Enterprises spend a large part of their budget on hardware and software and expect these assets to provide continuing value over several years. Organizations with dedicated IT managers must have a clear picture of what assets the enterprise has and where they are. Because some assets can be moved (laptops and printers, for example), they can be managed only if their location is known. IT staff must keep equipment and software up-to-date with upgrades and patches only if it has a complete record of what it has deployed. Similarly, IT can diagnose problems quickly only if IT knows what hardware and software is in place. IT departments should manage hardware and software assets through the stages of requisition, procurement, deployment, operation, and retirement. A typical example of poor asset management is the failure to redeploy a PC or a number of software licenses after an employee leaves. Good asset management involves more than the tracking of assets. Before buying new equipment, consider whether the required hardware or software is already available but not used. During deployment, ensure that installation is of the right equipment with the right software to avoid rework. Use asset records to diagnose problems more quickly when there is an incident.

Key to successful enterprise lifecycle management is the ability to track and manage the hardware and software assets in your IT infrastructure. WSN offers a wide variety of asset management services to manage your technology assets. Asset can be inventoried and tagged during a deployment, or comprehensive inventories and asset database management can be developed and maintained.

Our clients have found significant cost reductions of up to 20% by applying asset management disciplines, even with simple tools, to the following activities

	End user support
	Procurement
	Data Management
	Network Management
	IT Support and Maintenance

Enterprises of all sizes search for ways to reduce the cost and increase the utilization of their software and hardware assets. Employ IT asset management processes and tools not only to reduce asset costs but also to reduce the costs of service management and improve service levels.

	Implement an asset management system
	Implement service management procedures and systems
	Contact WSN to learn more about asset management best practices