The IT landscape in today’s companies resembles a chaotic archipelago. Islands of cloud services drift alongside servers in the company’s server room, hundreds of remote workstations connect to the corporate network and employees deploy SaaS applications on their own, creating uncontrolled‘shadow IT‘. This hybrid model, while flexible, generates a fundamental problem: companies are losing sight of what they actually own. And in this new era of regulation and cyber threats, what you can’t see can hurt you the most.
New impetus: The NIS2 Directive changes the rules
For years, IT Asset Management (ITAM) has been seen mainly through the prism of cost optimisation – hunting down unused licences and avoiding unnecessary hardware purchases. This is still the case today, but two much more powerful drivers have come to the fore: .security and compliance.
The NIS2 directive is becoming a turning point. It requires many companies to implement robust cyber security risk management measures. The foundation of any defence strategy, however, is knowing what we are actually defending. Without a full, automated and constantly updated inventory of hardware, software and cloud services, compliance with NIS2, as well as with RODO or ISO 27001, becomes a sham. Auditors and regulators are no longer content with spreadsheets updated quarterly. They need hard, up-to-date data.
From chaos to transparency
The problem of hybrid infrastructure lies in its fragmentation. Manual resource tracking across on-premise, virtual, multi-cloud and end-device environments is not feasible. It is in this operational gap that the risk is born:
- Shadow IT: Marketing or sales departments buy SaaS tools themselves, often processing sensitive data in them without IT oversight.
- Security vulnerabilities: A remote employee’s unpatched laptop or a forgotten cloud service become an open door for attackers.
- Overpaid licences: Lack of a central view leads to duplication of functionality by different tools and maintenance of licences for former employees.
Modern ITAM platforms respond to these challenges by acting as the central nervous system of corporate technology. By integrating with various systems, they create a single, coherent map of the entire digital ecosystem in real time. When an employee installs a new application or a new cloud service is launched, the system instantly records this, categorises it and assesses it against security policies.
Business value beyond IT
Reducing risk and ensuring compliance is one thing, but ITAM’s strategic value lies in its ability to deliver data that drives smarter business decisions. Cost transparency is the most obvious benefit – resource optimisation and tool consolidation directly translate into budget savings.
However, the real potential is revealed when data from ITAM starts to circulate throughout the organisation. Integration with ITSM or ERP systems creates powerful synergies. Equipment lifecycle information can automatically initiate purchasing processes. Software usage data supports negotiations with suppliers. Insights into owned resources allow precise budget planning and strategic infrastructure development.
Outlook: ITAM as an analytical platform
The future of ITAM is further automation and predictive analytics. AI-supported systems will not only show what the company currently has, but will also forecast future needs, identify usage patterns and warn of potential problems before they become critical. Dashboards will cease to be the domain of the IT department and become a resource for finance, purchasing and the board.
In the hybrid reality, ITAM ceases to be an optional extra and becomes a fundamental element of corporate governance. Companies that ignore the need to centrally manage their digital assets not only risk security breaches and financial penalties. Above all, they lose the ability to consciously and effectively manage the technology that is the lifeblood of their business today. It is no longer an IT project – it is an ongoing, strategically critical process.
