The ITAM Forum Podcast

Welcome to ITAMantics, where our experts unpack the headlines shaking up the ITAM world. In this May 2025 episode AJ Witt, Martin Thompson, and Kelly Yip explore the stories making waves across cybersecurity, licensing, and sustainability. Stories discussed this month: Cybersecurity breaches hit UK retailers M&S and the Co-op — what ITAM can learn from the fallout Social engineering tactics and the growing risk to asset and security management Broadcom’s aggressive VMware licensing audits — what they mean for your estate The rise of the secondary software market and what’s driving its momentum How ITAM and FinOps collaboration can strengthen organisational resilience and efficiency

In this episode, we’ll delve into the opportunities and challenges that AI presents for sustainable IT. While AI technologies offer significant potential for optimizing operations and improving energy efficiency, they also come with increased resource demands, such as substantial data center requirements, cooling systems, and the raw materials needed for hardware. We’ll explore whether the energy savings from AI initiatives are sufficient to offset these resource consumption impacts and how organizations can effectively navigate this balance. Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on the role of IT Asset Management (ITAM) in leveraging AI for sustainability while considering the broader environmental implications. “We’re seeing a lot of the ITAM technologies measure and calculate the emissions and power consumption of those devices — data that’s really valuable for ESG teams, who quite often have been estimating carbon impact using cost as a proxy” – Luke Caswell at SoftwareOne.

FinOps has long focused on managing cloud spend—but that's beginning to change. In this episode, AJ Witt speaks with Jennifer Kuvlesky at Flexera about the March 2025 FinOps scope expansions and what they mean for SaaS and data center environments. They explore why FinOps is broadening its horizons, how this shift impacts ITAM professionals, and what organisations should expect next. "With cloud data, you can't do your job without understanding where and how things are being used—it's essential for managing spend and securing value." - Jennifer Kuvlesky at Flexera. Download Flexera's State of Cloud Report: https://info.flexera.com/CM-REPORT-State-of-the-Cloud?lead_source=Organic%20Search

More companies are turning to refurbished and second-source equipment, but what’s driving the shift? And how has the industry evolved over the years? AJ Witt speaks with Neil Peters-Michaud (Cascade Asset Management), to talk about the changing landscape of ITAD, how COVID-19 reshaped supply chains, and why reuse and refurbishment are becoming the new normal. "COVID forced the industry to focus more on repair and refurbishment—because when new devices weren’t available, reuse became essential." – Neil Peters-Michaud Listeners can request our Benchmarking Report here: https://cascade-assets.com/cascade-benchmarking-report/

Sustainability in IT is no longer just a buzzword—it’s a necessity. But how can ITAM play a role in making organisations greener and more responsible? Is the business world truly aware of the scale of the challenge ahead? AJ Witt and Megan Barradell from SHI share their insights on the topic. "We’ve got the vision, and the willingness is there—but the real question is, how do we actually make it happen?" – Megan Baradell