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Introduction

The extent to which technology has become a part of normal life and day-to-day commerce has forced a change in the way business approaches how they manage the money, the processes and the assets within an organisation. IT is fast becoming an increasing factor in business.

As computing becomes more widespread within a company and takes a more prominent critical within the vital processes of that company, it is important to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given to this technology. Technological systems that may have previously been ignored are now important factors in the decision making process.

IT departments have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as essential elements of any organisation. As such, they receive greater budgets but must also be able to deal with a larger amount of responsibility.

But after you have spent a substantial amount of money on developing an IT infrastructure and seen the requirements of your business change, how do you ensure that the technology you are using can keep up with demand?

This is the role carried out by IT management software and procedures.

Every organisation and every environment will have different requirements and will create unique issues. To meet these needs there are a number of different technologies and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT network of your business.One of these options is discussed below.

Software Asset Management

SAM ( Software Asset Management) is built to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and managing the deployment and usage of software suites within your organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct skill and is becoming a more critical part of the modern business environment, particularly for corporations 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 installing software across a large corporate network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at all levels of a company. The aims of SAM include controlling of the IT infrastructure within a company, negating legal threats 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.

The practice of SAM is often thought of as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the financial case for going with a SAM solution is not always obvious until a broad audit of the software infrastructure of a company has been undertaken.

Economic benefits are still the most motivating business factor when choosing to operate SAM software within a company. Every company needs to make profit after all and expenditure is a very measurable figure.

An increasingly large percentage of a company’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As organisations grow and spread, their software requirements can change radically and hardware and programs can quickly become outdated. 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 restricted to simply the technology of your business either. As a management cycle it will often include many of the departments within a company, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow regular.

IT managers and staff with decision making authority should consider Centennial Discovery at meetings regarding the implementation of IT resource management.

Why follow a SAM Strategy?

Having heard the many benefits of utilising a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be right for your business? Each business is different and has its own unique set of problems and advantages, so any plan you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific characteristics.

There are more than just cost benefits that can be gained through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a businesses IT system. Productivity can be hugely boosted by ensuring that users have the newest editions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the business is helped when support staff know exactly what is in use on every computer under their control.

Cost Savings

As discussed previously, perhaps the most persuading reason to utilise software asset management within your company is the potential financial savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your business is always going to be the bottom line so any strategy that can help to improve this profitability by descreasing costs is one that should be evaluated.

The most direct way that SAM can help to reduce costs is by targeting any software running on your corporate IT system that is no longer needed. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be too outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system.

By clearing these items of software that are no longer a help to the running of your organisation you are streamlining a large portion of your IT network. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and maintenance agreements means that more money can be spent on the essential parts of your IT infrastructure. Focusing your finances on these vital components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.

Mitigate Risk

A surprising percentage 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 ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable.

Unlicensed software programs can be introduced into an unmonitored IT environment in a number of ways. Software may have been bundled when your IT hardware was originally purchased although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct access policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the system. Operating a corporate IT system in this unmanaged way will almost certainly lead to trouble.

The danger of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your critical processes, how do you handle the situation? Running a complicated software system without the proper support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can seriously inhibit your responsiveness to unpredictable events. The cost of recovery will always outweigh the cost of mitigation when it comes to IT systems.

Some of the most profitable Centennial distributors throughout recent times have viewed SAM as key part of their portfolio.

Implementing SAM in your Organisation

As previously mentioned, there are many potential advantages to utilising a good SAM strategy within your business, both monetary and otherwise. It is therefore important to determine which parts of software asset management you should implement first since some benefits will be achieved more quickly than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.

The discovery process can be seen as three fundamental phases that have to be undertaken to really build an accurate picture of the deployment of IT assets within your company. These are:

Inventory

Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery process. It is vital that an accurate inventory of software assets within your business is created to aid your IT managers to maintain baselines for your IT network.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the largest of infrastructures can be investigated and analysed in a relatively short period of time. 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 involves the capture of the license entitlements that concern the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture process should collect entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your network, even when the software is not currently used. Without this information the inventory may be nearly useless.

The element of human error can be avoided by using automatic tools that are specifically designed to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently employed are incredibly efficient at capturing accurate information.

Identification & Validation

The third process is to match up your software inventory to the repository of licensing data that were built in the last two stages. Errors may have occurred anywhere from the original invoices for software to the latest audits undertaken on your IT network. These errors can now be rectified.

One critical factor in the validation step is the ability to link the license entitlements on your network to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any arguments with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.

Once these three steps have been undertaken you will have built an incredibly detailed image of how your IT network is serving software programs to its users. It will be much simpler to identify particular trouble areas on your network, or sections of software usage that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations. This detailed picture can be used for future strategies as well.

You can now start a period of reconciliation upon your network. You should compare the software packages that are actually installed on your system against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and close any divides between the two. This is when the financial benefits of software asset management start to take effect.

The software distribution in your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, and there are 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 period, using one or more programs to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your company

The use software asset management within your company is a very specific cycle which can be strategised by a capable Centennial reseller as they should have extra information.

Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM

Many of the basic practices of a successful SAM strategy are based upon the concepts set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library defines a number of concepts and best practices that should be adopted for successful management of IT operations.

This library is a changing entity and is often updated with new concepts and policies that reflect the constantly changing IT environment of modern business. A good SAM strategy should be flexible enough to comply with the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the business within which it is actively utilised. This is an essential requirement of successful software asset management

The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies specifically to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive collection of suggestions that are designed to ensure that software asset management is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an essential part in realising standardisation across an industry.

The ISO standard should certainly be adhered to when designing a SAM strategy for your own company, although the level of detail included within can quickly become a daunting prospect. It is vital to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when creating a software asset management strategy, whatever you decide to employ needs to aid your business rather than hinder it.

Creating a full and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own business might actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible enough to change and mature as your organisation does, and it must allow for updates to your daily activities, 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 scope and importance of computer systems within your organisation grow, so does the need for correct and efficient management of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT branch was a luxury that would sometimes progress the business. Computer networks are now vital to the modern business.

As with other branches of any business, a number of different plans should be considered and used in order to ensure the smooth running of daily tasks. software asset management should not be the only tool used to manage computing assets within your company, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary techniques used to control the system as a whole. SAM can go a long way toward aiding your business but should be helped by other techniques.

So if you feel that your business is really suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the possible advantages described in this article could provide a crucial market edge over your competitors, then it would be worth investigating how SAM could be employed within your company.