BLOG | November 25, 2025

ITAM, SAM, License Management,…
Are you still keeping track?

Lambert Huber
CEO

What’s what?

IT Asset Management? Software Asset Management? Or just “something to do with inventory”? Put simply, asset management refers to the management of “things that represent value” – more specifically, those that incur or have incurred costs. These can include cars, office furniture, machinery, or even computers and software.

Just as an asset register is important for cars and real estate, keeping detailed records of IT assets in a company is also sensible – if not required.

The Big Picture – Asset Management

1. IT Asset Management (ITAM)

ITAM refers to the management of all IT assets, including hardware, software, and the relatively new discipline of services (more specifically, SaaS or compute resources).
ITAM is described in great detail, particularly in the ITIL V4 framework, and provides numerous best practices. Hardware Asset Management (HAM) and Software Asset Management (SAM) are subdisciplines of ITAM.

ITAM therefore encompasses both hardware and software asset management.

2. Hardware Asset Management (HAM)

HAM involves the management of all hardware resources within the company. This essentially includes:

There are no explicit standards for hardware asset management. However, the processes described above are addressed in control frameworks such as COBIT, ITIL, etc.

One can also refer to the ISO 55000 series (ISO 55001, ISO 55002), which describes asset management in general terms.

3. Software Asset Management (SAM)

SAM is also a component of ITAM and focuses on the management of software assets. In a narrower sense, it involves the inventory and documentation of paid software, sometimes referred to as proprietary software.
Free software (e.g., open source) does not strictly fall under the scope of SAM. However, in some cases, it may make sense to manage it as well.
The discipline of SAM is described in great detail in the ISO 19770 series. The standard is now in its fourth iteration.

4. License Management / Compliance Management

Within software asset management processes, the license management / compliance management process reflects the comparison between assets in use and asset entitlements. This is often referred to as a “license balance sheet,” although this term is not entirely comparable to an accounting balance sheet.

The following terms are used in license management:

EDP – Effective Deployment Position

means “What is in use – for what is a license required or would be required.”

ELP - Effective License Position

means “Which licenses or license entitlements are permitted to be used.”

Comparing these two positions yields the license balance per asset.
The figure can be negative (under-licensing), positive (over-licensing), or – ideally – zero.

How does asset management differ from other IT management disciplines?

Asset management is primarily concerned with the management of assets. It therefore always involves costs, investments, and accounting issues.
Nevertheless, asset management also relies on technical data. This is where things that have nothing to do with asset management per se are often conflated.
We repeatedly encounter misunderstandings about which discipline should be used for what. Technical or organizational issues are often conflated with the business-oriented discipline of ITAM.

Here are a few typical confusions – I call them “false flags” – that sound a bit like ITAM but actually have little to do with it.

False Flag 1 – IT Service Management (ITSM)

Service management involves defining a service and operating it reliably. When managing a service, it is important to define all components involved, identify bottlenecks, and develop backup and scaling strategies.

Distinction from ITAM
In the ITAM process, the relationships between assets (service map) are irrelevant; only the associated risk and costs matter. Conversely, in the ITSM process, the cost of a service component (which may even be free) is irrelevant; only its availability matters.

False Flag 2 – IT Configuration Management

IT Configuration Management can be viewed as an “upstream” discipline to Service Management. CM organizes all components of an IT infrastructure into Configuration Items (CIs), which can then be grouped together to form a service.
The CIs are managed in a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) and made available to other disciplines (e.g., the ITAM process).

Distinction from ITAM
Configuration Management can, under certain circumstances, be managed in a very static manner, even involving purely manually maintained data records. In many cases, this actually improves data quality. ITAM, by contrast, always requires up-to-date data on end devices. Incidentally, a license is, by definition, not a Configuration Item (CI), although it is sometimes treated as such – due to the absence of ITAM.

False Flag 3 – Endpoint Management

Endpoint management is a purely technical discipline and serves primarily to deploy software to computers and servers, configure settings (e.g., policies), and install updates. The goal of endpoint management is to ensure that the configuration and operational security of clients and servers are always up to date.

Distinction from ITAM
Like ITAM, Endpoint Management requires up-to-date data on all computers and servers – in other words, a clean inventory. In this regard, the two disciplines can even complement each other. The main difference, however, is that Endpoint Management actively makes changes, whereas ITAM only accesses the systems in read-only mode. Furthermore, licenses (i.e., usage rights) are irrelevant to Endpoint Management.

I have singled out these disciplines because they are particularly often confused with ITAM-related initiatives.

SAM Tools – Are They Really Necessary?

This question is as old as the discipline itself. Let me clear up a few misconceptions here as well. SAM purists often say that an Excel spreadsheet can handle everything.
A SAM tool makes sense when the complexity of the IT environment exceeds a certain threshold. This could be the number of computers, contracts, employees, software products in use, or the number of changes to any of these parameters.
It’s difficult to give a definitive answer here, but it’s safe to assume that an environment with more than 500 computers is difficult to manage, and one with 1,000 computers is nearly impossible to manage without an ITAM tool.

ITAM: The Next Level – FinOps – What Is It, Anyway?

I’ll definitely be writing one or more blog posts on this topic. The term is currently being used in so many different contexts that it’s getting hard to keep track of it all.

Start now with a no-obligation initial consultation – and gain clarity on the actual optimization potential of your license portfolio..

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Lambert Huber
CEO