develop a comprehensive ham strategy sample

8/4/2019 Develop a Comprehensive HAM Strategy Sample

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Info-Tech Research Group

Develop a Comprehensive Hardware AssetManagement Strategy


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Introduction

Info-Tech Research Group 22

Many see Hardware Asset Management (HAM) as a cost center rather than as animportant aspect of an organizations IT Asset Management (ITAM) practice. Effective

HAM forms the base for lifecycle and software management, financial management ofassets, and more effective service management reporting.

This research is designed for: This research will help you:

CIOs

IT managers

IT asset managers

Anyone looking torationalize or optimizetheir IT assetmanagement practice

Align your hardware assetmanagement strategy withoperational goals.

Identify best practices tomaximize hardware asset ROIwhile offering adequate riskprotection.

Construct the supportingdocuments you need to makethe case.

Use this research to gain a better understanding of how HAM best practices can helpsave money, gain efficiencies, and secure data.


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Executive Summary

Hardware Asset Management (HAM) provides a framework for managing equipmentthroughout its entire lifecycle. HAM is more than just keeping an inventory. It focuses onknowing where the product is, what costs are associated with it, and how to ensure auditabledisposition according to best options and local environmental laws.

Just over 30% of Info-Techs research panel has a mature asset management practice, with theremaining organizations either in the early stages of building one or still looking for the bestmethods to implement. As HAM is function-specific to IT and not to any other businessunits, it often gets set aside for more pressing projects, but the methods used in the interimoften produce incomplete, inaccurate, and cumbersome inventory lists that provide little

value.Implementing a HAM practice enables integration of data and enhancement of many other IT

services such as financial reporting, service management, green IT, and data and assetsecurity.

Cost savings and efficiency gains will vary based on the organizations starting state and whatmeasures are implemented, but most organizations who implement HAM, benefit from it. Asorganizations increase in size, they will find the greatest gains operationally by becomingmore efficient at handling assets and identifying costs associated with them.

This document will provide case studies showing returns of 200% in six months, significantlease payment reductions, service desk efficiencies, and disposal processes that create incomefor the IT department.



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Implement HAM to reduce & manage costs, gain efficiencies, andensure regulatory compliance


Companies with effective HAM practices achieve savings of up to 20% throughredeployment, reduction of lost or stolen equipment, power management, and on-time lease returns.

Insurance companies may offer reductions of as much as 10% off the cost ofinsuring organizational assets if they are actively managed.

The right HAM system will enable more accurate planning and budgeting by

business units.

Save & Manage Money

Integrating the hardware lifecycle with the service desk will enable efficiencies ofup to 20% through Install/Moves/Adds/Changes (IMAC) processes, for largerorganizations.

Gain Service Efficiencies

You cant secure organizational assets if you dont know where they are! Meetgovernance and privacy lawsby knowing asset location and that data is secure.

Meet Regulatory Requirements


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StrategizeUnderstand Manage Lifecycle

Learn how HAM can help reduce equipment costs.

Understand how HAM integrates with software asset management & servicemanagement and supports your organizations green initiatives.

Understand the stages of HAM to determine at what phase your organization sitsand where it should be going.

Roadmap

Understand HAM benefits to integrate into your asset strategy

Next Section in Brief

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60

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Source: Info-Tech ResearchGroup N = 53

OverallPeopleSuccess 47%

OverallProcessSuccess 19%

Overall

TechnologySuccess 33%

Execute an effective HAM practice with policies, processes,automated tools, and an Asset Manager


Automated tools are the greatest contributors to the success of a hardware assetmanagement practice, but they require people who are able to maintain records and

who are willing to align with best practices.Automated tools on their own will notenable effective HAM management.

Have a dedicated asset manager who actively maintains recordsto ensure accuracy and for fast access to information.

Our IT team has ready access to our asset data for quick decision

making, problem solving, and planning.

A corporate policy is in place regarding security, includinglocked storage.

End users are educated on best practices regarding properhandling and security of equipment and data.

4/15/12 to maintain an accurate equipment count and have

instant access data.

Technology is in place to track lost or stolen equipment.

Each bar represents a statistical estimate of the strength of thecorrelation between each aspect of maturity and the overall

success of hardware asset management.


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Manage hardware to reduce costs by as much as 20% and pavethe way for additional savings & efficiencies

Minimize lost or stolen equipmentby settingpolicies and using automated tools to monitor andenforce policies. Tracking software or devices can alsohelp recovery efforts.

Redeploy and cascade equipment rather thanbuying new computers for each new hire. Report onrepair and service costs to determine appropriate end-of-life for products.

Plan for hardware upgradeswith detailedequipment reports.

Manage warranties, extended warranties, or servicelevel agreements, and compare to asset statistics toanalyze continued appropriateness for your needs.

Eliminate late lease returnsby managing renewal

dates, monitoring asset location, and reconcilinginvoices with assets.

Quickly identify assets and locations for mergersand acquisitions or space planning and design.

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A New Zealand Company saw

immediate gains byimplementing a HAM solution.

An asset management consultantworked with this company todiscover hardware on the network,reconcile lease agreements to

equipment, and implement HAMbest practices.

By gaining intelligence on theirhardware, the company was ableto identify a large percentage ofmachines past their return date

that were generating monthlypayments, some as much as 18months overdue. This became thecatalyst to renegotiate the leaseagreements.

See the appendix for more money-saving ideasInfo-Tech Research Group


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Use HAM as the starting point to create a software assetmanagement practice to optimize savings & efficiencies

Use auto-discovery tools to manage hardware andsoftware, making it easier to manage licensing that isdependant on specific hardware configurations such asnumber of processors or cores.

Identify hardware and the user, which is key to managingsoftware, including changes, upgrades, patching, licenseharvesting, and redeployment.

Attach software license and maintenance information tospecific assets, allowing more accurate reporting andmanagement for situations where there are multipleagreements.

For more information, refer to Info-Techs solution set,Manage Software Assets Efficiently.


You cannot have SAM without HAM. You must have Hardware AssetManagement first to understand how software is installed.~ John Boisvenue, Consultant

Many of the process changes required to build an effective hardware and software

practice overlap, so ideally these two areas should be built simultaneously.
http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/get-a-handle-on-it-assets-and-software-licenseshttp://www.infotech.com/research/ss/get-a-handle-on-it-assets-and-software-licenses


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The consultant completed a requirements

assessment, removed the old inventory tool, and

installed an Altiris and HP Asset Manager

solution.

A process assessment identified problems that

could be improved through a realignment

between IT Asset Management (ITAM) and ITService Management (ITSM).

This brought clarity to deployments for needed

computer upgrades and server consolidations.


A government agency with 5,000 usersimplemented an inventory product to achievesoftware compliance, cost reductions, andgovernmental compliance requirements.

After several months, they had only implementedthe tool and were not seeing any benefits.

They hired a consultant to perform a recoveryoperation on the project, but additional challengeshad to be addressed:

o Management was focused on implementationof several projects at once.

o Staff did not feel that process changes werenecessary.

o The tool was not adequately scoped out andcould not fulfill the requirements.

o Too many vendors made adherence tostandards difficult.

Additional work would need to be done to make thecultural changes needed to improve processes.

The Problem The Solution

Cost & Value Proposition

In the first seven months, the client paid out$312,000 for consulting services and technology.

An estimate of another $78,000 and anadditional 5 - 11 months will be required to reachorganizational goals.

Savings to date have included over $624,000 inhardware redeployments and Microsoftapplication licenses.

Case Study: Inventory and reconcile assets to see quick payback,then focus efforts on process integration & improvement


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Support your green IT initiatives through HAM with powermanagement, reporting, and detailed disposition processes

Generating utilization and capacity reports through anITAM tool will provide data to determine which servers

or printers can be consolidated.

Set policies for lowering power consumption or shuttingdown redundant machines and workstations left runningovernight using power management capabilities of ITAMtools.

Generate detailed reports that provide energy consumptionby product or department to use for chargebacks andenergy rebates.

Manage the disposition process to support reuse, reduce,and recycle requirements.

For more information on green IT initiatives, refer to Info-

Techs solution set,Take a Strategic Approach to Maximize the Benefits of Green IT.


A green IT initiative is a subset of Asset Management; by driving things away from ITAMyou create additional IT silos, which we have all wanted to eliminate over the past 25 years.

~ John Siniawski, Partner, Pilot Services
http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-take-a-strategic-approach-to-maximize-the-benefits-of-green-ithttp://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-take-a-strategic-approach-to-maximize-the-benefits-of-green-it


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Gain insight into assets to provide support, planhardware upgrades, and stay aware of what devices areon the network for capacity and service planning.

Map assets to business units or projects for financialreporting or chargebacks.

Map assets to internal services and outsourcingcontracts to get a more accurate view ofTCO and toreconcile invoices.

Automate policy-based, repeatable tasks on assets,trigger notifications, and workflows.

Gain access to warranty and leasing details at theservice desk.

Report on warranty and non-warranty work by asset.


Integrate HAM into service management processes to accuratelyand efficiently manage lifecycle changes

My philosophical view of asset management is that ITs management of IT assets is directlyrelated to service management. You dont need service management if you dont have anyassets.

- Daryl Frost, Consultant, Burswood Information Solutions

Know what assets you have, where you keep them, who is responsible for them, andhow they are used.


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