The ITAM Forum, which officially launched one year ago during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, today celebrates its first-year anniversary with a list of achievements and momentum to build on. The ITAM Forum was founded on three key principles; to be led by ITAM endusers not software publishers, to be guided by a trustee board of ITAM professionals and operate on a not-for-profit basis. Today, the ITAM Forum is proud to announce that more than half of its Trustee Board is composed of end-user ITAM professionals, including its Chair, Melody Ayeli.
Martin Thompson, founder of the ITAM Forum, reflects on the organisation’s first year, “Starting in November 2019 with nothing more than a germ of an idea, a blank sheet of paper and a rallying cry for volunteers, the organisation that would later become the ITAM Forum began to take shape. Then, in the midst of a global pandemic, the ITAM Forum officially launched in April 2020. We started with two main goals – to build the world’s first independent certification programme for ISO 19770 and to raise the prominence and professionalism of ITAM so that it becomes a de facto practice within every business.
What a year it’s been. We now have more than 200 members, an active trustee board, which meets once a month, ten patrons and four workstreams helping to move the industry forward. Everyone who contributes to the Forum is doing so on a voluntary basis, so I would like to thank each and every one of them for giving their time to help their industry. I would also like to thank each of our Patrons who share our vision and whose financial support help the Forum to achieve its goals.”
One of the ITAM Forum’s first accomplishments was to establish four workstreams to work towards goals in the areas of Certification, Community, Enablement, and Evangelism. The accomplishments of each workstream are summarised below:
Certification
- Goal: Build a globally recognised framework for organisations to assess and certify themselves against the ISO 19770 standard for ITAM.
- Progress report: The development of a scheme (validated at a Trade Body, Scheme and National Country Level) is underway. The ITAM Forum expects to announce pilot schemes throughout 2021.
Community
- Goal: Build a global community of ITAM professionals who can learn from each other, share best practices, gain skills and knowledge.
- Progress report: A German pilot has delivered its first two chapter meetings. The ITAM Forum has interest from professionals based in 8-10 countries wishing to build ITAM Forum local chapters where ITAM professionals can connect and learn at a local country level.
Enablement
- Goal: Help ITAM professionalsto communicate the business value of ITAM to key stakeholders across and throughout their organisations.
- Progress report: The ITAM Forum has launched a free discussion board, addressing any and all questions in the ITAM, SAM and licensing domain, helping ITAM professionals become more successful.
Evangelism
- Goal: Encourage more organisations to build an ITAM practice and to attract more professionals into the ITAM community.
- Progress report: An ongoing press campaign secured press exposure throughout the past year, including traction for the Forum’s #ITAMsavesjobs campaign.
These efforts gained the attention of ITAM tool and service providers, resulting in the Forum gaining additional patrons providing financial support to help it achieve its goals. ITAM Forum patrons include: Anglepoint, FisherITS, GeminiSix, Lansweeper, Snow Software, Softline Solutions, SoftwareONE, USU.
In addition, the ITAM Forum also joined the launch of a new ISO/IEC 19770 study group on sustainability in IT Asset Management. As Martin Thompson explains, “The environmental business benefits of ITAM have historically taken a back seat to cost savings and compliance, but I believe every single IT Asset Manager can have a positive impact on energy consumption and sustainability. A mature ITAM practice has the power to make a real difference in terms of corporate social responsibility, environmental impact, and energy costs.”
ITAM Forum Board of Trustees Chair Melody Ayeli commented on the anniversary: “During the inaugural year of the ITAM Forum, our Board and key partners have made a significant amount of progress on ideation and building the foundation of our programs. The goal has always been to fill the gaps in our industry, in ways that help both end user organisations and individual professionals. In our second year, we will be building upon that foundation to develop and expand these programs to provide more visible, measurable impact. We look forward to engaging with organisations and professionals that are ready to be part of the global effort to elevate the ITAM practice within the IT industry and the overall enterprise.”
NOTE: All trustees of the ITAM Forum have joined in their personal capacity. Unless stated otherwise, any comments made by the trustees on behalf of the ITAM Forum do not represent the views of their employers, nor does their membership as individuals imply endorsement of the ITAM Forum by their respective employers.