are hurdles to proving this value. ITAM can be seen as something that is trying to limit change and hamper digital transformation, rather than support it. In addition, there are the stories of failed ITAM technology implementations, or data reports that do not have a 100% coverage rate – even though it is near impossible for reports to be ‘ready’ in today’s ever-changing tech landscape. These anecdotes do nothing to build confidence in what ITAM has to offer, even if these negative occurrences are few and far between. But unwelcome news travels fast.

Add to that, there is also a general wariness and hesitancy that surrounds ITAM as a function. A lot of this comes down to a lack of understanding of all the possibilities ITAM has to offer in terms of efficiency, optimization and cost-saving, but this results in a lack of interest or interaction with businesses who do not know where to start on their ITAM journey. And within a business itself that is already taking advantage of ITAM, it can be difficult for those running point on it to prove ITAM’s worth to management teams who have a lack of interest or understanding of it to begin with.

As a result, ITAM becomes siloed as a ‘black box, and is relegated to being simply an ‘audit support’ function, a solution that is governance heavy with all design, but no output, or a place where ‘bean counters’ are cutting costs at the expense of technological progress.

But there is much more to ITAM.

It is time to change the ITAM narrative

While it is true that ITAM, including SAM, has a long-standing reputation as being a solution that businesses turn to when they need to clean up a mess after the fact, whether that be a non-compliant audit defense or recovering from over-spending, ITAM has a lot more to offer than simply being a custodian of mistakes.

Indeed, in this post-pandemic era, ITAM should be viewed as an integral business asset in the fight to make cost savings and become more efficient, rather than a tool that can be thrown by the wayside. It should be a function that organizations use to support their cloud migrations rather than something that hinders technological progress. Instead of being only a solution that organizations call upon when they need to recover from costly mistakes, ITAM should be viewed in a proactive, preventative light – helping organizations to mitigate risks before they become costly mistakes, and ensuring they make the best decisions the first time around.

To find out more about the new opportunities in the ITAM space and how to define value for ITAM, keep an eye out for Part 2 of this follow up blog series. View the full online seminar

Livingstone are recognized as a Leader in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for SAM Managed Services.  To find out about how Livingstone can help your ITAM needs, please get in touch.