There is no I in ITAM - how to build an effective and successful ITAM team - part 1

Part 1: The importance of an ITAM team

Why a solid plan for building and maintaining an ITAM team needs to be thought through carefully.

Successful ITAM requires an optimal combination of people, technology, and processes. That has been the credo in all communications, blogs, studies, and of course the basis of the ISO standard for ITAM for many years.

We know: organisations can deploy state-of-the-art tooling, allowing them to process a lot of data and perhaps even display it in dashboards. They can also put in place very well-thought-out processes to ensure that as many risks as possible are avoided. But without the 'People' factor - or rather the 'Team' factor - there is a crucial factor missing to actually deploy ITAM successfully and, above all, in a valuable way within your organisation.

How do I determine how many and which people are needed to deliver my ITAM strategy?

So what is important when building your ITAM team? You want to have professionals with the right knowledge and experience, with the right approach to achieve your organisational and financial goals faster. But, how many people do you need and what should they do?

To answer such a question, it is important to have a clear picture of:

• what is already embedded within the organisation in terms of ITAM;
• what are the pain points that need more attention;
• what are the minimum requirements your organisation has for its ITAM operation;
• what are the needs terms of steering, insight, forecasts, financial information, etc.;
• what is the main goal of your ITAM strategy and how will you meet it?
• definition of operational SAM/ITAM activities, plus associated roles
  • do not forget the Management activities on behalf of SAM/ITAM
  • the overarching IT activities affecting SAM/ITAM
• the known annual workload within your organisation.
• The main activities that you plan to focus on the coming years based on your strategy

By ensuring an understanding of the scope of your ITAM strategy for the next 3 years, it becomes clear what will be required of your ITAM team, and thus how many FTE are needed to successfully fulfil this strategy. With this framework you can start calculating the actual size of your team based on solid key figures, such as:

If you need even more supporting numbers, you can, of course, gather these yourself by talking to colleagues from other organisations or check with organisations like Flexera, ServiceNow and Snow, and the internet. And obviously, don't forget your service partners!

A note: when collecting the figures, please also focus on the tactical activities instead of only looking at the operational ones! Avoid the standard mistake where ITAM professionals have to act as fire fighters, who can do no more than react to the best of their abilities to whatever comes along. Make sure you actually calculate time for a step back to reflect on the best strategy, build relationships and plan for growth.