Information technology (IT) asset discovery software provides an accurate picture of assets that enables organisa- tions to identify which technology needs to be refreshed or replaced, leading to better IT asset management, says IT multinational BT commercial contracts chief information security officer Phil Packman.

Tracking software and hardware accurately enables companies to maintain an up-to-date inventory, which provides significant cost benefits, including avoiding unnecessary licensing and support costs. Additionally, inventory exercises often discover equipment that can be dispensed with that is consuming electricity and taking up valuable data space.

Lack of asset awareness leads to delayed critical incident responses and allows for threats to spread across networks, amplifying damage to organisations and disrupting business. This is addressed by real-time asset discovery, says Packman.

From a security point of view, knowing what is on your network and which department or person is accountable for the systems is vital for compliance, cost and risk management, he adds.

The one device missing from asset inventory can serve not only as a point of easy entry for hackers but also as a point of potential network failure as a result of the lack of device health information, monitoring or support, says Packman.

“Yet half of enterprises only perform asset management once a year and 20% only once every five years. Asset management becomes increasingly vital as devices joining a network increase and introduce vulnerabilities,” he adds.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is increasing the volume of devices on networks exponentially, which will add to threats posed by shadow IT devices on the network. Further, fewer than 10% of new devices connecting to corporate networks will be manageable using traditional methods by 2020.

“Some businesses use asset discovery services for different reasons. Some want to determine whether their inventory is complete and others are concerned that the information in their database is inaccurate or is spread across a variety of systems, only some of which automatically update. In other cases, listing is complete and correct, but it does not include all the attributes they need to report on,” explains Packman.

Having visibility across networks enables companies to use the data to build a comprehensive picture of assets, as well as automating and orchestrating the discovery of devices.

This delivers an inventory that is always up to date, and companies will be capable of putting policies in place to identify any new device being plugged into their network. Companies can then isolate and control the device, which includes moving it from critical assets into a different and suitable segment based on their business and security policies.

“As a growing number of network advances rely on a solid inventory database to function, full asset discovery and managed security services are increasingly emerging as new ways of managing assets to meet current and future challenges,” concludes Packman.