Introduction
The degree to which computing has become a part of everyday life and day-to-day commerce has seen a change in the way business approaches how they manage the finances, the tasks and the assets within an organisation. IT is becoming an important factor in business.
As technology becomes more widely used within a business and takes a more prominent vital within the vital functions of that company, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this technology. Technological assets that may have previously been overlooked are now key in the decision making process.
IT departments have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as critical elements of any business. As such, they are allocated greater budgets but must also be able to handle a greater amount of work.
But after you have spent a substantial amount of your budget on developing an IT infrastructure and seen the requirements of your organisation change, how do you make sure that the IT you are using can keep up with demand?
This is the role undertaken by IT management software and systems.
Every company and every environment will have different specifications and will offer different challenges. To satisfy these requirements there are a range of different technologies and approaches that can be implemented to help manage the IT assets of your organisation.
Software Asset Management
SAM ( Software Asset Management) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and controlling the deployment and usage of software suites within your company. 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.
SAM is not simply a program for technicians rolling out software across a large corporate network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at all levels of a business. The goals of SAM include controlling 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 SAM is often seen as an unnecessary evil due to the intangible nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the business case for using a SAM solution is not always obvious until a full of the software infrastructure of a company has been carried out.
Financial benefits are still the most driving business factor when deciding to operate SAM technology within a company. Every company needs to make money after all and revenue is a very measurable figure. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.
An increasingly large amount of a company’s IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a real need to invest to correctly monitor this spending. As organisations expand and spread, their software needs can change radically and equipment and programs can quickly become out of date. 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 IT department of your company either. As a management operation it will often include many of the departments within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow standard.
When choosing an accomplished provider of a software asset management solution for your network Centennial Discovery must be a solution that is considered amongst others.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the many advantages of utilising a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be correct for your business? Each business is different and has its own unique set of problems and advantages, so any strategy you will use needs to be catered to these specific characteristics. The benefits of software asset management do cover the fundamental aspects of software management.
There are more than just monetary advantages that can be gained through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across an organisations IT system. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that staff have the latest editions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the company is aided 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 organisation.
Financial Savings
As discussed previously, perhaps the most convincing reason to implement software asset management within your business is the potential cost savings that can be made. 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 expenses is one that should be evaluated. Money can be saved in a multitude of ways.
The most immediate way that SAM can help to lower costs is by targeting any software running on your corporate IT system that is no longer necessary. 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.
By clearing these items of software that are no longer a help to the operation of your organisation you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT network. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and maintenance contracts means that more finance can be spent on the critical sections of your IT system. Focusing your finances on these critical components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising proportion of software that is currently used in the business environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Having any amount of unmonitored software on your IT system is not advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for network managers.
Rogue software applications can be introduced into an unmonitored IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been bundled when your IT hardware was first purchased although the original software licenses may have expired. Without the correct access policies in place, users may also be able to install their own software onto the network.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your vital processes, how do you manage the situation? Operating a complex software system without the correct support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can critically limit your responsiveness to unpredictable events.
The business case for working with a full-time Centennial vendor throughout your IT review process has never been clearer.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are many potential benefits to employing a good SAM strategy within your company, both monetary and otherwise. It is vitally important to consider which parts of SAM you should deploy first since some benefits will be realised 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 build an informative picture of the deployment of software assets within your company. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery cycle. It is important that an accurate audit of IT assets within your organisation 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 largest of networks can be investigated 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 next step in the discovery cycle involves the capture of the license entitlements that concern the software programs identified in the inventory. The capture stage should collect entitlements regarding all of the software that is installed on your network, even when the software is not currently in use.
The element of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically designed to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently employed are very efficient at capturing accurate data. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from software vendors.
Identification & Validation
The third step is to match up the software audit to the repository of licensing information that were created in the last two stages. Errors may have occurred anywhere from the original paperwork for software to the latest audits performed on your IT system.
One critical factor in the validation stage is the ability to combine the license entitlements on your system to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery process. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.
After these steps have been undertaken you will have built an incredibly rich picture of how your IT system is delivering software programs to its users. It will be a lot easier to identify particular trouble areas on your system, or sections of software usage 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 begin a period of reconciliation on your network. You should compare the software programs that are actually used on your system against the licensing and support entitlements 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 in your network may include many hundreds or even 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 a necessity to automate the reconciliation stage, using one or more programs to apply intelligent rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your organisation.
The computing industry is in vital need for many Centennial vendors who will supply the right IT monitoring products.
Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management
Many of the basic principles of a successful SAM strategy are based upon the principles set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library defines a number of principles and best practices that should be followed for successful control of IT functions. The ITIL can be found online.
This library is a changing entity and is often updated with new ideas and techniques that cater to the constantly changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be flexible enough to follow the guidelines laid out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing requirements of the company within which it is actively used.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has published a standard that applies directly to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive collection of suggestions that are designed to ensure that software asset management is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.
The ISO standard should really be adhered to 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 recommendations you follow when planning a software asset management strategy, whatever you decide to implement needs to help your organisation rather than hinder it.
Designing 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 should allow for updates to your daily activities, no matter how small or underlying they might be.
Conclusion
It is clear to see that as the extent and importance of IT systems within your organisation grow, so does the need for correct and effective management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a bonus that would sometimes forward the business. IT networks are now vital to the modern company.
As with other parts of any business, a number of different plans should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of day to day activities. software asset management should not be the only tool used to manage computing assets within your organisation, but rather one of a number of complimentary techniques used to manage the system as a unit.
So if you feel that your organisation is currently suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and control over its IT infrastructure, or that the potential benefits described in this article could manufacture a critical market advantage over your competitors, then it would be well worth researching how software asset management could be used within your organisation. There may be no time to spare.