By: Martin Thompson, Founder of the ITAM Forum
Today is a milestone for the ITAM industry and profession. The ITAM Forum has acquired the ITAM Review and LISA. Together, we’ll be able to create a strong, engaged, and passionate world-wide ITAM community that drives ITAM adoption and maturity. We’ll also help to shape and redefine ITAM for the future.
Our ITAM history
The ITAM Review began in 2008. Its mission has always been to enable the sharing of expertise, feedback, and opinions on ITAM technology and services. While plenty of sources told organisations why they should do ITAM, there was a dire shortage of independent advice on how to do it.
We used to receive weekly correspondence asking: “I’ve got this fantastic new role in IT Asset Management but don’t know where to start”. When you start peeling back the layers of the ITAM onion, it can soon become overwhelming. So, in 2016, we developed the Practical ITAM course. This course, alongside Microsoft Licensing training, became the foundation of the LISA training platform, which continues to grow and develop, offering a range of courses to meet the real-world needs of ITAM professionals.
The ITAM Forum originally started to help bring the ISO/IEC 19770-1 standard to market. This standard is the North Star for ITAM professionals – it demonstrates what good looks like. And, it’s written by ITAM professionals themselves – voluntary members of the ITAM Standards Committee (WG21). By shining a light on organisations that certify against this standard and therefore, do ITAM to the highest level, we can inspire others and raise ITAM’s collective maturity.
Until today, the ITAM Forum, The ITAM Review, and LISA operated as separate entities. They’ve now come together under the ownership and stewardship of the ITAM Forum. The ITAM Forum will now own its own global events and media organisation and its own training and certification platform. A not-for-profit trade organisation, the ITAM Forum is governed by the ITAM industry.
Helping ITAM grow and develop
This acquisition represents a milestone in the ITAM industry’s development. Since 2008, The ITAM Review has shared news and expertise to the SAM and ITAM communities. LISA continues to provide up-to-date SAM, ITAM, and licensing training delivered by industry experts. Since 2020, the ITAM Forum has helped ITAM professionals connect, share, and learn from each other.
With this acquisition, the ITAM Forum will further inspire ITAM excellence and grow world-wide ITAM community engagement. We hope you’ll join us on this exciting new chapter for the ITAM Forum and journey for the ITAM profession.
For more information about the acquisition:
- See our infographic
- See our Q&A webpage