What problems can Data Manager help solve?

Data Manager is powerful when implemented. Here are examples of how it has helped organizations in the IT asset, configuration, and security space.

CMDB data quality

As much as 53% of device / CI attribute data is not captured in service management systems.

Data Manager can help ensure your coverage is complete by combining results from multiple tools of different types and providing a holistic, single view of each asset through reconciliation.

• “Through 2024, 99% of organizations using CMDB tooling that do not confront configuration item data quality gaps will experience visible business disruptions.” Gartner: 3 Steps to Improve IT Service View CMDB Data Quality. Published 6 December 2023.

• “In 2020, 32% of Gartner inquiries regarding IT service view CMDBs cite data completeness or quality concerns as a challenge.” Gartner: 3 Steps to Improve IT Service View CMDB Data Quality. Published 6 December 2023.

• “The CMDB enhances service management practices. A configuration management database (CMDB) is an integrated operational data store that contains key IT/digital assets, inventories, and their dependencies. It can play an essential role in enabling impact analysis and managing IT portfolios for risk, efficiency, and performance. In our survey, 52% of respondents said their organization adopted a CMDB and are at different phases of implementation; of those, 83% agreed that their CMDB is essential to operations.” Forrester: The State of Service Management. Published 12 February 2024.

Additional data from The State of Service Management is also referenced in this context.

Configuration management

Agents only cover about 75% of devices for patch and update management.

Data Manager can help ensure that nothing remains unpatched by highlighting missing or inconsistent records so that teams can act and remediate coverage gaps.

• “Unused CI data provides no value and is one of the reasons that 50% of respondents to Gartner’s 2019 I&O Management Survey reported that the value they obtained from CMDB investment fell below their expectations.” Gartner: 3 Steps to Improve IT Service View CMDB Data Quality. Published 6 December 2023.

Security

Up to 30% of assets with network access lack appropriate cyber coverage.

Data Manager can help find uncovered assets by comparing results across several network scanning tools at once and initiating the remediation process.

According to Forrester’s Security Survey, 2022:

• 74% of enterprise security decision‑makers reported that their organization had suffered at least one breach of sensitive data in the last 12 months.

• 17% of these breaches were the result of a lost or stolen asset such as a laptop or mobile device.

• 34% were the result of an external attack.

Forrester: Tame the Asset Management Beast. Published 13 February 2023.

51% of respondents to Forrester’s Modern Technology Operations Survey, 2022, stated that they’ve lost track of laptops or other edge devices, resulting in security concerns. Forrester: Tame the Asset Management Beast. Published 13 February 2023.

IT Asset Management

Up to 33% of IT assets are not captured and managed by IT Asset Management systems.

If you can't see all active devices, software asset management data may also be incomplete due to unknown software in the environment, which can lead to licensing issues or security breaches.

Data Manager can combine information from different source types — for example, CMDB, Azure, and network scanning tools — to help ensure that every active asset is identified and flagged for further investigation.

• 54% of digital and IT professionals have unknown assets. Forrester: Tame the Asset Management Beast. Published 13 February 2023.

Billing complexity

Many teams cannot accurately provide monthly baselines for active assets in service because their data is inconsistent.

Through automated connections, Data Manager can help identify and initiate corrections for underspending or overspending involving customers or third‑party support suppliers.

Data Manager can provide confidence that what appears on the bill aligns with what is actually in the environment, and that both customer and supplier are working to the same rules for asset identification.

Sharing responsibility for the underlying data means both sides of the billing process can be confident in the results and avoid unexpected discrepancies.

Beyond ITAM and CMDB

Although the examples above are focused on IT asset, configuration, and security, Data Manager can help in many other problem spaces. If you have data coming from multiple systems and need to validate coverage between tools, Data Manager can help.

Some examples include:

• Checking that users are consistent between HR systems and support tools.

• Ensuring locations between environments match, are normalised, and are appropriately grouped. For example, correlating SYD in one system with Sydney in another, and Sydney, NSW, Australia in a third.

• Tracking point‑of‑sale (PoS) devices for a retailer.

• Tracking parts of many descriptions for a manufacturing company.