The last few years pushed IT teams to rethink their operations.
Cloud sprawl, remote work, and decentralised procurement didn’t just happen overnight – they were responses to a period of unprecedented disruption. The pandemic accelerated cloud-first thinking and decentralised tech adoption, forcing teams to scale up remote infrastructure almost instantly. Business units took control of their own tools to move faster. IT had to react, not lead.
Procurement shifted from IT to individual business units, with Department Heads seeking out collaboration tools and quick wins for transformation. Meanwhile, finance teams began provisioning their own resources, taking advantage of the flexibility offered by cloud services. As a result, new assets started appearing beyond IT’s visibility, outside established governance processes and security controls that had taken years to build.
Meanwhile, remote workers needed laptops, software, and VPNs overnight. With speed came gaps: devices weren’t always logged, licenses weren’t always tracked. Asset spreadsheets got longer, but visibility didn’t get any better. Now, leaders are facing a new kind of tension: growing complexity, rising costs, and audit scrutiny that won’t let up.
IT Asset Management is no longer just about tracking devices. It’s about value. Understanding what’s owned, where it lives, who’s using it, why, and what it’s costing. It’s become a strategic function – and it’s at a breaking point for many organisations.
Where ITAM is starting to crack
The symptoms are familiar:
- Spreadsheets ballooning beyond control
- Cloud assets going untracked or misclassified
- SaaS sprawl with little governance
- Surprise license costs and compliance risks
It’s not a failure of effort; it’s a failure to adapt to changing needs. The tools and processes that worked five years ago can’t handle the pace and volume of today’s environments.
The next 12 months will widen the gap
With software audits intensifying and budgets tightening, the next 12 months will expose the gaps in underpowered ITAM setups.
What’s likely to break next:
• Incomplete inventories leading to non-compliance
• Missed renewals and duplicated spend
• Shadow IT hiding critical risk
• Manual reporting draining already stretched teams
The cost isn’t just financial – it’s reputational, operational, and strategic.
How forward-thinking teams are staying ahead
Organisations ahead of the curve are shifting their approach. They’re moving from reactive tracking to intelligent, integrated IT asset management.
That means:
• Real-time visibility across hybrid environments
• Automated discovery and classification
• Integrated license and contract management
• Clear, audit-ready reporting that saves hours
They’re not adding more tools. They’re choosing the right platform that brings everything together in a single pane of glass. One source of truth, built to simplify complexity rather than add to it.
Here’s how to future-proof your ITAM
- Review Your Inventory Gaps
Begin by mapping what you think you have against what’s actually in use. Pay close attention to areas where visibility often slips – mergers, acquisitions and business structure changes, cloud workloads, remote devices, BYOD devices, and departmental SaaS purchases. The goal is clarity, not just completeness. - Automate Where It Hurts Most
Identify the tasks that consistently devour your team’s time – recognising software, tracking renewals, managing entitlements. These are the pressure points where automation delivers the highest ROI. Look for platforms that use intelligence to handle the complexity for you. - Integrate ITAM with Procurement and Finance
Asset data doesn’t live in a vacuum. By connecting ITAM to procurement and finance, you get more than visibility – you get the context you need. This integration helps align technology spending with strategic goals, enables smarter renewals, and reduces unplanned costs. - Prepare Now for the Next Audit
Build audit-readiness into your day-to-day operations. Use tools that maintain a continuous, timestamped record of all changes and activities. This transforms audits from a disruptive event into a manageable process, saving time and reducing stress across the board. Don’t wait for the notice. Build audit-ready workflows and reporting now, while the pressure’s off.
ITAM isn’t broken – it’s evolving.
The next year will reward the teams that adapt early.
Certero is built to help IT leaders stay ahead. Unified visibility, automated intelligence, and audit-ready clarity – all in one place. Because asset management shouldn’t hold you back. It should move you forward.
Scott Massey – Customer Relationship Manager
Scott is one of Certero’s earliest team members and a long-time expert in IT Asset Management, Software Asset Management, and FinOps. With over 16 years of hands-on experience helping organizations navigate audits, gain control of their environments, and improve visibility, Scott brings a practical, real-world perspective to solving discovery challenges in modern IT.
