8 reasons you need an automated IT Discovery and Asset Management tool

Automated IT discovery tools are often overlooked

Your IT environment is constantly changing. Applications are continuously added, removed, or modified while employees come and go and bring their own devices like smartphones, laptops, tablets, and more. A one-time manual inventory of your IT assets is no longer enough to keep up with today’s dynamic IT environment. 

According to the Software Guild, 87% of businesses* depend on their employee’s ability to access mobile applications. However, 72% of these companies lack a strategy to secure these BYOD (bring your own device) devices. As most employees access mobile applications on their personal devices—that is another addition to an organisation’s IT network. If left unaccounted, it could lead to severe security breaches, loss of critical data and unnecessary expense. 

What is IT discovery? 

IT discovery refers to the process of identifying and cataloguing all the assets within your organisation’s network, gaining complete visibility. It is the most practical way to keep up with the day-to-day changes in your environment as it constantly identifies and updates your IT inventory—providing you with detailed insight into the specifics of your IT environment at all times. 

Manual vs. automated IT discovery 

Although IT discovery can be done manually, automated tools are necessary as they do the heavy lifting for you—giving you more time and space to focus on critical tasks. These tools are more efficient and faster to use as they collect data from a wide range of sources and present it in an organised manner. In addition, they can be configured to run periodically or at predefined intervals, allowing you to keep track of changes in your environment over time. 

Automation of Discovery and IT Asset Management (ITAM) allows you to scale up if needed without increasing your workforce—which is especially important for companies with a massive network that needs to be analysed and monitored regularly.  

8 reasons why you need an automated IT discovery tool 

1. Consolidate data from multiple sources within your IT network

An automated IT discovery tool will discover all the hardware, software, applications, network devices (such as routers, switches, and load balancers), network services (DNS/DHCP/AD), and network configurations you have. Plus, it gives you information on who owns and uses these assets. By using an agent or agentless tool like Virima, you can create custom probes and scan a wide range of subnets to uncover known and unknown assets. 

2. Process optimisation and tighten up internal IT asset management

With automated discovery, you can pinpoint bottlenecks, redundancies, and deviations in your processes and take control of your business’ IT operations to ensure they run smoothly. You can achieve this through: 

Asset lifecycle management - IT assets go through procurement, deployment, usage, maintenance, and disposal. Tracking hundreds of assets through each stage can be cumbersome—automation is key! 

Inventory management - You can monitor all your IT assets in real-time and ensure that you have an up-to-date inventory. It means that you will know who is using which asset, and at what times. 

Compliance management - Managing all your assets and their accompanying licenses can be a challenge. A discovery tool will monitor aspects like license and company policy compatibility, drop in software usage, number of registered/unregistered devices and expired validity.  

3. Reduce delays in service and delivery times

An automated tool frees up the resources of your team. Reduce delays in service provisioning and delivery times for customers who need support from the IT department when using their devices on-site at home or work daily, leading to unsatisfied users.  

4. Eliminate unknowns in your IT environment at any given point

Automated discovery tools help eliminate unknowns in your environment like previously unidentified or new devices, a new dependency or an inactive CI. It provides visibility into what is happening within your infrastructure and identifies vulnerabilities and other risks. It means you can mitigate vulnerabilities before they impact your business. 

5. Avoid errors by scheduling automated scans

Manually collecting an inventory of your hardware and software assets is time-consuming, unreliable, and error-prone. Even if you have a team dedicated solely to keeping track of changes made in your environment, there will always be gaps in your knowledge due to human error, carelessness, or missed updates.  

6. Reduce IT maintenance and overhead costs

Typically, a company with roughly 30 employees would need at least two dedicated personnel to handle IT issues regularly. The average annual costs for the same can go up to $200,000 to hire, and additionally, you might also have to spend licensing fees. With automated IT discovery tools, manual intervention is minimal, reducing the time and costs spent monitoring these servers 24×7.  

7. Detect and mitigate vulnerabilities in your infrastructure faster

Network vulnerabilities can lead to major cybersecurity breaches that cause significant financial and reputational damage. Vulnerabilities such as rogue devices connected to your network, ports exposing sensitive information, hackers, insiders, and malicious code that gains access to sensitive data can cause a major data breach, loss of investment, and damage to your brand image.  

8. Run automatic, pre-scheduled scans

It’s essential not just to know what hardware is currently in use but also where it is stored—it is easy enough for a small office space with only one server sitting out in plain sight. Finding hidden assets can be much more challenging. With an automated ITAM discovery tool you can set up a specific time intervals to automatically scan your entire network. 

Uncover your IT assets with automated IT discovery and IT asset management 

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to IT discovery and asset management, it is essential to understand that an automated approach is a more effective way of keeping up with the changes in your environment. You can optimise your internal processes and automate data consolidation from multiple sources, helping you identify, manage and secure all the components in your IT infrastructure.  

Ultimately, it helps you save time, money, and effort—creating a more productive and organised workforce. Book a demo of our Virima platform today, and let us help you uncover all your IT assets and optimise your IT infrastructure. 

 * A version of this article was first posted by Virima, www.virima.com