Taking Stock of IT Inventory_Jurrens & Associates

Taking Stock of Your IT Inventory Part One: The IT Audit

Without periodic auditing and maintenance, managing your company’s IT assets can get out of hand fast. This month, Jurrens & Associates wants to help you take stock of your IT inventory so you can understand the technology you actually own, identify where your vulnerabilities are, and invest in the technologies you’re missing. The first step is blocking time for an IT audit. In our next blog post, we’ll cover what to do once you’ve completed your review.

Benefits of IT Inventory Management

Investing in IT inventory management provides several benefits. Most importantly, it cuts costs. When you have an understanding of the number of devices, licenses, and other IT assets your company owns, you don’t spend money on unnecessary purchases. Regular maintenance of your hardware can reduce replacement costs, too.

Having a clear idea of the IT assets your company owns and manages helps you improve productivity and performance. It can identify vulnerabilities in your network so you can correct them before they cause harm to your business. Additionally, an inventory of software and web applications can help you stay compliant with vendor licensing rules.

Block Time for an IT Audit

The first step in taking stock of your IT inventory is to block time for an audit. During the IT audit, make a list of every device, piece of hardware, software license, and web application your company owns. You may need to interview staff members to uncover all the different IT assets they use to fulfill their job duties.

From there, you can assess the depreciation of your assets, identifying which ones are obsolete, which require maintenance and updating, which are in good working order. Depending on the size of your company, this could take a single afternoon or be completed over the course of a month or more. The IT audit is just the first step in the IT inventory management process. If taking stock of your IT seems a bit daunting, rely on the experts at Jurrens & Associates. Check back in a couple of weeks for how to implement an IT inventory management system that helps you and your team stay productive. In the meantime, contact Jurrens & Associates for expert managed IT and custom software solutions.