It’s 12:00 a.m. — do you know where your IT Assets are?

The task of managing and organizing hundreds or thousands of devices and software licenses might seem daunting, but it is critical for IT teams seeking to minimize downtime for employees and even avoid fines related to software non-compliance.

The good news is that IT asset management is becoming easier.

In this blog, you will learn what it means to discover and track technology assets in your organization and how an IT asset management solution can help reduce expenses, extend the life of your assets, and make life easier as an IT pro.

What exactly is asset discovery?

Asset discovery is simply the process of discovering and collecting data on the technology assets connected to a network for management and tracking purposes. These assets can range from hardware devices like servers to software licenses.

Having a complete and up-to-date picture of your technology landscape is an important reason to collect this type of data, allowing IT to make smarter decisions to move the business forward.

By understanding what assets are in play, you can begin to identify devices that need attention in order to prevent or minimize disruption.

With this in mind, check out these five benefits of discovering or importing your IT assets into your service desk:

1. Visibility to Make Data-Driven Decisions

No more hoping you know what you have and where everything is. Asset discovery adds the visibility IT needs to make informed decisions critical to the organization – like exactly how many computers need to be replaced (and budgeted for).

Maybe you have several related tickets you notice all seem to be running an outdated operating system. By consolidating this data in a centralized location, you can begin making the changes you need to stay ahead of the curve.

2. Avoiding Unnecessary Technology Purchases

Another major benefit of scanning in your assets is the ability to uncover exactly how many devices you have in use or available on a single repository.

Keeping capital expenditures (CAPEX) under control can be challenging enough, even if you are trying your best to keep track of what you have. For example, let’s say an executive has a slightly older laptop that hasn’t been returned after upgrading. This could lead to making an unnecessary hardware purchase when onboarding a new employee, since re-imaging this existing asset would suffice.

This lack of visibility into how many devices are on hand can easily lead to unnecessary purchases simply due to the absence of data.

3. Software License Compliance

One of the key advantages of IT asset management is the ability to manage software licenses in order to keep track of all registered and unregistered software that may be in use throughout your company.

Penalties for unlicensed software on computers can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars if your organization is found to be non-compliant as a result of an audit, but it is something that teams put on the back burner. A survey by BDNA found that while 85 percent of respondents have some sort of ITAM solution in place, only 17 percent actually use these tools to manage compliance.

4. Keeping Employees Aware of Affected Assets

IT teams should have a clear understanding of how the assets in your organization support the services employees rely on.

For example, asset discovery helps organizations maintain an updated Configuration Management Database (CMDB), including information on what team members or departments are likely to be impacted when infrastructure components become unavailable.

5. Identifying Risks and Associated Incidents

By having your IT asset management and service desk solutions fully integrated, technicians can now view asset details directly from incoming tickets or service requests.

This makes it easy to identify any associated incidents linked to a particular asset, and it also can help identify potential risks and proactively protect against future problems like a hardware malfunction.

Asset discovery can also identify which devices on your network do not have antivirus software installed. Antivirus detection adds another layer of protection to help guard against potential vulnerabilities to your connected devices or network.

Get Started Today

Consolidating all your available assets into a single application can add tremendous value to your organization, especially when it’s time to plan technology budgets.

By combining both service management and asset management, SolarWinds^® Service Desk with SolarWinds Discovery can give your team the tools they need to help maximize the life of hardware, spot trends in tickets at the device level, and better prepare your organization for a rapidly changing IT landscape.

Start your free 30-day trial today or request a customized demo to explore the full ITSM and ITAM capabilities of SolarWinds Service Desk.