Introduction
The degree to which technology has become a part of everyday life and day-to-day business has forced a change in the way management approaches how they manage the money, the processes and the systems within a business.
As computing becomes more widespread within a business and takes a more prominent role within the critical functions of that organisation, it is important to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is applied to this technology.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as vital elements of any business. As such, they are allocated larger budgets but must also be able to manage a greater amount of work.
But after you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing your IT system and seen the circumstances of your business change, how do you ensure that the systems you are using can keep up with demand? Moreover, how can you achieve this without spending a large amount of money?
This is the role undertaken by IT management software and systems.
Every business and every situation will have different requirements and will offer unique challenges. To meet these requirements there are a range of different technologies and approaches that can be implemented to help manage the IT network of your organisation.
Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and managing the deployment and usage of software programs within your organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct skill and is becoming a more essential part of the modern business environment, particularly for companies operating in the field of IT. Despite the many benefits of SAM, there are still a great many companies that are not utilising it to its full potential.
SAM is not simply a program for technicians deploying software across a large company network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at many levels of a company. The aims of SAM include monitoring expenses of the IT infrastructure within a organisation, negating legal threats associated with incorrect software license usage and maintaining high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose.
The practice of software asset management is often viewed as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the financial case for employing a SAM solution is not always obvious until a broad inspection of the software infrastructure of a company has been undertaken. Once existing problems have been highlighted however, the use of SAM becomes self evident.
Financial benefits are still the most motivating commercial factor when deciding to use SAM software within a business. Every business needs to make money after all and expenditure is a very measurable metric. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.
An increasingly large proportion of a business’ IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a critical need to invest to correctly handle this spending. As organisations expand and spread, their software needs can change radically and hardware and programs can quickly become out of date. There is no need to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an edge.
software asset management is not limited to simply the IT department of your organisation either. As a management process it will often include many of the branches within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible.
The many benefits of SAM ensure Centennial resellers retain a healthy product portfolio they can supply to clients.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the various advantages of deploying a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your company? Each company is different and has its own separate set of problems and advantages, so any strategy you will use needs to be catered to these specific characteristics. The benefits of SAM do cover the basic aspects of software management.
There are more than just financial benefits that can be gained through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT system. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that employees have the newest editions of software available under current licenses held, and communication within the business is aided when support staff know exactly what is installed on every workstation under their control. The benefits of SAM are not confined to the technological hardware of your organisation.
Financial Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most convincing reason to implement software asset management within your business is the potential cost savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any plan that can help to improve this profitability by reducing costs is one that should be considered. Money can be saved in a multitude of ways.
The most immediate way that SAM can help to reduce costs is by targeting any applications running on your corporate network that is no longer needed. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be very outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. SAM can help to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By removing these items of software that are no longer a help to the running of your business you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT network. Paying for unneeded software licenses and maintenance agreements means that more money can be spent on the vital parts of your IT infrastructure.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising amount of software that is currently used in the business environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Running any amount of uncontrolled software on your IT network is not advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for network managers.
Unlicensed software programs can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been bundled when your IT hardware was first bought although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct security policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the network.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your critical processes, how do you manage the situation? Running a complex software system without the correct support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can critically inhibit your responsiveness to unpredictable events.
SAM is a leading product that is available from all modern Centennial distributors reselling IT products to a wide range of markets.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are many potential advantages to using a good software asset management strategy within your company, both financial and otherwise. It is therefore important to consider which parts of SAM you should implement first since some benefits will be achieved more speedily than others.
The discovery process can be viewed as three fundamental stages that have to be performed to truly build an accurate picture of the usage of IT assets within your business. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic function of the discovery cycle. It is crucial that an accurate audit of software assets within your business is created to help your IT managers to maintain baselines regarding your IT network.
Fortunately, this process can now be automated and even the largest of infrastructures can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period. Inventory must be able to identify your software assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics.
Capture
The second step in the discovery cycle is the capture of the software license entitlements that manage the software programs discovered in the inventory. The capture process should collect entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your system, even when the software is not currently used. Without this information the inventory may be almost useless.
The risk of human error can be avoided by using automatic tools that are specifically designed to build a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently available are incredibly efficient at gathering accurate data.
Identification & Validation
The next process is to match up your software audit to the repository of licensing data that were built in the last two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original paperwork for software to the latest audits performed on your IT network. These errors can now be rectified.
One critical factor in the validation stage is the ability to link the license entitlements within your system to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery process. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.
Once these steps have been performed you will have built an incredibly detailed picture of how your IT network is serving software packages to its users. It will be much easier to identify particular trouble areas on your system, or sections of software use that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations.
You can now begin a period of reconciliation on your system. You should compare the software programs that are actually installed on your system against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and bridge any gaps between the two. This is when the financial benefits of SAM start to take effect.
The software spread within your network may include many hundreds or perhaps thousands of individual instances, and there are any number of rules that may be associated with the licensing agreements you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation process, utilising one or more programs to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your company
To see how SAM can directly aid your business use an available Centennial consultant who can devise a SAM strategy suited to your requirements.
Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management
Many of the basic principles of a modern software asset management strategy are based upon the concepts laid out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of concepts and best practices that should be followed for successful control of IT functions.
This library is a changing entity and is often updated with new concepts and techniques that reflect the constantly changing IT environment of modern business. A good SAM strategy should be flexible enough to follow the guidelines laid out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing requirements of the company within which it is actively utilised. This is an essential requirement of effective SAM
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies specifically to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive set of guidelines that are built to ensure that SAM is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an important role in achieving standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should certainly be followed when designing a software asset management strategy for your own organisation, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting challenge. It is important to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when planning a SAM strategy, whatever you decide to implement must aid your organisation rather than stifle it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them within your organisation.
Creating a full and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own organisation might actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible to adapt and mature as your business does, and it should allow for modifications to your daily activities, no matter how small or underlying they might be. This really is the key to a worthwhile software asset management strategy.
Conclusion
It is clear to see that as the scope and importance of IT systems within your organisation grow, so does the need for good and effective management of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT department was a bonus that would occasionally progress the business. IT systems are now vital to the modern company.
As with other branches of any business, a number of separate plans should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of daily activities. software asset management should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your organisation, but rather one of a number of complimentary policies used to manage the system as a unit. software asset management can go a long way toward aiding your business but should be supported by other strategies.
So if you think that your organisation is currently suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and control over its IT network, or that the potential benefits outlined in this article could provide a critical market edge over your competitors, then it would be well worth investigating how software asset management could be used within your business.