Introduction
The extent to which technology has become a part of everyday life and day-to-day commerce has seen a change in the way management approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the systems within an organisation. Technology fast becoming an increasing factor in business.
As computing becomes more widely used within a business and takes a more prominent role within the vital functions of that business, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this technology. Technological assets that may have once been overlooked are now key in the decision making process.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as essential parts of any business. As such, they are allocated larger budgets but must also be able to deal with a larger amount of work. There is an eternal race between business needs and IT capabilities.
But after you have spent a substantial amount of your budget on developing your IT infrastructure and seen the needs of your organisation change, how do you ensure that the IT you are using can keep up with demand? Moreover, how can you achieve this without spending a prohibitive amount of money?
This is the function by IT management software and procedures.
Every organisation and every environment will have different requirements and will create different challenges. To meet these needs there are a number of different solutions and approaches that can be used to help control the IT network of your company.One of these approaches is discussed below.
Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and maintaining the deployment and usage of software suites within your business. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline and is becoming a more essential part of the modern commercial environment, particularly for corporations operating in the field of Information Technology. 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 support staff deploying software across a large company network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at all levels of a company. The aims of SAM include managing of the IT infrastructure within a business, negating legal risks associated with incorrect software license usage and sustaining high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose. As IT usage in an organisation grows, so do the potential benefits of SAM.
The practice of software asset management is often thought of as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the business case for going with a SAM solution is not always obvious until a full of the software infrastructure of a company has been carried out. Once existing problems have been identified however, the use of software asset management becomes self evident.
Monetary benefits are still the most driving business factor when choosing to employ software asset management technology within a company. Every company needs to make profit after all and revenue is a very measurable metric. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.
An increasingly large percentage of a business’ IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a critical need to invest to correctly monitor this spending. As businesses grow and diversify, their software needs can change greatly and equipment and programs can swiftly become outdated. There is no requirement to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an advantage.
SAM is not limited to simply the technology of your business either. As a management process it will often include many of the departments within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible.
IT managers and staff with decision making authority should discuss Centennial Discovery during meetings regarding the implementation of IT resource management.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the various advantages of employing a software asset management solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your business? Every company is different and has its own unique set of problems and advantages, so any plan you will undertake needs to be catered to these specific traits.
There are more than simply monetary advantages that can be gained through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that staff have the newest versions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the business is aided when support staff know exactly what is deployed on every workstation under their control. The benefits of software asset management are not confined to the technological hardware of your organisation.
Cost Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most convincing reason to utilise SAM within your company is the potential cost savings that can be made. The profitability of your business is always going to be the bottom line so any plan that can help to improve this profitability by reducing expenses is one that should be considered. Money can be saved in a number of ways.
The most direct way that software asset management can help to reduce costs is by identifying any software running on your corporate IT system that is no longer necessary. 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 be used to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By removing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the operation of your business you are streamlining a large portion of your IT system. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance agreements means that more money can be spent on the critical sections of your IT system.
Mitigate Risk Factors
A surprising amount of software that is actively used in the business environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Having any amount of unmonitored software on your IT network is not advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable.
Rogue software programs can be introduced into an unmonitored IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been bundled when your IT hardware was first bought although the original software licenses may have expired. Without the correct security policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the system.
The danger of running unlicensed software on your network is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your critical processes, how do you recover the situation? Running a complicated software system without the appropriate support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can seriously limit your responsiveness to unforeseen events. The cost of recovery will forever outweigh the cost of prevention when it comes to data systems.
SAM is a leading product that is available from all modern Centennial distributors reselling IT services to a wide range of markets.
Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are many potential benefits to utilising a good SAM strategy within your organisation, both financial and otherwise. It is therefore important to consider which parts of SAM you should implement first since certain benefits will be achieved more speedily than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.
This discovery process can be viewed as three fundamental phases that have to be undertaken to truly develop an accurate picture of the deployment of software assets within your organisation. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery process. It is important that an accurate audit of software assets within your business is created to help your IT managers to maintain baselines for your IT system. This inventory process must be performed before carrying on with discovery.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the grandest of networks can be searched and analysed in a reasonably short period. Inventory should be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics.
Capture
The next step in the discovery cycle is the capture of the license entitlements that manage the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture stage should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your system, even if the software is not currently used. Without this information the inventory would be nearly 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 very efficient at gathering accurate data. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from software vendors.
Identification & Validation
The next step is to match up your software audit to the repository of licensing data that were created in the last two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original invoices for software to the latest audits performed on your IT network.
One critical factor in the validation step is the ability to associate the license entitlements within your network to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any disputes with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.
After these three steps have been performed you will have built an incredibly rich image of how your IT network is delivering software packages to its users. It will be much simpler to identify any trouble areas on your network, or sections of software use that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations. This detailed map can be used for future strategies as well.
You can now commence a period of reconciliation on your network. You should compare the software packages that are actually installed on your network against the licensing and support entitlements that you are paying for and close any gaps between the two. This is when the financial benefits of SAM start to take effect.
The software spread within your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, and there may be any number of restrictions that may be involved with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore a necessity to automate the reconciliation process, using one or more tools to apply smart rules to the process.
The benefits of working alongside a contract Centennial reseller are greater than than ever before. You can find one such Centennial specialist at this website.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the fundamental principles of a modern software asset management strategy are based upon the principles set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library defines a number of concepts and best practices that should be followed for successful management of IT functions.
This library is a changing publication and is often updated with new concepts and policies that reflect the constantly changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good SAM strategy should be fluid enough to follow the guidelines laid out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing requirements of the business within which it is actively utilised.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies directly to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive set of suggestions that are designed to ensure that SAM is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.
The ISO standard should really be adhered to when planning a software asset management strategy for your own organisation, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting challenge. It is vital to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when planning a software asset management strategy, whatever plan you decide to implement must aid your business rather than stifle it.
Designing a full and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own organisation may actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible enough to change and grow as your business does, and it must allow for updates to your daily tasks, no matter how trivial or underlying they might be. This really is the key to a successful software asset management strategy.
Conclusion
It is clear to see that as the extent and importance of computer systems within your organisation grow, so does the need for good and effective management of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT branch was a bonus that would occasionally forward the business. IT networks are now critical to the modern company.
As with other branches of any company, a number of separate strategies should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of daily tasks. software asset management should not be the only tactic used to manage technological resources within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary policies used to control the system as a unit.
So if you think that your organisation is really suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT network, or that the potential benefits outlined in this article could manufacture a crucial market advantage over your competitors, then it would be well worth researching how SAM could be used within your company.
