Asset Management
Proper management of hardware and software assets is not only good practice, but a core requirement—regulatory and software license compliance make you accountable for these assets. Yet, in today’s distributed work environment with a growing number of home offices and mobile workers who call the hotel an office, it is more difficult than ever to track exactly what hardware and software your employees have installed. Similarly challenging is the task of determining what hardware and software upgrades have occurred and which upgrades are needed.
Losing track of hardware and not knowing service schedules are costly and can have dire consequences. The possibility of unlicensed software installations can leave you vulnerable to piracy lawsuits. These and other issues regarding policy, process and unauthorized use of software by staff can leave you woefully unprepared if you face an audit of your IT investments.
Fact:
The Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST) recently announced the findings
of a global software piracy study that reveals Canada’s software piracy rate increased one percentage point to 36 per cent in 2004, while the United States’ piracy
rate declined one percentage point to 21 per cent in 2004.
How does an organization protect itself?
The answer is really quite simple: by implanting an asset management program. An asset management program provides detailed hardware and software information that is automatically pulled from all assets. The type of information gathered includes details for all device components such as the hardware configurations and installed software including version numbers as well as license keys. Both hardware and software reports should be able to track historical changes made during the asset lifecycle.
By implementing an asset management program your organization will quickly be able to verify exactly what assets are owned, how they are configured and who is using them.
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