Introduction
The extent to which technology has become a part of normal life and everyday business has forced a change in the way business approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the assets within an organisation.
As computing becomes more widely used within a business and takes a more prominent critical within the vital functions of that company, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given to this computing.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as vital parts of any business. As such, they receive grander budgets but must also be able to handle a greater amount of work. There is an eternal race between business needs and IT capabilities.
But after you have spent a large amount of money on developing an IT network and seen the requirements of your organisation change, how do you make sure that the technology you are using can keep up with demand? Moreover, how can you achieve this without spending a large amount of money?
This is the function by IT management software and systems.
Every company and every situation will have different requirements and will present unique problems. To meet these requirements there are a range of different technologies and approaches that can be used to help manage the IT assets of your organisation.
Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is built to do exactly what it says on the tin - monitoring and controlling the deployment and usage of software programs within your company. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline and is becoming a more critical part of the modern corporate environment, particularly for companies operating in the field of Information Technology.
SAM is not simply a program for support staff installing software across a large company network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at many levels of a business. The objectives of SAM include controlling 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 a company grows, so do the potential benefits of SAM.
The practice of SAM is often viewed 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 complete of the software infrastructure of a company has been undertaken.
Economic benefits remain the most driving business factor when choosing to employ software asset management software within a business. Every business needs to make profit after all and expenditure is a very measurable figure.
An increasingly large percentage of a organisation’s IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As organisations grow and diversify, their software requirements can change greatly and equipment 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.
SAM is not restricted to simply the IT department of your organisation either. As a management cycle it will often involve many of the branches within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow established bureaucratic models.
The many benefits of software asset management make sure Centennial resellers maintain a healthy product portfolio they can supply to clients.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having heard the multiple advantages of utilising a software asset management 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 plan you will undertake needs to be catered to these specific traits. The benefits of software asset management do cover the fundamental aspects of IT management.
There are more than simply financial advantages that can be gained through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a businesses IT network. Productivity can be hugely boosted by ensuring that users have the latest versions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the company is helped when support staff know exactly what is in use on every computer under their control. The benefits of SAM are not confined to the technological hardware of your business.
Cost Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most persuading reason to implement SAM within your company is the potential cost savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any strategy that can help to improve this profitability by reducing costs is one that should be evaluated. Money can be saved in a multitude of ways.
The most immediate 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 anymore, it may be too outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. SAM can be used to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By clearing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the operation of your company you are streamlining a large portion of your IT infrastructure. Paying for unneeded software licenses and maintenance agreements means that more finance can be spent on the vital sections of your IT infrastructure. Focusing your attention on these vital components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising amount of software that is actively used in the business environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Running any amount of unmonitored software on your IT network is not advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for IT managers.
Rogue 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 originally purchased although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct control policies in place, users may also be able to install their own software onto the system. Running a corporate IT system in this unmanaged way will almost certainly lead to trouble.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your vital processes, how do you recover the situation? Operating a complex 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 forever outweigh the cost of mitigation when it comes to data systems.
Even in a stagnating and unpredictable market Centennial distributors continue to see that SAM is a technology in demand from companies.
Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are many potential benefits to employing a good software asset management strategy within your company, both financial and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which parts of software asset management you should deploy first since certain 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 primary stages that have to be performed to truly develop an informative picture of the deployment of software assets within your organisation.
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic function of the discovery process. It is crucial that an accurate audit of software assets within your business is created to help your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT system.
Thankfully, this process can now be automated and even the largest of infrastructures can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory must be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their physical location or technological characteristics. Modern inventory processes are capable of this.
Capture
The second step in the discovery process involves the capture of the software license entitlements that cover the software programs identified in the inventory. The capture process should gather entitlements for all of the software that is installed on your network, even when the software is not currently used.
The risk of human error can be avoided by using automatic tools that are specifically designed to create 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 performed on your IT network.
One crucial factor in the validation stage is the ability to combine the license entitlements within your network to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery process.
After these three steps have been performed you will have created an incredibly rich image of how your IT system is delivering software programs to its users. It will be much simpler to identify any trouble spots on your network, or areas of software usage that are no longer of any practical benefit to your operations. This detailed picture can be used for future strategies as well.
You can now commence 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 divides between the two. This is when the financial benefits of software asset management start to take effect.
The software spread within your system may include many hundreds or perhaps thousands of individual installations, and there may be any number of rules that may be associated with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore essential 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 organisation.
To learn more about the SAM process you could use Centennial reseller information through the web.
Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management
Many of the fundamental principles of a successful software asset management strategy are based upon the concepts set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of ideas and best practices that should be followed for successful management of IT operations. The ITIL can be found online.
This library is a dynamic entity and is often updated with new concepts and policies that cater to the ever changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be flexible enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing needs of the business within which it is actively used.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies specifically to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive collection of suggestions that are built to ensure that software asset management is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an important part in achieving standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should really be followed when planning a software asset management strategy for your own organisation, although the level of detail covered within can easily become a daunting prospect. It is important to remember that no matter what recommendations you follow when planning a SAM strategy, whatever you decide to implement must help your organisation rather than stifle it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them to your business.
Creating a full and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own business may actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to change and mature as your organisation does, and it must allow for modifications to your daily activities, no matter how trivial or fundamental they might be. This really is the key to a worthwhile software asset management plan.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the extent and importance of computer systems within your organisation grow, so does the requirement for correct and effective management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT branch was a luxury that would occasionally progress the business. IT systems are now vital to the modern organisation.
As with other parts of any company, a number of separate strategies should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the efficient running of daily activities. SAM should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary techniques used to control the system as a unit. SAM can go a long way toward aiding your company but should be supported by other techniques.
So if you think that your company is really suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the potential benefits described in this article could manufacture a critical market edge over your competitors, then it would be worth researching how SAM could be employed within your organisation.
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