What is IT Asset Management (ITAM)?
IT Asset Management tool provides a centralized view of all company-owned IT assets. If your organization struggles to track devices, it may be time to adopt a comprehensive ITAM solution to maximize efficiency and reduce costs.
Think about this: It’s Monday morning, and the IT manager gets an email or even better a ticket in Service Desk “Missing Laptop.” After a bit of research, it turns out someone from another department “borrowed” it weeks ago for a project and forgot to tell anyone. Or maybe it’s even worse, the presentation of your boss is halted by an expired software license.
ITAM helps avoid these kinds of headaches by keeping an up-to-date inventory and clear records, so nothing slips through the cracks. No more missing laptops or embarrassing license mishaps—just smooth operations.
With proper IT Asset Management, you will always know what devices you have, where they are located, how much they cost your company and who is responsible for them.
Looking for a solution like this?
ALVAO is a comprehensive IT Asset Management solution that enables tracking of a wide range of organizational resources across departments such as keys, company benefits, buildings, vehicle fleet (fleet management), buildings, even specific rooms and their facilities (facility management).
IT Asset Management goes beyond IT
When we say ALVAO ITAM works across departments, we mean it also supports the HR team and strengthens their collaboration with other departments.
Let’s look at the following example to see how closely ITAM, IT, and HR can be connected. HR forgets to remind IT to prepare a laptop, system access, or an entrance card for a new hire because they’re busy with other tasks. The new employee arrives, sits at their desk, and looks around awkwardly because nothing is ready. The whole onboarding process turns into a chaotic scramble.
ALVAO makes onboarding easy by helping IT and HR work together seamlessly. HR can quickly submit requests for everything a new hire needs, like a laptop, access cards, or system logins. ALVAO’s inventory shows exactly what’s available and where it is, so there’s no guesswork.
It even automates tasks like setting up devices and creating accounts, keeping everything running smoothly. With ALVAO, your new hires will have everything ready on day one – simple, stress-free, and efficient.
Learn more about smooth onboarding.
What are the benefits of IT Asset Management?
Are you searching for an ITAM solution that will be the right fit for your company's needs? Let’s take a look at the key benefits that a powerful ITAM solution can bring to your company.
- Improved Asset Data Management – Gain complete visibility of your IT assets, including their location, maintenance history, and usage status.
- Cost Savings – Once you know what assets you have, you can easily avoid unneeded purchases and better utilize existing resources. To maximize cost savings, check out our guide on how to plan IT budget efficiently.
- Security – ITAM identifies devices or software nearing the end of their lifecycle allowing you to address vulnerabilities before they pose a risk to your company.
- Operational Efficiency - Linking every support ticket to real-time, accurate records of user hardware and software enables help desk teams to resolve issues quickly and minimize downtime.
Those are just a fraction of the ways you can benefit from ITAM. Take a look at all the benefits in this article: The Benefits of IT Asset Management (ITAM): Why You Can't Afford to Ignore It
What is IT Inventory Management?
So, what does IT inventory management mean? It is the process of identifying and tracking an organization’s IT assets. IT Asset Inventory management is an essential source of information about all IT resources. Once assets are discovered, IT Asset Management (ITAM) takes over maintaining an organized inventory.
Use Case: Someone submits a ticket for a new laptop because their current one is “too slow to use.” After checking the inventory, you realize they’re stuck with an ancient model that somehow missed every upgrade. Or even worse, you find three brand-new laptops sitting in a storeroom because no one knew they were there. With proper IT inventory management, this doesn’t happen.
You’ll know exactly what’s in use, what’s in stock, what software licenses you have and what needs replacing. A comprehensive IT inventory will save you time, money, and plenty of frustration.
ALVAO ITAM integrates IT inventory management, eliminating the need for a separate solution. Unlike traditional inventory processes where an individual must manually tick off items, ALVAO simplifies the process.
For example, an employee uses a company’s laptop, keys and a card. Once a year he is notified via email when an inventory check begins. All he has to do is simply confirm what assets he really has and submit the form.
You can easily integrate ALVAO with other software. For instance, the inventory results can be exported to your ERP or accounting system for further processing.
Unlock the full potential of ALVAO by connecting it with all the systems your company relies on – whether it’s Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Copilot or PowerBi integration. See all the integrations ALVAO has to offer.
What’s the difference between ITAM and IT Inventory Management?
While both IT Asset Management (ITAM) and IT Inventory Management involve tracking IT resources, their scope and focus areas differ.
Let’s illustrate this with an example. IT Inventory management is like counting how many laptops you have in stock, while ITAM is like asking: "Why do we still have those old laptops nobody uses?" IT inventory management helps you know what’s where, but ITAM steps in to figure out if those devices are costing you more to keep than to replace, or if they’ve mysteriously turned into “spare parts” in someone's drawer.
ITAM doesn’t just count assets; it keeps the big picture in focus, helping you manage costs, plan upgrades, and avoid surprise expenses.
Conclusion
IT Asset Management (ITAM) and IT Inventory Management are both vital for tracking IT resources. ITAM provides a comprehensive approach to managing the entire lifecycle of IT assets while IT inventory management is mainly concerned with tracking the quantity and location of assets.
Is your company missing a robust ITAM solution that will help you to manage your assets?
Try ALVAO trial for free!