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INTERVIEW: Barbara Rembiesa, IAITAM “Be The Superhero”

iaitam-superheroIt’s a busy time for the team at IAITAM as they put together the final preparations for their annual conference at the end of September.

I recently corresponded with Barbara Rembiesa, President and Founder of IAITAM, about the multitude of projects her team is working on to support the ITAM Industry and what we can look forward to at the conference this year.

Q. For those not familiar with IAITAM – what do you do?

We are the International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers, Inc. or “IAITAM”.

IAITAM’s mission is to provide real-world based skills development opportunities for the IT and business professionals choosing IT Asset Management as the next logical step in their professional careers, and to support IT Asset Managers already setting the standards for successful ITAM business practices such as, saving money, gaining control, reducing risk, increasing accountability and improving performance.

IAITAM is the professional association for individuals and organizations involved in any aspect of IT Asset Management (“ITAM”), Software Asset Management (“SAM”), Hardware Asset Management, and the lifecycle processes for IT Asset Management in organizations of every size and industry across the globe. We currently have members in more than forty countries around the world.

Q. What projects is IAITAM currently involved with?

IAITAM is currently working on the following:

  1. Course updates – first out will be an update to our CHAMP (Hardware) course
  2. A set of new introductory courses for our Best Practice Library volumes
  3. 2010 Annual Conference
  4. Making headway into Legislative initiatives to affect change in US law surrounding issues that are key to the ITAM industry
  5. Working on courses to accompany new product/services – more than 25 new courses in the works at this time
  6. Spearheading new social media sites – IAITAM on Facebook and others soon to be announced

Q. What can visitors look forward to at IAITAM conference this year?

We’ve adopted a Green Theme this year to coincide with coincidently the resort name (Green Valley Ranch) and the direction that many organizations have opted to make key in their ITAM initiatives – Greening. Greening means more than stopping your organization’s contributions to the global IT dumpster. There are many other meanings and interpretations to the term “Green”. To that end, we have a variety of speakers dedicated not only to ecological issues facing organizations today, but we have sessions dedicated to saving “the green” and case studies from members that have found ways to reduce risk, create efficiencies and true ROI for their organizations without adding another line item to the IT budget.

Our keynotes this year come from the industry’s leaders such as Microsoft, the Argus Connection and MyTechnologyLawyer.com as with our other speakers, will present educational sessions to add to the knowledge of our attendees. We also have panel discussions so that attendees get added value from Q&A with industry experts from their peers, vendor community and consulting space.

Barbara Rembiesa, IAITAM

Barbara Rembiesa, IAITAM

Q. What hot topics are your members discussing?

The current hot trends are in areas of virtualization and cloud computing to name a few. On an organizational front, our members are reporting a significant increase in executive management’s awareness and scrutiny of their ITAM programs. They now see the importance and true value of ITAM as an ongoing program and not just a series of projects or a department dedicated to counting assets.

Now from what we have seen in the industry, these topics sometimes are the bane of an ITAM’s existence. The stance our members take though in looking at current and future trends, though a hindrance, with a best practice program in place, all are managed through the Acquisitions process (as defined in IAITAM’s Best Practice Library volume Acquisition Management).

Regardless of the trend or new technological advancement, the ITAM should be in the driver’s seat or at least at the table when those new technologies are introduced or discussed for the organization. These instances can be viewed as tests for how well best practices in ITAM have been implemented!

Q. How do you see the role of ITAM in the current economic climate?

We see the role of the ITAM as a superhero for the organization. No other role impacts all business units and can address key issues for organizations and show true value and net worth through savings opportunities such as quick success projects – contract reviews, invoice reconciliation, software harvesting etc.

With the economic climate being one of uncertainty and conservative business practices, the ITAM can help reduce risk in areas of compliance, create efficiencies throughout the organization through new methods of managing their IT assets and can control many of these efforts by implementing new processes without adding to the budget.

Q. With this in mind – What advice would you give to professionals in the ITAM Industry?

Be the Superhero! Many organizations do not have support or experienced IT Asset Managers, but with some effort and in many cases next to no funding, an ITAM can contribute in many ways – and many of which are financial rewards to an organization! Our members have proven this time and time again. Look for that low hanging fruit to capitalize on!

Barbara Rembiesa is President and Founder of IAITAM. Conference details can be found here.

About Martin Thompson

Martin is owner and founder of The ITAM Review, an online resource for worldwide ITAM professionals. The ITAM Review is best known for its weekly newsletter of all the latest industry updates, LISA training platform, Excellence Awards and conferences in UK, USA and Australia.

Martin is also the founder of ITAM Forum, a not-for-profit trade body for the ITAM industry created to raise the profile of the profession and bring an organisational certification to market. On a voluntary basis Martin is a contributor to ISO WG21 which develops the ITAM International Standard ISO/IEC 19770.

He is also the author of the book "Practical ITAM - The essential guide for IT Asset Managers", a book that describes how to get started and make a difference in the field of IT Asset Management. In addition, Martin developed the PITAM training course and certification.

Prior to founding the ITAM Review in 2008 Martin worked for Centennial Software (Ivanti), Silicon Graphics, CA Technologies and Computer 2000 (Tech Data).

When not working, Martin likes to Ski, Hike, Motorbike and spend time with his young family.

Connect with Martin on LinkedIn.

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