The IT Asset Lifecycle

IT assets are vital resources for any modern company. Just like any other asset, they go through a lifecycle — starting from planning and acquisition, all the way through to being taken out of service and eventually disposed of or repurposed.

Managing your IT assets effectively at every stage of their lifecycle is key. It helps companies get a better handle on costs, get more value from their investments, and reduce the risks that come with losing control over their IT infrastructure.

In this article, we'll explore what IT assets really are, walk through the main stages of their lifecycle, and discuss why it’s so important for businesses to pay close attention to managing these assets.

What Exactly Are IT Assets?

IT assets encompass all technology-related components within your company's landscape that hold a certain value for your business.

Technological resources become IT assets when they meet a few specific criteria:

• They represent a significant cost or value to the company;
• Using them brings a clear benefit to the business;
• They need regular maintenance and support.

Essentially, IT assets include things like hardware, software, licenses, and information that enable your company to operate smoothly and generate revenue.

We can generally break IT assets down into four main types:

1. Physical assets: Servers, computers, network devices, and any other tangible technology equipment that makes up your company's infrastructure.
2. Software assets: Operating systems and any application software that helps carry out business tasks.
3. Intellectual assets: Patents, trademarks, copyrights, proprietary company developments, documentation, methodologies, and business processes.
4. Data assets: Databases, files, archives, financial information, and analytics.

The Stages of an IT Asset's Lifecycle

Planning

During the planning stage, the business figures out what specific IT assets it needs to support its processes and achieve its goals.

An analysis of current IT assets is conducted to evaluate their alignment with present and projected business needs. This helps identify any gaps that new assets need to fill.

Based on identified business needs, functional and technical requirements are defined for the necessary IT assets. This involves identifying the categories of assets and the requirements that will be set for them.

Internal standards and policies are developed for any IT assets you plan to buy or create (e.g., hardware configuration standards, software licensing policies, security policies).

A budget is put together for acquiring and implementing the necessary assets.

This way, the planning stage lays the groundwork for managing the IT assets effectively throughout the rest of their lifecycle.

Procurement / Development

Once you have your requirements and budget, it's time to acquire the assets. This involves selecting vendors, negotiating terms, and signing contracts for supply.

For larger purchases, you might go through a tender process involving several suppliers. It's important to monitor contract fulfillment and check that the delivered assets match the agreed-upon specifications.

Before putting assets into use, they need to be inventoried and officially received. This inventory process ensures all assets delivered under the contract are accounted for and match the specs. A physical inspection of equipment and a check for completeness are also carried out.

After the inventory check, assets are registered in the IT asset management system. Key technical details, serial numbers, and metadata (like supplier information and cost) are recorded. Individuals are assigned responsibility for the assets, both physically and operationally. This prepares the asset for deployment.

Deployment

In this stage, the IT asset is put into active use and handed over to employees to help them perform their business tasks and support company processes.

The use of IT assets is controlled, and their functionality and performance are monitored through system and network monitoring tools.

Regular inventories are conducted to check that the data about the assets in the management system is accurate and up-to-date.

If needed, assets are upgraded or updated as part of change and configuration management processes. This might be to fix defects or make them work more efficiently.

Essentially, during the operational stage, the asset is actively benefiting your business and creating value.

Maintenance / Upgrades / Standby

Maintaining IT assets involves a range of activities to keep them running smoothly and performing well. This includes diagnosing faults, fixing defects, adjusting settings, and performing preventive maintenance.

Maintenance can be handled by an in-house IT team or by third-party service organizations under support and maintenance contracts.

Upgrading IT assets means updating them to improve their features or performance. This could involve increasing memory capacity, replacing outdated components with more productive ones, updating software versions, and so on.

Moving assets to standby means temporarily taking them out of active use. These standby assets might be kept as a strategic reserve to replace failed assets or to meet potential future demand.

Decisions about maintenance, upgrades, or moving assets to standby are typically based on monitoring data, inventory results, and any changes in business requirements.

Retirement and Disposal

At the retirement stage, a decision is made to completely stop using an IT asset. This might be because it is simply worn out, technologically obsolete, or for other reasons.

A technical assessment is usually done to see if any parts of the retired equipment can still be used. Usable components might be kept in reserve for repairing similar assets that fail.

For any devices that store data, a secure data wiping procedure is carried out. Valuable components might be salvaged for material recovery. The rest of the retired equipment is disposed of as electronic waste, following appropriate environmental guidelines.

After disposal, reports are often compiled detailing the asset's service life and the costs associated with its support and maintenance throughout its entire lifecycle. This collected data can then be used to analyze effectiveness and optimize future IT asset management strategies.

Why Managing Your IT Assets is So Important

As your business grows, so does the number and complexity of your IT assets. Without a centralized way to track and manage them, it’s easy to lose control over the IT infrastructure and the costs of maintaining it. This can lead to system failures due to outdated or un-upgraded equipment and increased information security risks. If you don't have a proper inventory system, you can't easily track lost or stolen valuable equipment. And if you're not analyzing how your IT assets are being used, you're almost certainly not distributing them efficiently. All these issues can ultimately lead to significant financial costs and losses for the business.

This is where IT Asset Management (ITAM) comes in. ITAM is a set of practices for tracking, controlling, maintaining, and optimizing the use of all your company's IT assets throughout their entire lifecycle.

Effective ITAM helps you achieve several key goals:

• Keep your infrastructure running smoothly: ITAM provides up-to-date information on your assets, allowing for timely maintenance and support of equipment.
• Use IT assets more efficiently: With a complete inventory and usage monitoring, you can identify underused or unused assets and optimize how they are deployed.
• Save money and optimize spending: Smart planning for procurement, upgrades, and retirement of IT assets benefits the business and helps control costs. Tracking existing assets helps avoid unnecessary purchases and overspending.
• Improve financial efficiency: This is supported by controlling the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for IT assets throughout their lifecycle.
• Support ITIL processes: ITAM aids in managing changes, incidents, and problems within IT Service Management (ITSM) practices.
• Report on and analyze retired assets: ITAM allows you to track the operational life of IT assets, analyze reasons for their failure or retirement, and optimize their ownership costs over time.

Managing assets effectively is impossible without specialized software. A solution like SimpleOne ITAM provides a comprehensive system for automating the management of hardware IT assets across all stages of their lifecycle.

Conclusion

As IT assets are critically important strategic resources for any modern company — contributing directly to business development and profitability — improving how you manage these assets is key. Better asset management will ensure your infrastructure has the support it needs, help you control expenses, and reduce the risks of improper use. The goal of ITAM is to optimize the entire asset lifecycle, from planning and tracking to analyzing costs and the benefits delivered to the business.