The Gartner Summit was held September 5-7, 2018 in Orlando, Florida.
The Sipi Asset Recovery team attended both as a client of Gartner, as well as an exhibitor focused on IT asset management and disposition services. There were a multitude of other vendors that fit to the categories of the summit, but IT asset disposition vendors represented about a third of the total 23 ITAM vendors. Each vendor offered a solution to address the multitude of pain points and opportunities in asset management.
Similarly to past events, Gartner delivers on all forefronts. The logistics were well planned, the content and presenters showed true expertise and the participants and vendors matched the purpose of the event. They had me at Lou Holtz. Who doesn’t love one of the most distinguished, all-American football coaches? Lou captured the essence of working as a collaborative team and prioritizing purposeful and passionate work.
3 key asset management takeaways:
- Asset Managers are still challenged with organizational collaboration on the issues that matter most in ITAM: security, policy, value recovery, cost avoidance. These real issues are especially challenging to get organizational synergy across all stakeholders. Collaboration and teamwork is identified as the most pressing needs for ITAM Managers. One interesting suggestion was to embed “collaboration” into KPIs for ITAM.
- GDPR isn’t coming…its here! Gartner notes that as of May 25, 2018 only 50% were GDPR “ready”. Note, May 25th was the date of compliance. You probably already know that GDPR is not just a concern for European firms. If you hold data on any EU citizen or do business with anyone who does, GDPR applies to you!
- IT asset management, including ITAD, is not only getting more attention organizationally, the deeper integration of ITAD into ITAM is clearly upon us. Just knowing what happens at point of end-of-life is not enough. Successful disposition starts with a well-structured ITAM policy. That policy drives the processes up to, and including, disposition. Further, those who are responsible for ITAD must have 100% confidence there is visibility to all assets in the organization.
Gartner notes that an all-encompassing SAM policy can uncover hardware asset management issues. They also shared that approximately 30% of IT hardware is stolen, missing, lost, or “ghosted” (never knew it existed).
Finally, they noted that not all assets are “discoverable” in an enterprise. Yes, there are tools to “auto-discover” assets on the network, but think of all the off-line or business-controlled assets? Ouch! So, as they suggest, inventory management must deploy multiple strategies. Discovery tools are good (especially after foundations have been built), but physical eyes-on inventory should be deployed and recurring for maximum discovery.
In summary, great conference, great conversations with peers, customers and prospects. Most importantly, it confirms that Sipi Asset Recovery is at the forefront of helping companies meet these challenges. Yes, we are a full service ITAD provider, but we are also leading the integration of ITAD into ITAM with our Inventory-as-a-Service capability and our portfolio of destruction services. Unmatched portfolio and global support in ITAM services that protect Brands, lowers risk, and maximizes value for our client partners.
Let’s talk soon!
John McLeod
