A Guide to Choosing the Right ITAM Tool

To avail of several benefits that ITAM tools offer, you must choose the right ITAM tool for the organization. But choosing the right ITAM tool can be challenging, as many options are available in the market.

For this reason, IT teams need to consider various factors like user experience, scalability, pricing, etc., while choosing the best ITAM tool for the organization.

This article will discuss various ways to choose the best ITAM tool for an organization.

Points to Consider While Choosing an ITAM Tool

The first step in choosing the right ITAM tool is understanding IT teams' needs. Identifying the organization's size and complexity of the IT infrastructure, including the number and types of IT assets that need to be managed, will help IT teams determine the organization's specific IT asset management needs.

Now, let us explore other factors to consider while choosing a suitable ITAM tool for your organization.

1. Discover the complete organization's IT assets

Now we know that managing IT assets is critical for the smooth functioning of any organization. However, it's only possible to manage what you know about. This is why discovering all assets in an organization is essential for efficient IT asset management.

It enables IT teams to identify all the assets in the organization, including hardware, software, and cloud-based resources. Once discovered, it can be used to track the asset's usage, licensing status, and maintenance needs. In addition, it ensures that the organization complies with software licensing agreements and that hardware assets function optimally.

Furthermore, asset discovery helps IT teams identify assets that may pose security risks to the organization. For example, unapproved software or outdated hardware can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks. But, asset discovery allows IT teams to identify these risks and take appropriate action to mitigate them, such as updating or replacing vulnerable assets.

Moreover, it helps IT teams to optimize the use of IT resources in the organization. IT teams can reallocate resources to the most needed areas by identifying underutilized or redundant assets. This can reduce costs and improve the overall efficiency of IT operations.

By implementing an ITAM solution with asset discovery capability, IT teams can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their IT operations and reduce costs associated with asset management in the organization.

Is there any solution capable of discovering 100% assets in your organization?

Well, yes! Zluri (a SaaS management platform) is one such solution that uses nine powerful discovery methods to trace the SaaS apps present in an organization's SaaS landscape.

These are the five discovery methods that Zluri uses to gain visibility into your company's SaaS ecosystem: MDMs, IDPs & SSO, direct integration with apps, finance & expense management systems, CASBs, HRMS, directories, desktop agents (optional), and browser extension (optional). Among these, desktop agents and browser extensions are optional.

Zluri’s nine discovery methods

The discovery methods help IT teams to identify 100% accurate SaaS apps in the organization, combined with having over 2,25,000 apps that make Zluri the largest app library in the world.

With 100% discoverability, Zluri enables businesses to closely monitor, measure, and manage their application completely while also shedding light on any shadow IT and helping IT teams eliminate it.

2. Track the complete lifecycle of your assets

Tracking assets' lifecycles from acquisition to disposal go through different stages, and each stage has unique challenges and opportunities for optimization. This is why tracking the lifecycle of all assets in an organization is crucial for effective asset management. But what does it all help?

• It enables IT teams to manage assets more effectively by providing visibility into the asset's usage and maintenance history.
• It tracks the asset's performance, identifies any maintenance or repair needs, and plans for asset replacement.
• Also, it helps IT teams identify underutilized assets and redeploy them to areas where they are needed more effectively.
• By tracking the asset's history, IT teams can ensure it has been appropriately configured, installed, and maintained throughout its lifecycle, reducing the risk of non-compliance and associated penalties.
• In addition, tracking assets' lifecycles helps identify assets that no longer provide value to the organization. Accordingly, IT teams can retire or dispose of them and redirect resources to areas that offer a greater return on investment.

But are you wondering if there is any solution that can track the complete lifecycle of your assets? Thankfully yes! Zluri helps in asset lifecycle tracking from procurement to disposal of SaaS apps, helping IT teams improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their IT operations and reduce costs associated with asset management.

With Zluri, IT teams can easily track apps, users, license types, the number of licenses for each type, user role, and SaaS spending in one single platform. Zluri gives a clear view of the subscriptions, contracts, and perpetual licenses. In addition, it helps IT teams to gather information on unused licenses or abandoned apps, improving the SaaS landscape in the organization.

Additionally, with Zluri, you can view the critical apps with high threat levels and risk scores. It alerts you on critical apps which can prevent your data from cyber-attacks.

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The threat levels, risk scores, risk, scopes, etc., will determine the risk related to SaaS apps.

We help you to stay secure and compliant with ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, etc., and maintain SaaS compliance. It makes you audit-ready.

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3. Able to connect with your existing systems (Integration)

Integration is the capability to connect with the organization's existing systems that help IT teams manage the assets effectively, resulting in increased productivity and cost savings. When your IT systems are integrated with ITAM tools, they can share data and communicate with ITAM tools seamlessly. This allows for real-time access to critical information that can be used to make informed decisions.

For example, suppose an asset management system is integrated with a financial system. In that case, IT teams can quickly determine the cost of an asset, its depreciation, and the total cost of ownership. This data can be used to create a comprehensive asset management strategy that considers the financial implications of owning and maintaining assets.

Moreover, it enables better visibility and control over your IT assets. With an integrated system, IT teams can monitor assets across the organization and quickly identify any issues or areas of concern. It prevents downtime and ensures that assets are used to their fullest potential.

Are you curious whether an ITAM solution exists that seamlessly integrates with your current system? Well, yes, Zluri is the one. So let's see how Zluri, being a SaaS management platform, helps with integration.

Zluri offers the capability of integrating with your existing system, making it easier for IT teams to manage and track IT assets efficiently.

Let's take the example of Zluri integrating with a popular SaaS application like Salesforce. With this integration, Zluri can automatically fetch data related to user access, usage, and spend from Salesforce. It provides IT teams with a complete view of all the SaaS applications associated with their organization, enabling them to track and manage software assets effectively.

Now, let's say an IT team wants to optimize its SaaS spend and reduce the number of underutilized licenses.

With Zluri-Salesforce integration in place, the team can quickly identify users who are not actively using Salesforce and reallocate their licenses to other users who need them. The team can also monitor user access and usage trends, enabling them to make informed decisions about scaling up or down their SaaS subscriptions.

This integration helps IT teams in several ways:

• Enhanced visibility: With Zluri and Salesforce working together, IT teams can get a complete view of their SaaS applications, enabling them to monitor usage, access, and spend more effectively.
• Better decision-making: By providing IT teams with real-time data on SaaS usage and spend, Zluri enables them to make informed decisions about optimizing their SaaS subscriptions and reducing unnecessary costs.
• Streamlined processes: The Zluri-Salesforce integration streamlines the process of managing SaaS apps, reducing the time and effort required to manage licenses, users, and subscriptions manually.

4. Choose a tool that can scale with your business (Scalability)

As an organization adds more employees, expands its operations, or invests in new technologies, the number of IT assets that need to be managed can quickly become overwhelming. As a result, organizations require ITAM tools that can scale to meet their changing needs and help IT teams manage their assets effectively.

A scalable ITAM tool can adapt to several changes, allowing IT teams to keep track of all the assets in real-time without additional resources or staff.

Furthermore, as organizations expand their operations, they often need to manage IT assets across different geographies or business units. Considering scalability in an ITAM tool empowers IT teams with the flexibility to manage their IT assets across multiple locations or business units.

In addition, the tool can provide a centralized platform for IT teams to manage all assets, making it easier to identify, track, and manage them.

Is there an ITAM tool that scales as your business grows? Thankfully, yes. Zluri can accommodate the growth and ensure that all assets are accurately tracked and managed. This scalability helps IT teams avoid the headaches of using multiple tools to manage different IT assets or manually track everything.

Here is an example of how Zluri can scale along with an organization:

Let's say a company starts with a small team of ten employees and a handful of IT assets. They begin using Zluri to manage their IT assets, which works well for their small team. As the company grows, they start acquiring more IT assets and hiring more employees. Zluri can easily accommodate this growth by adding new assets and users to the platform.

As the company continues to grow, they start to acquire new branches and expand its operations globally. Zluri can help with this by providing a centralized platform to manage IT assets across all locations. As a result, the IT team can easily track and manage all assets, regardless of location.

The scalability of Zluri is a critical factor in making it an effective tool for managing IT assets. By providing a comprehensive platform that can accommodate an organization's growth, Zluri helps IT teams focus on strategic initiatives rather than spending time on tedious administrative tasks.

5. Offers Ready-to-Use Reports

With robust reporting capabilities, IT teams can analyze and track asset data to identify trends, pinpoint areas for improvement, and make informed decisions about asset management. In addition, it enables IT teams to gain a clear and comprehensive view of their asset inventory.

With a complete and accurate view of their asset inventory, IT teams can optimize asset utilization, avoid unnecessary expenses, and improve overall asset management. Also, reporting capabilities enable IT teams to track your assets' performance and identify potential issues that can create a hurdle for you in managing assets effectively.

For example, if a particular asset frequently requires repairs or experiences downtime, IT teams can quickly identify the issue and take action to address it. This minimizes downtime and extends the asset's lifespan, leading to cost savings for the organization.

Furthermore, reporting capabilities enable IT teams to track compliance and identify areas of risk. This is important in heavily regulated industries, where non-compliance can result in significant fines and reputational damage. With the required data, IT teams can easily track compliance with relevant regulations and standards, identify risk areas, and take action to address any issues.

Are there any ITAM solutions offering reporting capabilities to streamline asset management? Yes, Zluri does. Zluri offers robust reporting capabilities consisting of 21 reports, giving an overview of the complete SaaS stack of the organization. Some of these reports include a list of apps/users/departments, spend reports, a list of inactive users, and more.

Here are some of the ways Zluri's reporting capabilities empower IT teams:

• Customizable Reports: Zluri offers customizable reports that enable IT teams to create reports tailored to their specific needs. IT teams can generate reports on asset utilization, contract renewals, license compliance, and more. These reports can be scheduled to be automatically generated and sent to relevant stakeholders, such as managers or department heads.
• Real-time Visibility: Zluri's reporting capabilities, like SaaS apps, provide real-time visibility into the organization's IT assets. IT teams can quickly access information about SaaS apps and their licenses, ensuring that they always have an up-to-date understanding of the organization's SaaS landscape.
• Cost Optimization: Zluri's reporting capabilities enable IT teams to identify unused or underutilized assets and optimize costs. By tracking asset utilization and identifying opportunities to consolidate or retire assets, IT teams can reduce costs while ensuring the organization's IT infrastructure is optimized.
• Compliance: Zluri enables IT teams to ensure compliance with software licensing agreements and regulatory requirements. IT teams can track licenses, identify non-compliant apps, and avoid costly penalties.
• Strategic Decision-making: Zluri's reporting capabilities provide IT teams with the information they need to make informed decisions about their organization's IT assets. With real-time access to critical data, IT teams can identify areas for improvement, plan for future growth, and make data-driven decisions.

6. User experience and pricing

When it comes to managing IT assets, an effective IT Asset Management tool can make all the difference. However, not all ITAM tools are created equal, and choosing the right one requires careful consideration of factors such as user experience and pricing.

User experience is a critical factor when selecting an ITAM tool. When an ITAM tool is easy to use, IT teams are likelier to adopt it, resulting in higher user engagement and better asset management.

Also, the cost is always a concern, and it's important to remember that the cheapest option may only sometimes be the best option. Choosing an ITAM tool with a pricing model that aligns with your organization's needs and budget can help you avoid hidden costs and ensure long-term affordability.

By taking the time to carefully consider user experience and pricing when selecting an ITAM tool, IT teams can benefit in numerous ways. Firstly, a user-friendly interface can increase productivity, reducing the time and effort required to manage IT assets. Additionally, pricing that aligns with the organization's budget can ensure that the ITAM tool remains affordable and sustainable over time.

Furthermore, selecting an ITAM tool that meets your organization's needs and requirements can help ensure that the IT team manages assets effectively. An ITAM tool that's tailored to your organization's needs can help identify and address potential issues before they become major problems, preventing downtime and costly repairs.

Are you searching for a solution that offers a seamless user experience and is priced reasonably?

Zluri offers an intuitive user interface that is easy to navigate and use. The platform's user experience is designed to be user-friendly and straightforward, allowing IT teams to manage their IT assets efficiently without spending too much time on administrative tasks.

The platform's dashboard provides a quick overview of all the assets and their current status, allowing IT teams to identify potential issues and address them proactively.

Further, Zluri's customizable reports and real-time visibility enable IT teams to get the necessary information and make informed decisions quickly.

In addition to user experience, Zluri's pricing is flexible and tailored to meet your organization's specific needs. The platform offers a range of pricing plans, starting from a free plan for small teams with limited IT assets to a custom plan for larger organizations with complex IT infrastructures.

Are you confused with the above-mentioned factors? Do you wish you could have a comprehensive, bird's-eye view of your entire IT ecosystem? Then, look no further than Zluri!

Opt for Zluri to Manage IT Assets Effectively

With Zluri's 360-degree view, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of your IT assets, making it easier than ever to manage them effectively. From tracking usage and spend to identifying redundancies and security risks, Zluri has you covered.

Our innovative platform provides IT teams with real-time insights into their SaaS apps, allowing for proactive monitoring and efficient troubleshooting. With Zluri, you can finally say goodbye to the headache of managing multiple platforms and welcome a streamlined, centralized approach to IT asset management.

But don't just take our word for it! Instead, Click here to schedule a demo and see firsthand how Zluri can transform your IT operations. With our 360-degree view, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.