1. EZO has been around for 15 years. What kind of companies have you been working with, and has it changed since the company was founded?
When we founded EZO in 2011, customers wanted to know where their equipment was. As they scaled, the question became bigger: Is it available, secure, maintained, compliant, and worth the cost? We evolved with them—from replacing spreadsheets to connecting assets, people, software, maintenance, and service workflows. Today, 3,000+ organizations across six continents use EZO products to turn fragmented records into operational control. That is what enterprises rely on to run daily operations smoothly: EZO helps them reduce loss and downtime, control spending, standardize work across locations, and make decisions with data they can trust.
2. “AI-powered ITAM software” is a phrase we’re seeing more of in 2026 — how would you define what actually makes IT asset management software “AI-powered,” versus IT asset management software with a chatbot bolted on top?
AI-powered ITAM software is IT asset management software where the AI acts on the platform’s own asset, ticket, and report data to recommend or automate the next step, not just answer questions about the product. A chatbot bolted onto traditional ITAM software can tell you how to run a report. AI-powered ITAM software, the way we’ve built it into AssetSonar with our Zoe AI layer, already knows the device behind a ticket, its patch status, its warranty, and its history before anyone asks. That’s the practical test: does the AI already have the asset context, or does someone have to feed it to the AI first?
3. EZO runs AssetSonar for IT asset management and EZO EAM for enterprise asset management under the same company. For readers who aren’t sure which category their problem actually falls into, how do you draw that line?
The simplest way to think about it: AssetSonar is IT asset management software, built for tracking laptops, software licenses, servers, and the IT service tickets tied to them. EZO EAM is enterprise asset management software, built for physical, non-IT assets, production equipment, facilities infrastructure, and the maintenance work orders tied to them. If your question is “who has this laptop and is its software licensed,” that’s AssetSonar. If it’s “when does this compressor need maintenance,” that’s EZO EAM. Some organizations run both, because IT and operations both need the same discipline, one connected, current picture of what they own, applied to different asset classes.
4. Software license management keeps coming up as the number one reason companies start shopping for ITAM software. Why do you think that’s the entry point rather than hardware tracking?
License overspend is immediate and easy to quantify, which makes it the trigger even when hardware visibility is the bigger long-term problem. Most IT leaders can point to a specific renewal or audit finding, unused seats, duplicate tools, software nobody remembers approving, and that gives finance and IT a shared reason to act. Once a software license management tool is in place, the same underlying asset inventory usually gets extended to hardware, IT asset discovery, and ticketing, because the data model is the same. License management is the door; full IT asset management software is where teams end up.
5. IT asset discovery is often the first technical hurdle in ITAM. How does agent-based versus agentless discovery affect the accuracy of the inventory a system like AssetSonar builds?
IT asset discovery software finds and identifies every device, license, and application on a network, and the discovery method determines how complete and current that inventory actually is. Agent-based discovery, software installed on each device, gives deeper detail (patch status, installed software, usage) but requires deployment and upkeep. Agentless discovery scans the network without installing anything, which is faster to roll out but can miss off-network or unmanaged devices. AssetSonar supports both, because most mid-market IT environments have a mix of managed and unmanaged devices, and relying on only one method leaves blind spots exactly where shadow IT tends to hide.
6. EZO EAM now includes the maintenance and CMMS capabilities that used to be a separate product. What capabilities should a buyer expect from real enterprise asset management software beyond basic asset tracking, especially around maintenance scheduling?
Enterprise asset management software should do more than tell you what you own and where it is; it should tell you what condition it’s in, what maintenance it needs, and when. At minimum, that means maintenance scheduling and work orders, structured checklists, asset lifecycle and depreciation tracking, downtime and cost reporting, and mobile access for technicians in the field, not just a desk-based interface. That’s exactly why we built CMMS capability directly into EZO EAM rather than selling it as a separate product; buyers don’t think in terms of an EAM tool and a CMMS tool, they think in terms of keeping equipment running. EZO EAM builds Zoe’s predictive maintenance on top of that combined foundation, generating checklists and flagging issues before they become downtime, rather than leaving teams to interpret a maintenance log by hand.
7. AssetSonar combines ITAM and ITSM in one platform, which is different from how a lot of the market is structured. What does a unified ITAM+ITSM approach unlock that separate point tools don’t?
Most IT service management tools can tell you a ticket exists; far fewer know anything about the actual device behind it. Because AssetSonar unifies IT asset management and IT service management in one system, our ITSM Copilot already knows the requester’s device, OS, patch level, installed software, and warranty status the moment a ticket opens, context a ticket-only tool simply doesn’t have. That’s the practical case for unified ITAM+ITSM software: faster triage, fewer back-and-forth questions, and asset data that’s actually current because it’s updated by the same system handling the tickets.
8. Predictive maintenance is a big claim in the EAM space right now. What does EZO EAM’s approach actually look like day to day, and what’s the evidence it works?
Predictive maintenance means using asset history and usage data to flag a likely failure before it happens, rather than waiting for a fixed schedule or a breakdown. Deloitte’s research found manufacturers using predictive maintenance see 19% less unplanned downtime than those relying on preventive maintenance alone, and that gap is exactly what happens when asset history and service records don’t reach maintenance teams in time. Day to day, EZO EAM’s Zoe generates a structured maintenance checklist for a specific asset, on request, so a technician starts from a complete list instead of a blank page or a buried manual.
9. Where do you see AI-powered ITAM and EAM software heading over the next 12–24 months, and what should IT and operations leaders be preparing for now?
I think the gap between “we added an AI chatbot” and “our AI actually knows our assets” is going to become obvious fast, and that’s where AI-powered ITAM and EAM software will separate from tools that just added a chat interface. The leaders who benefit will be the ones who treat asset and ticket data as the foundation the AI stands on, not an afterthought. My advice: before evaluating any AI-powered ITAM or EAM tool, audit how complete and current your own asset inventory already is. AI can’t create context that was never captured in the first place.
About the Author: Syed Ali, Founder and CEO, EZO
Syed Ali, CEO and founder of EZO, brings nearly three decades of tech experience to the table. A relentless innovator, he founded EZO in 2011 to tackle critical asset management challenges. Under his leadership, EZO offers a suite of software solutions that streamline operations and boost productivity. Ali’s diverse background includes leadership roles at Sun Microsystems and TRG, and he remains active in local entrepreneurial networks. A champion of sustainability and social good, he ensures EZO always gives back to the community.
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