Introduction
The extent to which computing has become a part of normal life and day-to-day business has forced a change in the way business approaches how they manage the money, the processes and the systems within a business. IT is fast becoming an increasing factor in business.
As technology becomes more widespread within an organisation and takes a more prominent critical within the vital functions of that company, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this computing. Technological systems that may have once been overlooked are now key in the decision making process.
IT capabilities have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as essential elements of any organisation. As such, they are allocated larger budgets but must also be able to manage a greater amount of work.
But once you have spent a substantial amount of your budget on developing an IT system and seen the requirements of your business 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 situation will have different needs and will create unique challenges. To meet 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
Software Asset Management (SAM) is built to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and maintaining the deployment and usage of software suites within your company. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline and is becoming a more critical part of the modern business environment, particularly for corporations operating in the field of Information Technology.
SAM is not simply a program for support staff rolling out software across a large corporate network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at multiple levels of a business. The aims of SAM include controlling of the IT infrastructure within a business, negating legal risks 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 commercial case for using a SAM solution is not always obvious until a complete of the software infrastructure of a company has been carried out.
Monetary benefits remain the most driving commercial factor when choosing to operate software asset management technology within an organisation. Every corporation needs to make money after all and expenditure is a very measurable figure. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.
An increasingly large percentage of a company’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a real need to invest to correctly monitor this spending. As companies grow and spread, their software requirements can change greatly and equipment and software can swiftly become out of date. There is no requirement to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where software asset management really delivers an edge.
software asset management is not restricted to simply the IT department of your business either. As a management process it will often include many of the departments within a company, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible.
The many benefits of SAM make sure Centennial resellers retain a healthy product portfolio they can supply to clients.
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 company? Every company is different and has its own unique set of problems and benefits, so any strategy you will use needs to be catered to these specific traits. The benefits of software asset management do cover the fundamental aspects of software management.
There are more than simply financial advantages that can be gained through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that employees have the newest editions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication within the company is aided when support staff know exactly what is in use on every workstation under their control. The benefits of SAM are not confined to the technological hardware of your business.
Financial Savings
As discussed previously, perhaps the most convincing reason to utilise software asset management 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 strategy that can help to increase this profitability by lowering expenses is one that should be considered. Money can be saved in a number of ways.
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 very outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. software asset management can help to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By clearing these items of software that are no longer a help to the running of your company you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT network. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and maintenance agreements means that more money can be spent on the vital parts of your IT infrastructure. Focusing your attention on these vital components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.
Mitigate Risk Factors
A surprising percentage of software that is currently used in the corporate environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Running any amount of uncontrolled software on your IT system is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable.
Unlicensed 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 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. Running a corporate IT system in this wild way will almost certainly lead to trouble.
The danger 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 manage the situation? Running a complex software system without the appropriate support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can critically limit your responsiveness to unpredictable events.
Software asset management is a leading product that is available from all new Centennial distributors providing IT services to a wide range of industries.
Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation
As previously discussed, there are numerous potential benefits to utilising a good SAM strategy within your business, both monetary and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which elements of software asset management you should implement first since some benefits will be realised 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 truly develop 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 crucial that an accurate inventory of software assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT system.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the grandest of networks can be investigated and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory should be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their geographical location or computing characteristics.
Capture
The next step in the discovery process involves the capture of the license entitlements that cover the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture stage should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that is installed on your network, even when the software is not currently in use.
The risk of human error can be avoided by using automatic tools that are specifically created to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently available are incredibly efficient at capturing accurate data.
Identification & Validation
The next process is to match up your software inventory to the repository of licensing information that were built in the previous two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original invoices for software to the most recent audits undertaken on your IT system. These errors can now be rectified.
One critical factor in the validation stage is the ability to combine the license entitlements on your system to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any disputes with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle.
Once these steps have been undertaken you will have created an incredibly rich image of how your IT system is serving software packages to its users. It will be a lot easier to identify any trouble spots on your system, or areas of software use that are no longer of any practical benefit to your operations. This detailed map can be used for future strategies as well.
You can now start a period of reconciliation on your network. You should compare the software programs that are actually installed on your network against the licensing and support entitlements that you are paying for and close any divides 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 instances, and there may be any number of rules that may be involved with the licensing agreements you have in place. It is therefore a necessity to automate the reconciliation stage, utilising one or more tools to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your business
More about deploying SAM within your company is available through Centennial vendors who can be found across the country.
Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management
Many of the basic practices of a modern software asset management strategy are based upon the principles laid out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library defines a number of ideas and best practices that should be adopted for successful management of IT functions.
This library is a dynamic entity and is often updated with new concepts and policies that reflect the ever changing IT environment of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be fluid enough to comply with the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the company within which it is actively used.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies directly to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive set of guidelines that are built to ensure that SAM is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an important role in achieving standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should certainly be adhered to when planning a SAM strategy for your own company, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting prospect. It is important to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when creating a software asset management strategy, whatever plan you decide to implement needs to aid your organisation rather than stifle it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them to your company.
Creating a full and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own company may actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to adapt and grow as your organisation does, and it should allow for updates to your daily tasks, no matter how small or underlying they might be.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the extent and importance of computer systems within your company grow, so does the need for good and effective monitoring of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT department was a luxury that would occasionally progress the business. IT systems are now critical to the modern business. Critical systems need to be maintained to an appropriate level.
As with other parts of any organisation, a number of separate plans should be considered and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of daily tasks. SAM should not be the only tactic used to manage technological assets within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary policies used to control the system as a unit. software asset management can go a long way toward helping your company but should be supported by other strategies.
So if you feel that your company is currently suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and control over its IT infrastructure, or that the possible advantages outlined in this article could provide a critical market edge over your competitors, then it would be well worth researching how SAM could be employed within your business. There may be no time to lose.