What is IT Asset Management [Updated 2025 Guide]

Businesses spend millions on hardware, software, and cloud services only to realize that much of it is underutilized or, worse, still being paid for long after it’s needed. According to a 2025 survey by Zylo, 53% of applications go unused.

Then, inefficiencies creep in when IT assets aren’t tracked, secured, or optimized. 

Outdated licenses sit unused, security risks go unnoticed, and teams waste hours hunting down missing devices and access credentials.

If any of this sounds familiar, it’s time to take a long, hard look at how your IT assets are managed.

Welcome to IT Asset Management…

What’s IT Asset Management?

If you’ve ever lost your AirPods for the 17th time, you already understand why tracking your stuff is essential. 

Now, scale that up to a business running hundreds (or thousands) of devices, software licenses, and cloud subscriptions. 

That’s IT asset management, your company’s way of monitoring all its technology so that problems don’t spiral into chaos.

IT asset management lets you know what tech infrastructure and inventory you have, where it is, who is using it, and whether it is worth what you’re paying for.

This will include your hardware (such as laptops, servers, printers, and monitors), software (SaaS subscriptions, licenses, and apps), and even cloud assets like virtual machines.

With organizations getting more complex, ITAM has become indispensable. The growth of this market is enough proof: it’s projected to reach $2.09 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 6.32%, further growing to $2.85 billion by 2030.

What does IT asset management do?

So, what’s the game plan? A solid ITAM strategy covers:

• Discovery and inventory: Step one is knowing what you own. This means tracking all IT assets, physical and digital, so surprise expenses or security risks do not blind you.

• Lifecycle management: Assets have a lifespan. They retire with time, similar to upgrading your smartphone every 3-4 years. ITAM ensures that assets are acquired, maintained, and retired strategically, not just when they break down.

• Compliance and security: According to George Spalding, vice president of IT service management consultancy Pink Elephant, software companies can impose steep penalties for licensing non-compliance—reaching up to $30,000 per "instance" or per device authorized to run a specific application. Better be compliant or face hefty fines (or worse, an audit—yikes). 

• Cost optimization: ITAM spots wasteful spending so you can cut the fluff and invest where you need to. Why pay for software no one’s using?

What Makes Up ITAM?

Companies spend around 5.5% of their revenue on IT. Even for a medium-sized company, this means millions! Without ITAM, this significant sum is spent without getting much value. 

Let’s break down its key components.

Hardware asset management

HAM is concerned with tracking physical IT assets—laptops, desktops, servers, printers, accessories, and anything with a power button. It ensures that physical hardware is being used properly across the organization.

Back in the day, IT teams managed assets using spreadsheets and pure hope. This meant:

• Devices went poof when employees left 

• Depreciation wasn’t appropriately tracked, leading to surprise costs

• IT teams had no real-time visibility

Now, we have tools that offer real-time asset tracking using barcodes, RFID tags, and IoT sensors. These systems can:

• Automatically update asset records when devices are deployed, moved, or decommissioned.

• Track device health and performance so you know when something is about to die before it does.

• Prevent theft or loss by setting up geofences (if a laptop leaves company premises, you will know).

Fun fact: If you have an effective hardware asset management software in your organization, you’re looking at a 25% reduction in hardware-related outages and a 50% reduction in new hires missing hardware on day one.

Software asset management

Software licenses get out of control without proper oversight (as many as 50% of your licenses can go unused), and you face compliance risks, wasted spending, and even security vulnerabilities.

Software vendors audit companies to make sure they’re using them correctly. And when businesses fail these audits (because they have more users than they paid for or they’re using outdated versions), the fines can be brutal. 

According to a Flexera survey, around 22% of respondents disclosed paying more than $5 million as penalties for failing software audits. 

Another problem? Subscription overload. With SaaS products dominating the workplace, it’s ridiculously easy for companies to rack up unused subscriptions. 

Via Deloitte

A sound ITAM system monitors every software license and subscription. It can automatically alert IT teams before licenses expire, flag unused accounts that need to be canceled, and provide a clear picture of which tools are worth the money.

Cloud asset management

Once upon a time, companies bought physical servers, installed software, and called it a day. 

Now, most tools stay in the cloud, and while that’s great for scalability, it can also be a mess if you don’t manage it properly.

Unlike physical servers, cloud resources constantly change and often spread across many providers, such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. 

One big issue is shadow IT. Most companies have somewhere between 270 to 364 SaaS apps on average, 52% of which are unsanctioned.  

Businesses also often overprovision servers, pay for unused storage, or forget to shut down test environments, which add up to a huge bill at the end of the month. 

Cloud asset management is the smart solution. CAM-enabled tools list all cloud resources, track usage patterns, and identify areas of waste. 

Digital asset management

While hardware, software, and cloud assets are all about tech infrastructure, Digital Asset Management, or DAM, focuses on content.

But what even are digital assets?

It's every piece of digital content your company owns, including:

• Marketing materials like logos, videos, social media graphics,

• Sales presentations and PDFs,

• Internal documents and training content,

• Design files and branding assets

What if you suddenly need a specific version of a product brochure from eight months ago? Without DAM, that’s a hopeless, needle-in-a-hay Bstack situation.

DAM properly stores, tags, and version controls digital assets so employees can find exactly what they need when they need it.

DAM also handles access control and security. Sensitive company materials, such as confidential presentations or proprietary product designs, should not be accessible to anyone. 

ITAM tools define permissions and let only authorized users edit, download, or share critical files. Moreover, 60% of businesses that invest in a DAM system save time and money.

The Lifecycle of IT Assets

So far, it seems like IT asset management is just tracking and monitoring the assets in use. Wrong! The ultimate goal is to get the maximum value from every IT asset throughout its lifecycle. 

This lifecycle ensures that every IT asset is efficiently acquired, utilized, and retired while maintaining cost-effectiveness and security.

Via Deloitte

Let’s break down what actually happens at each stage of an asset’s lifecycle.

Planning and procurement

IT asset procurement involves budgeting, forecasting, and making sure your IT purchases fit your business needs instead of being random impulse buys. This stage ensures you actually need what you’re buying.

This, however, is rarely as smooth as it seems.

Departments request tools they barely touch, cloud providers sneak in tiered pricing (looking at you, AWS), and before you know it, you’re stuck with redundant licenses, surprise billing spikes, and unused storage for no reason.

Without a standardized procurement process, your chances of overspending are high, meaning you could end up with a mess of tools. Use ITAM tools to track what you already have so you don’t double up.

Most importantly, don’t buy for today—buy for scalability.

Deployment and assignment

Here, new assets integrate smoothly into your ecosystem, whether they are provisioning software, setting up devices, or configuring cloud environments.

For hardware, deployment means setting up encryption, enforcing MDM, and ensuring endpoint security settings are locked down.

You need strict role-based access controls (RBAC), proper API integrations, and auto provisioning for software and cloud services. 

As you’d expect, challenges are plenty.

You constantly manage device configurations, security policies, and software licensing while ensuring users get the right access levels. One misstep can result in employees having admin privileges they shouldn’t have or security gaps before the asset is even in use.

Keep an ironclad inventory. Every asset should have an owner and a purpose. If your tracking system isn’t airtight, you may encounter misplaced devices, unused licenses, and security issues later on. 

Management and maintenance

Once an asset is in use, it needs care—patching, upgrades, compliance checks, and cost optimization. This is what the management and maintenance stage is all about.

Hardware needs firmware updates and eventual repairs. Software licenses need constant monitoring to prevent zombie subscriptions. Cloud environments? They need resource optimization, scaling, and security reviews to avoid overages and misconfigurations.

When you ignore maintenance, you invite security risks and a pile of IT costs that should’ve been avoidable.

Automate updates and patching, and monitor software usage to win this stage. Scale down over-provisioned cloud resources. If no one is using it, cut it. 

Retrieval and offboarding

Employees come and go, but IT assets shouldn’t just vanish into thin air. Retrieval and offboarding mean assets are returned, accounts are shut down, and licenses are reassigned instead of wasted.

Laptops, monitors, security tokens, and access credentials must be recovered. That's because only around 70% of IT equipment gets returned on time. Sometimes, this number also drops to 50%.

Similarly, software licenses should be reassigned immediately to avoid unnecessary renewals, and access to sensitive systems must be shut down the moment someone exits (not a week later, not “when we get to it”—immediately).

The best way to make this process smoother?

Tie ITAM to HR. 

If IT isn’t looped into HR’s offboarding process, devices disappear, software seats remain active, and former employees retain access to confidential data (which is as bad as it sounds).

Decommissioning and retirement

At some point, IT assets reach the end of their functional life. Maybe a laptop is too old, a software tool is obsolete, or a cloud service no longer serves its purpose. 

In the decommissioning and retirement stage, you focus on refurbishing or disposing of assets responsibly, securely, and cost-effectively.

Hardware assets need to be responsibly recycled or securely wiped before resale. In reality, companies either hoard obsolete devices in storage rooms (hoping they’ll be useful someday) or, worse, dispose of them improperly—risking data leaks and compliance violations. 

In fact, in the healthcare industry alone, a highly-regulated sector, 3.14% of all data breaches come from improper IT disposal.

Unused software licenses also must be canceled or reassigned to avoid unnecessary costs. 

Securely wipe data before disposal. No exceptions. Use certified IT hardware disposal vendors; don’t just dump old hardware. And audit software subscriptions—regularly check for unused tools and cancel them.

Best IT Asset Management Tips

As we've repeatedly said, the best thing you can do for asset management is invest in a robust ITAM solution. 

As this Redditor says, one way to do this is to adopt a solid IT asset management solution, such as Workwize. 

Via Reddit

Here are some more:

Enforce strict asset tagging from day one

Slapping an asset tag on a laptop after it’s already in use? That’s how devices go missing. 

Every IT asset, whether hardware, software, or cloud instances, should be tagged or logged in your asset management system before an employee even handles it. 

And no, a shared spreadsheet doesn’t count. Real-time tracking prevents “mysteriously lost” assets and phantom SaaS subscriptions from draining your budget.

Automate your license audits

SaaS sprawl is scary. One team signs up for yet another project management tool, and suddenly, you’re paying for three platforms no one fully uses.

Instead of waiting for annual budget reviews, automate license audits. A solid SaaS management platform can help you set up alerts for unused accounts, track login activity, and auto-revoke licenses for ex-employees.

Sync ITAM with finance to stop overspending

A tight partnership between ITAM and finance teams means software renewals, hardware purchases, and cloud costs are tracked, optimized, and aligned with actual business needs—not just what automatically renews next quarter.

This fellow Redditor gets it:

Via Reddit

Work together to set spend thresholds, audit unused licenses, and forecast IT costs to avoid surprise budget overruns. 

💡Bonus: Finance loves data, so give ITAM insights to help justify investments and cut waste before the CFO asks uncomfortable questions.

Plan IT upgrades like maintenance with continuous, small refreshes

Via Reddit

Most companies treat device refreshes like a last-minute emergency, ignoring upgrades until half the fleet is outdated, non-compliant, or straight-up dying. 

Then suddenly, IT is forced to replace everything at once, and leadership panics, opting for the cheapest possible fix (which, spoiler alert, just creates more problems).

The smarter move? Continuous, small-scale refreshes. 

Build hardware replacements into your yearly budget, cycle out a portion of devices regularly, and avoid massive, painful overhauls. This will keep costs predictable and prevent IT from being stuck with underpowered, bargain-bin machines.

Mandate role-based IT asset access

Not everyone in your company needs the keys to the kingdom, so stop handing out admin access like it’s free candy. 

Enforce role-based access control (RBAC) to limit who can install software, initiate cloud instances, or access critical systems. This prevents accidental (or intentional) misconfigurations, security breaches, and surprise expenses. 

Prioritize offboarding

Create an aggressive employee offboarding checklist: retrieve laptops before termination, revoke software access instantly, and track every returned device. 

If assets aren’t recovered within a strict time frame, escalate, whether remote-locking a missing laptop or disabling SaaS accounts. 

HR and IT should be fully synced so no one walks out the door with company devices or access to sensitive data.

Read More: How To Protect Company Data When An Employee Leaves

💡 Simplify IT Management with Workwize

IT Managers juggle security, compliance, and operations while keeping teams productive. Workwize automates global IT asset management, reducing manual tasks and ensuring seamless workflows.

Why IT Teams Choose Workwize:

✅ All-in-One IT Management – Procure, deploy, track, retrieve, and dispose of assets from a single dashboard.

✅ Fast, Secure Global Deployment – Ship MDM-enrolled devices worldwide in 5–7 days, ensuring security and compliance from day one.

✅ Effortless Offboarding and Retrieval – Automate device recovery, certified data erasure, and secure storage, reducing security risks.

✅ Lower IT Costs – Minimize overhead with local procurement, warehousing, and optimized hardware usage.

✅ Real-Time Visibility and Compliance – Track device health, security status, and compliance effortlessly.

✅ Seamless Integrations – Connect Workwize with MDM, HRIS, and security tools to automate IT workflows.

Common IT Asset Management Challenges

Before we close, here are some challenges you’ll face when managing boatloads of IT assets. We hope you’ll thank us for the fixes we suggest.

Managing IT assets for a global workforce is an issue

When your employees are scattered across time zones, tracking IT assets becomes even more complex. Who has what? Where is it? And if something breaks, how fast can IT respond? 

Opt for a centralized ITAM system to reduce the risk of duplicate purchases, lost devices, and frustrated employees.

Time zone issues in procurement and retrieval of hardware assets

Procurement needs to be fast and seamless, but when you operate in different time zones, things slow to a crawl. A remote hire in Australia shouldn’t have to wait days for approval from your US-based procurement team. 

The same goes for retrieval—delayed offboarding means ex-employees keep their devices longer than they should. 

Maintaining consistent pricing and vendor standardization

Buying IT assets across multiple regions? Expect inconsistent pricing or vendor lock-ins. 

Cleaning up orphaned software licenses

Every time an employee leaves or switches roles, their software licenses should be reassigned or revoked. 

But in reality? Many licenses remain active, tied to inactive user accounts or decommissioned devices. These orphaned licenses are a security and compliance threat.

What Does the Future of IT Asset Management Look Like?

Automation, intelligence, and frictionless operations will decide the future of ITAM. 

Zero-touch IT management, where devices are pre-configured and shipped directly to employees without IT ever physically handling them, is about to become the standard. 

Around 50% of organizations have permanently adopted remote work. To keep up, cloud-based ITAM platforms now enable fully remote provisioning, automatic software deployment, and even self-service troubleshooting. 

Meanwhile, AI-powered workflows are changing how IT teams track, optimize, and secure assets. Moreover, the rise of AI technologies impacts IT asset management by driving up compute and data resource demands across cloud, SaaS, and on-premises environments. 

A very recent report from CIODive reinforces this: 

Via CIODIVE

As you scale, these systems will dictate how you maintain efficiency and keep IT budgets in check without drowning in admin work.

IT Asset Management Success Stories Are Written by People, Not Tools

“It is important to keep in mind that while ITAM tools and technologies can certainly facilitate value creation, ITAM is primarily about people leveraging processes through technology, in that order. We believe that the smarter organizations will keep up their focus and attention on recruiting the best available talent at various levels.”

• IT & SAM Lead Partner, Deloitte

At the end of the day, the best ITAM tools in the world won’t fix a broken process, or replace the expertise of a sharp IT team. 

As much as ITAM is tracking hardware and software; it’s also about your IT managers and admins keeping systems secure, budgets under control, and operations running smoothly.

With the right resources, your IT teams have the right tools and the authority to enforce best practices, ITAM stops being a problem and starts being an advantage.

Workwize is on a mission to help IT teams worldwide smoothen out their ITAM processes. Whether you want simple inventory management, equipment retrievals, enquire about rates, or asset buyback, Workwize can help.

Book a Workwize demo now, and we will contact you shortly. IT asset management doesn’t have to be frustrating. Trust us.