Introduction
The degree to which computing has become a part of normal life and everyday business has prompted a change in the way management approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the assets within an organisation. IT is becoming an important factor in business.
As technology becomes more widely used within a company and takes a more prominent vital within the vital processes of that company, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is applied to this technology.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as critical elements of any business. As such, they receive larger budgets but must also be able to handle a larger amount of responsibility.
But after you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing an IT network and seen the circumstances of your business 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 prohibitive amount of money?
This is the role carried out by IT management software and systems.
Every organisation and every situation will have different requirements and will create unique issues. To meet these requirements there are a range of different technologies and approaches that can be used to help manage the IT infrastructure of your organisation.One of these approaches is discussed below.
Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is built 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 skill and is becoming a more essential part of the modern business environment, particularly for companies operating in the field of IT.
SAM is not simply a tool for technicians installing software across a large company network, but can be a crucial 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 risks associated with incorrect software license usage and preserving high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose.
The practice of software asset management is often seen as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the commercial case for employing a SAM solution is not always obvious until a complete of the software infrastructure of a company has been carried out.
Monetary benefits are still the most motivating business factor when deciding to operate SAM technology within an organisation. Every company needs to make money after all and revenue is a very measurable figure. The financial benefits of SAM do certainly exist however.
An increasingly large amount of a business’ IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a real need to invest to correctly handle this spending. As companies grow and spread, their software requirements can change radically and hardware and software can swiftly become outdated. There is no need 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 limited to simply the technology of your organisation either. As a management operation it will often include many of the branches within a company, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible.
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Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having heard the various benefits of utilising a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your company? Every company is different and has its own unique set of challenges and advantages, so any strategy you will use needs to be tailored to these specific characteristics. The benefits of software asset management do cover the fundamental aspects of software management.
There are more than simply financial advantages that can be achieved through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across an organisations IT network. Productivity can be greatly by ensuring that users have the newest versions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication within the company is helped 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 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 increase this profitability by lowering costs is one that should be evaluated.
The most immediate way that software asset management can help to reduce costs is by identifying any software running on your corporate network 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 operation of your business you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT system. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance contracts means that more finance can be spent on the vital parts of your IT system. Focusing your finances on these critical components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising percentage of software that is currently used in the corporate environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Having any amount of unmonitored software on your IT system is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable.
Rogue software applications can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT environment in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was originally 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. Operating a corporate IT system in this unmanaged way will almost certainly lead to trouble.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your network is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform behind your vital processes, how do you handle 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 unforeseen events.
If you are able to do business with the best IT solutions distributor your company will be well placed to achieve the maximum benefit from software asset management.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously discussed, there are numerous potential advantages to employing a good SAM strategy within your organisation, both financial and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which branches of software asset management you should implement first since some benefits will be achieved more speedily than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.
The discovery process can be viewed as three fundamental areas that have to be undertaken to really develop an informative picture of the usage of software assets within your organisation. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic function 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 network.
Fortunately, this process can now be automated and even the largest of networks can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory should be able to identify your software assets regardless of their geographical location or technological characteristics.
Capture
The second step in the discovery process is the capture of the license entitlements that cover the software programs discovered in the inventory. The capture stage should collect entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your system, even if the software is not currently in use. Without this information the inventory would be nearly useless.
The element of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically created to create a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently employed are incredibly efficient at gathering accurate information.
Identification & Validation
The next process is to match up the 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 performed on your IT system.
One crucial factor in the validation step is the ability to link the license entitlements within your network to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.
After these steps have been undertaken you will have built an incredibly detailed picture of how your IT network is serving software packages to its users. It will be a lot easier to identify any trouble areas on your system, or sections of software usage that are no longer of any practical benefit to your activites. This detailed image can be used for future reference as well.
You can now start a period of reconciliation upon your system. You can compare the software programs that are actually installed on your network against the licensing and support entitlements that you are paying for and bridge any gaps between the two.
The software distribution within your system may include many hundreds or perhaps thousands of individual installations, and there are any number of restrictions 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 programs to apply intelligent rules to the process.
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Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the basic practices of a successful software asset management 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 control of IT operations. The ITIL can be found online.
This library is a changing publication and is often updated with new ideas and policies that cater to the ever changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good SAM 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 published a standard that applies directly 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 used 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 certainly be adhered to when designing a SAM strategy for your own company, 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 plan you decide to employ must help your business rather than stifle it.
Designing a complete and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own organisation might actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to change and grow as your organisation does, and it must allow for updates to your daily tasks, no matter how trivial or underlying they might be. This really is the key to a worthwhile SAM strategy.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the extent and importance of IT systems within your company grow, so does the requirement for good and effective monitoring of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT branch was a bonus that would occasionally forward the business. IT networks are now critical to the modern company.
As with other parts of any organisation, a number of different plans should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of daily activities. SAM should not be the only tactic used to manage computing resources within your company, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary techniques used to manage the system as a whole.
So if you feel that your organisation is currently suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and control over its IT network, or that the possible benefits described in this article could manufacture a crucial market edge over your competitors, then it would be well worth researching how software asset management could be employed within your organisation. There might be no time to lose.