Hardware Asset Management vs Software Asset Management | Differences

IT Asset Management (ITAM) is becoming popular with the developing technology day by day. Especially in recent years, ITAM has become a vital issue for organizations. ITAM technology is a great opportunity for companies to know, evaluate and manage all their existing assets. ITAM optimizes and manages assets throughout their entire lifecycle.

There are two subsets of IT Asset Management:

• Software Asset Management (SAM)
• Hardware Asset Management (HAM)

Although SAM and HAM are subsets of ITAM, they are two different technologies. Let's examine the differences and definitions between SAM and HAM together.

What is Hardware Asset Management (HAM)?

Hardware Asset Management (HAM) is one of the components of IT Asset Management. More specifically than IT asset management, HAM enables companies to monitor and manage their entire IT asset. Hardware Asset Management controls and monitors the physical components of all systems of the company. However, for a successful Hardware Asset Management, the entire process must be compatible with other IT processes.

HAM provides transparency over assets by improving IT hardware. In order for organizations to make the most of their assets, not only the software but also the hardware process must be well managed. Processes must exist to manage the asset from purchase requests to retirement. With HAM, you can manage and monitor the process on your IT hardware.

What is Software Asset Management (SAM)?

Software Asset Management (SAM) is a business strategy that controls and automates processes such as the procurement and distribution of an organization's software licenses and maximizes savings. Purchase, distribution, maintenance, etc. of existing software applications within the organization. allows to manage and optimize the entire process. IT is part of the business strategy and the goal of SAM is to reduce information technology.

Both SAM and HAM are IT Asset Management disciplines. However, there are still differences between them. Let's examine these differences together.

Differences Between Software and Hardware Asset Management

• One of the main differences between SAM and HAM is that SAM is software management throughout the entire asset lifecycle whereas HAM is hardware management throughout the assets lifecycle. That is, SAM is the business technology of IT assets in the software domain, while HAM is in the hardware domain.
• ITAM covers SAM and HAM technologies. A business cannot make a SAM tool efficient unless it uses HAM technology. However, HAM and SAM have different results on assets and operate in different areas. Therefore, SAM and HAM within ITAM have different business processes.
• Business processes and requirements related to hardware assets are handled as software services. Organizations use cloud-based infrastructures rather than deploying hardware assets on-premises. Therefore, while SAM technology covers business processes related to hardware assets, it is also inventory management of software assets.