Introduction
The degree to which computing has become a part of normal life and everyday commerce has seen a change in the way management approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the assets within an organisation.
As computing becomes more widespread within a company and takes a more prominent vital within the vital processes of that company, it is important to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this computing. Technological assets that may have once been overlooked are now important factors in the decision making process.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as critical parts of any organisation. As such, they are allocated larger budgets but must also be able to manage a larger amount of responsibility. There is an eternal race between corporate demands and computing capabilities.
But once you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing an IT system and seen the circumstances of your company 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 prohibitive amount of money?
This is the function by IT management software and systems.
Every organisation and every situation will have different requirements and will create different problems. To meet these needs there are a range of different technologies and approaches that can be used to help control the IT network of your company.
Software Asset Management
SAM ( Software Asset Management) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and managing 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 essential part of the modern corporate environment, particularly for corporations operating in the field of Information Technology.
SAM is not simply a tool for support staff deploying software across a large corporate network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at multiple levels of a organisation. The objectives of SAM include managing of the IT infrastructure within a business, 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. As IT usage in a business grows, so do the potential benefits of SAM.
The practice of SAM is often thought of as an unnecessary evil due to the intangible nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the financial case for using a SAM solution is not always obvious until a broad audit of the software infrastructure of a company has been done. Once existing problems have been identified however, the use of SAM becomes self evident.
Monetary benefits are still the most driving commercial factor when deciding to operate SAM software within a company. Every corporation needs to make profit after all and profitability is a very measurable figure.
An increasingly large percentage of a business’ IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a real need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As companies grow and diversify, their software requirements can change greatly and equipment and software 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.
software asset management is not limited to simply the technology of your business 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 efficiently as possible.
One highly recommend SAM solution say Centennial resellers would be SAM.Suite; a modern solution to modern IT licensing challenges.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the multiple advantages of deploying a software asset management solution, how do you know that it would be correct for your company? Every company is different and has its own separate set of challenges and benefits, so any strategy you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific characteristics.
There are more than just monetary benefits that can be gained through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a businesses IT network. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that staff have the latest editions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication inside the company is aided when support staff know exactly what is installed on every workstation under their control.
Financial Savings
As discussed previously, perhaps the most persuading reason to utilise SAM within your business is the potential financial 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.
The most immediate way that SAM can help to reduce costs is by identifying any applications 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 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 infrastructure. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and maintenance agreements means that more money can be spent on the vital sections of your IT infrastructure.
Mitigate Risk Factors
A surprising proportion of software that is actively used in the corporate 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. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for IT managers.
Rogue software applications 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 control policies in place, users may also be able to install their own software onto the system.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your network is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform behind your vital processes, how do you handle the situation? Operating a complicated software system without the appropriate 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 prevention when it comes to data systems.
If your company undertakes an IT infrastructure overhaul, a qualified Centennial distributor must be top of the first ports of call.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously discussed, there are numerous potential benefits to using a good SAM strategy within your company, both financial and otherwise. It is vitally important to consider which elements of software asset management 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 seen as three basic phases that have to be performed to really build an accurate picture of the usage of IT assets within your business.
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic function of the discovery cycle. It is crucial that an accurate inventory of software assets within your organisation is created to help your IT managers to maintain baselines regarding your IT system.
Fortunately, this process can now be made automatic and even the largest of networks can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period. Inventory must be able to identify your software assets regardless of their geographical location or technological characteristics. Modern inventory processes are capable of this.
Capture
The second step in the discovery process is the capture of the software license entitlements that concern the software programs discovered in the inventory. The capture stage should collect entitlements for all of the software that exists on your network, even if the software is not currently used.
The risk of human error can be mitigated by using automated tools that are specifically designed to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently available are very 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 occurred anywhere from the original invoices for software to the most recent audits undertaken on your IT network.
One crucial factor in the validation stage is the ability to combine the license entitlements on your network to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any arguments with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle.
After these steps have been undertaken you will have created an incredibly detailed image of how your IT system is serving software packages to its users. It will be much simpler to identify particular trouble spots on your network, or sections of software usage that are no longer of any practical benefit to your operations.
You can now commence a period of reconciliation upon your network. You can compare the software programs that are actually used on your network against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and close any gaps between the two.
The software spread in your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, 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 process, using one or more tools to apply intelligent rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your business
More about implementing SAM within your business is available through Centennial vendors which can be located across the country.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the fundamental principles 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 followed for successful management of IT operations.
This library is a changing entity and is often updated with new ideas and techniques that reflect the ever changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be fluid enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing needs of the business within which it is actively used. This is an essential requirement of successful software asset management
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 collection of suggestions that are built to ensure that software asset management is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.
The ISO standard should really be followed when planning a SAM strategy for your own company, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting challenge. It is vital to remember that no matter what recommendations you follow when planning a software asset management strategy, whatever plan you decide to employ needs to help your organisation rather than hinder it.
Creating a full and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own company might actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to adapt and mature as your organisation does, and it must allow for modifications to your daily tasks, no matter how trivial or fundamental they might be.
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 efficient management of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT department was a bonus that would occasionally progress the business. Computer systems are now vital to the modern business. Crucial systems need to be monitored to an appropriate standard.
As with other branches of any organisation, a number of separate plans should be considered and used in order to ensure the smooth running of day to day tasks. software asset management should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your company, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary policies used to control the system as a unit. software asset management can go a long way toward helping your business but should be helped by other strategies.
So if you think that your business is currently suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and control over its IT infrastructure, or that the potential advantages described 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 organisation.