Costing saving areas in HAM

Hardware Asset Management
1

Hi,

I am looking for areas in hardware asset management where I can cut cost or save money.
So far I have cut cost in areas such as:
-over purchases of hardware assets
-disposition of EOL assets
-standardize assets to avoid costs

Are there any other areas where I can cut cost in HAM? please let me know.
thanks,

2 Likes
2

A few suggestionsā€¦

  • Review service contracts, including as to actual usage; downgrade or cancel where possible. (e.g., is 24x7 support justifiable on all devices?)
  • Consolidate and co-term contracts and invoicing, possibly with greater discounts based on aggregate quantities.
  • Lifecycle policies: Review, revise if possible (e.g., replace every 4 years instead of 3 years)
  • Extended warranties: If customary to take, assess need/value.
  • Repurpose devices, to fulfil requests where older technology will suffice.
  • Consider lower cost tier 2 or 3 devices where fit-for-purpose.
3 Likes
3

Hi Sirwin,

Thank you so much for your reply. Can you please tell me more about the second and last point.
Much of the points listed I am in the process of implementing but I wanted clarity on those points, please and thanks

1 Like
4

Assuming employees have a large selection of what devices they want have you considered standardizing your offerings to 3-5 standards? I was successful in saving large by offering 3 Laptop models geared to fit nearly every compute need (not wants) and one desktop workstation. Then return to your supplier and negotiate lower unit costs through economy of scale with less SKUā€™s and higher quantify per SKU. Also helps with faster imaging, deployments, break/fix. and more. We actually dropped hardware support beyond the OEM saving more.

Hope that helps

2 Likes
5
  • If there are multiple service/support/lease/purchase agreements with the same supplier, with different terms (e.g., discounts) and dates for renewal/payment/other, maybe some advantage to consolidating into a single contract (provided no favourable terms removed) and/or setting common dates for reduced administration (both parties); supplier may agree to an ā€˜administrativeā€™ discount. You may also find discrepancies between agreements (e.g., discounts), with opportunity to extend to other agreements for other assets.
  • PC/notebook manufacturers are commonly classified into tiers, based on factors such as reliability, reparability, support etc.; products from higher tier suppliers are typically more expensive, may not be justifiable for all uses.
1 Like
6

Hi,

@kghani

I am new to ITAM role. Can you explain how you implemented the points below?
-over purchases of hardware assets (where do I begin to determine if we are over purchasing devices?)
-disposition of EOL assets (how do you find the EOL of hardware assets?)
-standardize assets to avoid costs (can you elaborate more on this?)

1 Like
7

Thank you so much, appreciate it!!

1 Like
8

over purchases of hardware assets (where do I begin to determine if we are over purchasing devices?ā€“Do an inventory audit of all the assets that are in stock. Determine what can be reused and what needs to be disposed. Any asset that is under warranty can be repurposed - you can get 4 year warranty btw. So you avoid cost by repurposing used assets but also by not purchasing more for the comings months. Now compare that to the previous monthly procurement data and the amount new hires in the pipeline.

-disposition of EOL assets (how do you find the EOL of hardware assets?)
you can contact your vendor they will provide you with the list with the EOL warranty info. You can also get it from dell.ca/warranty

ā€“standardize assets to avoid costs (can you elaborate more on this?)
If you have 7 types of laptops in your fleet, bring it down to 4. You can save money here buy bulk orders or benefiting from warranty/ support contacts. Also 4 solid machines is better than 7 machines that give problems. You can save time and effort in the break/fix of laptops (less tickets). Do some research on this im sure youā€™ll find good information out there.

1 Like
9

Iā€™ll add to the part about over-purchasing hardware assets:
Inventory audit is good, but not just once. If you can, use your asset repository to keep constant track of this metric: Time spent In Stock. This is a staleness metric.

For example, if you find that your laptops commonly spend 5 months in the ā€œIn Stockā€ state, you may be over-purchasing. (Supply chain issues notwithstanding.)

2 Likes