IT Glue: Redefining IT Asset Management
BY IT GLUE | February 24, 2023
IT asset management ensures that the organization makes the most efficient use of its hardware, for smooth operations but also to get the most bang for the IT buck. When it comes to asset management, one of the biggest challenges is that traditional asset management sits with different teams. Yet the IT team has specific interests in the management of IT assets.
The IT team, for example, needs to know what hardware and software assets the company is using, to properly evaluate the cybersecurity risks that an organization faces. If asset management sits with a procurement or finance team, there will inevitably be a gap in communication and the IT team will find itself trying to secure the company’s environments without ever really having a clear view of the entire IT environment.
Another major challenge in IT is managing people. As explained by IT Glue’s GM and CTO, Nadir Merchant, “Growth is much easier when you have everyone on the team following the same processes. When the process is separated from what, who, and why, it’s much more difficult for IT to grow. Connecting asset management with processes, passwords, SOPs, and any other information the IT team needs allows for IT departments to scale with the rest of the company.”
This is where Vancouver-based IT Glue is creating a difference. IT Glue is the first documentation solution that is purpose-built by IT pros that consolidates asset management, passwords, and SOPs in one, and from an IT perspective rather than a procurement or finance team perspective.
IT Glue’s product team believes that asset management starts with hardware and software assets but goes far beyond that. It’s documenting the SOPs that relate to that asset (i.e. processes and troubleshooting), passwords to access the asset, vendor information such as for servicing or parts), expiries, and user information to identify who has what assets. IT Glue brings all IT documentation under one roof. Instead of having SOPs in one system, asset information in another, and user info someplace, else, resulting in information sprawl, IT Glue centralizes everything and gives you a single source of truth. “Integrations are a powerful means by which IT Glue makes this happen. We have over 55+ integrations, including ServiceNow, Meraki, Intune, Jamf Pro, Microsoft365, Active Directory, Azure, and many more,” explains Merchant.
Built by the IT Team for the IT Team
What makes IT Glue stand out from the crowd is that the company is built for the IT department. It’s a different approach than the usual IT asset management systems – in fact, IT Glue is complementary to what the big names are doing, because of its unique focus on the needs of IT pros – focusing on security, service desk efficiency, and making sure that the IT department understands how the different assets are connected to one another. Because it is built for IT, the company has hardware and software templates to get started without reinventing the wheel. And to help make documentation easy, IT Glue has over 100+ quick-start templates so that it can streamline processes.
SOC 2 is the gold standard for SaaS security, and Type II means that the IT Glue systems are routinely vetted for compliance with the SOC 2 standard. “We recognize that we’re storing valuable and sensitive information, and because of that, we have built security into every aspect. It’s not just SOC 2, it’s a full slate of security features so that you can have the utmost trust in how your sensitive data is handled and stored,” points out Merchant.
Solving Everyday Challenges
IT Glue was launched in 2014, and before that, it was the internal product of a managed service provider. They used IT Glue to help manage their documentation. Over time, the company grew rapidly in that space, as the team was solving a problem that everybody knew they had but was at a loss to solve internally. In recent years, IT Glue has had a lot of technicians move out of managed services and into internal IT teams, and they bring IT Glue with them because nobody’s doing what IT Glue’s team does. Documentation is a problem that every IT professional faces at one point or another. “We make documentation not just easy to create, but powerful to use, and that’s a real eye-opener for any IT pro,” extols Merchant.
Since opening its doors, IT Glue has delivered pioneering solutions to its customers. Merchant recalls an instance when the company assisted Bell’s Brewery, one of the largest craft breweries in the United States, with five sites and around 600 employees. IT Glue is fantastic for a centralized IT team servicing multiple job sites – having everything documented in IT Glue saves helps the IT team cut down on on-site visits. The company’s SysAdmin, William Richardson, came from an MSP and knew right away that IT Glue would improve the efficiency of his team at Bell’s. Their documentation was spread out over multiple different systems, but since they’ve been centralizing everything in IT Glue, it’s a lot easier to find reliable information in a timely manner. They’re experiencing benefits in faster response times, less downtime, speedier onboarding, and improved password security.
At IT Glue, the company’s innovations are focused on three main factors, including documentation automation, internal automation, and security. In the past year, IT Glue has deepened its relationship with Microsoft considerably. They’re the biggest player in IT, most companies use their products, and IT Glue is working with them to make documentation that much easier. “We’ve got integrations with Intune, Azure AD, Microsoft 365, Active Directory, even Teams, and there’s more where that came from. We want IT Glue to work seamlessly with the tools that IT pros use daily. Doing this will allow us to continually add more value for IT professionals,” concludes Merchant.
