Digital document solutions - why every ITAM professional should be managing one

ITAM News & Analysis

Digital document solutions - why every ITAM professional should be managing one

In the face of growing environmental concerns and the urgent need for sustainable practices, the role of ITAM is expanding. Today, ITAM professionals are uniquely positioned to drive sustainability initiatives within their organisations.

Sustainability in ITAM reflects a broad range of practices designed to minimise the environmental impact of IT operations. This includes reducing energy consumption and e-waste to promoting responsible procurement and the disposal of IT assets. By integrating sustainability into ITAM strategies, organisations can reduce their carbon footprint, realise significant cost savings, enhance their brand reputation, and ensure compliance with increasingly stringent environmental regulations.

For ITAM professionals, focusing on sustainability is not just a moral imperative but a strategic one. Here, we’ll explore how asset management professionals can help drive sustainability while also reducing costs and minimising application sprawl – all through the medium of digital document solutions.

Sustainability

According to research, an amount of paper equivalent to approximately 1 billion trees is thrown away each year – and that’s just in the USA! Although paper can be recycled, the process of producing new paper is harmful to the environment, resulting in various emissions that can be linked to greenhouse gases and water pollution. Thus, reducing an organisation’s requirement for paper will have a positive impact on the environment and help the business achieve its goals.

Analytics

By providing relevant, timely data, ITAM is well placed to be integral to successful sustainability initiatives. With a “paperless office” project, having data to show progress and results is key to ensuring continued stakeholder engagement and demonstrating ROI.

Useful data will include:

• Environmental impact such as:
  • Number of trees saved
  • CO2 emissions
  • BTUs (British Thermal Unit) of energy saved
• Paper (and time) saved through the digital document solution

Being able to easily collect this from your digital document solution via an analytics dashboard will enable ITAM to easily keep sustainability stakeholders and senior leadership well fed with relevant information.

Cost savings

Research covered within this Forbes article shows that US-based organisations waste $8 billion per year through managing paper – a significant amount that can be reduced through a concerted, focused, and well-managed move to digital document software as part of the “paperless office”. So, not only can you meet your sustainability metrics, you can also reduce your overall spend on this software area.

For organisations that have already adopted digital document software, there is almost certainly a cost saving opportunity through application rationalisation and competitor analysis. There are several digital document offerings in the market, and often, there is no central oversight of these solutions. This means different departments within a business may be using various products and systems to achieve the same outcomes. Manufacturing company Howden found it had “37 different PDF systems” across its global organisation, causing difficulty with forecasting total spend and renewal amounts.

User experience

A further benefit of consolidating on a single digital document platform such as Nitro Pro Business is user experience – a metric of growing importance within many organisations.

All users across an organisation should have access to the same tools, regardless of local resources or remote office setup. Standardising on a digital document platform creates an equitable solution for everyone in your workforce and ensures compatibility across platforms and device types. You also reduce the likelihood of IT issues and support tickets, which increases productivity and support response time. Employee satisfaction improves as users can work quickly, confidently, and sustainably.

Conclusion

The integration of digital platforms and digital document software into ITAM strategies represents a significant opportunity for organisations to drive sustainability while also realising cost savings and operational efficiencies.

As we move towards a more digital and environmentally-conscious world, the role of ITAM professionals in championing these initiatives becomes increasingly crucial. By embracing and standardising digital document software such as Nitro Pro Business, organisations can reduce their environmental impact and transform their operations, making them more agile, secure, and customer centric. The future of ITAM is not just about managing IT assets but about leveraging them to create a sustainable and successful future for all.

Authors: Stefanie Schramm (Nitro) and Rich Gibbons (ITAM Review)

---

Can’t find what you’re looking for?