IT asset tracking needs to be taken more seriously

A surprising 64% of IT managers accept that their IT asset records (for PCs, laptops, servers and software applications) are not accurate, and the vast majority are only using manual methods to keep up. Those are among headline figures of a study for LANDesk Software, completed late last year among 500 enterprise IT managers in the US, UK, Germany and France. It finds 32% making logs of everything when it’s purchased, 15% conducting a manual audit with IT staff walking around offices and 19% running manually-updated spreadsheets. Interestingly, only 85% of respondents believe all software installed is fully licensed, and less than half (48%) would be confident about welcoming a Microsoft or any other audit. In fact, 32% would let the audit go ahead and cross their fingers; 17% would request more time to prepare; and 9% say they would request additional software licences just in case. Only 28% of IT directors and amnagers use a single management tool to discover, track, secure and manage all the IT hardware and software assets. “As business practices become more complex, with ever greater accountability, there needs to be a migration to new methods that are sustainable and scalable” warns LANDesk vice president of marketing Dave Taylor.