IDC’s ITAM Study to Ease Cybersecurity Mandates

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has announced a new Buyer Case Study, “IT Security: World-Class Enterprise Eases Cybersecurity Mandates,” (Document # 251741).

The new document outlines the successful initiation and delivery of the first stage of an IT asset “lifecycle” management (ITAM) schema that assists in combating the increasing number of cyber attacks on the proprietary data of a world-class enterprise.

The subject of this IDC Buyer Case Study, a world-class enterprise, prioritized the implementation of an ITAM process and tool set within the context of how attacks can approach the data assets of large enterprises.

In this study, IDC documents the actions required for visualizing and reporting IT asset data deemed essential for decision making, associated with the mitigation of cyber risk.

ITAM is an operational practice that traditionally has been focused on improving operational cost effectiveness through disciplined portfolio, contract, and device management.

However, IDC believes it is time to rethink the role and contribution of ITAM within overall IT governance and effectiveness.

The world-class enterprise that is the subject of this IDC Buyer Case Study carries significant responsibility for a wide range of critical and sensitive processes and assets.

By prioritizing implementation of the ITAM process and toolset, this enterprise has benefitted greatly from the ease in understanding business impact when IT is able to tie a security breach to a specific business process versus its sole impact on IT infrastructure.

Other benefits and results include, increased accountability and improved perception of IT due to high accuracy of asset data; significant reduction in obsolete technologies in favor of newer alternatives and empowered users who receive timely responses to questions asked “on the fly”

Others are reports based on current asset data delivered daily and weekly; support for financial planning for fact-based software and hardware procurement; categorization of software to avoid redundancies and unnecessary duplication and enterprise users seek out project team for assistance with business issues.

According to Bill Keyworth, adjunct research advisor, IDC, “the cybertargeting of any world-class enterprise is serious, particularly for an enterprise with a business model that is built upon intellectual property that requires the highest level of security. However, while cybersecurity might be the key driver and budget-enabling catalyst for funding such ITAM solutions, the enterprise can realize other benefits and outcomes of ITAM including: financial IT management, lifecycle management, software licensing, portfolio management, and configuration management.”

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of IT market intelligence and advisory services.

IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy.