Introduction
The extent to which technology has become a part of normal life and day-to-day business has prompted a change in the way management approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the systems within a business.
As technology becomes more widespread within a business and takes a more prominent role within the vital functions of that organisation, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is applied to this technology.
IT departments have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as critical parts of any organisation. As such, they are allocated grander budgets but must also be able to deal with a greater amount of work. There is an eternal race between corporate needs and computing capabilities.
But once you have spent a substantial amount of money on developing an IT system and seen the requirements of your company change, how do you make sure that the systems 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 business and every environment will have different needs and will offer different problems. To meet these requirements there are a number of different technologies and approaches that can be implemented to help manage the IT network of your business.One of these approaches is discussed below.
Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin - monitoring and managing the deployment and usage of software suites within your organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct area of expertise and is becoming a more essential part of the modern business environment, particularly for businesses operating in the field of IT. Despite the many benefits of SAM, there are still a great many companies that are not utilising it to its full potential.
SAM is not simply a tool for technicians deploying software across a large corporate network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at multiple levels of a business. The objectives of SAM include monitoring costs of the IT infrastructure within a company, 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. 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 intangible nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the commercial case for going with a SAM solution is not always obvious until a broad audit of the software infrastructure of a company has been done.
Monetary benefits remain the most driving business factor when choosing to employ software asset management technology within a company. Every corporation needs to make money after all and expenditure is a very measurable metric.
An increasingly large percentage of a organisation’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a critical need to invest to correctly monitor this spending. As organisations expand and spread, their software requirements can change greatly and hardware and software can quickly become out of date. There is no need to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where software asset management really delivers an advantage.
SAM 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 company, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow regular.
Anybody who was going to question Softcat exactly what package stands out would get the simple answer SAM software asset managment.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having heard the many benefits of deploying a software asset management solution, how do you know that it would be right for your business? Every company is different and has its own unique set of challenges and benefits, so any plan you will use needs to be tailored to these specific characteristics. The benefits of software asset management do cover the fundamental aspects of IT management.
There are more than simply monetary benefits that can be achieved through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across a businesses IT system. Productivity can be greatly by ensuring that staff have the newest versions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the corporation is helped when support staff know exactly what is deployed on every computer under their control. The benefits of SAM are not confined to the technological hardware of your organisation.
Financial Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most convincing reason to implement 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 reducing expenses is one that should be evaluated. Money can be saved in a multitude of ways.
The most direct way that software asset management can help to lower costs is by targeting any applications running on your corporate network that is no longer needed. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be very outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system.
By removing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the operation of your company 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 essential sections of your IT system. Focusing your finances 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. Having any amount of uncontrolled 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 applications can be introduced into an unmonitored IT environment in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was originally purchased although the original software licenses may have expired. Without the correct security policies in place, users may also be able to install their own software onto the network. Running a corporate IT system in this wild way will almost certainly lead to trouble.
The danger of running unlicensed software on your network is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your critical processes, how do you manage the situation? Operating a complicated 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.
Of the many products and services available from a international Centennial distributor software asset management is just one solution that can be used.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously discussed, there are many potential benefits to using a good SAM strategy within your business, both monetary and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which parts of SAM you should deploy first since certain benefits will be realised more quickly than others.
The discovery process can be viewed as three primary stages that have to be performed to truly develop an informative picture of the usage of IT assets within your company. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most fundamental stage of the discovery process. It is crucial that an accurate inventory of IT assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT managers to maintain baselines regarding your IT system.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the largest of infrastructures can be investigated and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory must be able to identify your software assets regardless of their geographical location or computing characteristics. Modern inventory processes are capable of this.
Capture
The next step in the discovery process is the capture of the software license entitlements that manage the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture process should collect entitlements for all of the software that exists on your system, even if the software is not currently in use. Without this step the inventory would be almost useless.
The element of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically created to build a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently employed are incredibly efficient at gathering accurate data. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from software vendors.
Identification & Validation
The third process is to match up your software audit to the repository of licensing information that were created 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 network.
One crucial factor in the validation step is the ability to associate the license entitlements within your network to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any disputes with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery process. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.
Once these steps have been undertaken you will have built an incredibly detailed picture of how your IT system is delivering software programs to its users. It will be much easier to identify particular trouble areas on your network, or areas of software use that are no longer of any practical benefit to your activites.
You can now commence a period of reconciliation upon your system. You can compare the software programs that are actually installed on your system against the licensing and support entitlements that you are paying for and bridge any gaps between the two. This is when the financial benefits of software asset management start to take effect.
The software distribution in your network may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, and there may be 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 tools to apply intelligent rules to the process.
Employees who have past experience working with any Centennial specialist company might be able to provide an early insight into how software asset management can benefit your organisation.
Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management
Many of the basic principles of a modern software asset management strategy are based upon the principles set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of concepts 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 reflect the constantly changing IT environment of modern business. A good SAM strategy should be flexible enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing requirements of the company within which it is actively utilised.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies specifically to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive set of suggestions that are designed 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 realising standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should certainly be followed when planning a SAM strategy for your own organisation, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting challenge. It is vital to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when creating a SAM strategy, whatever plan you decide to implement needs to help your organisation rather than hinder it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them to your business.
Designing a complete and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own company may actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible to change and mature as your business does, and it must allow for modifications to your daily tasks, no matter how small or underlying they might be.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the scope and importance of IT systems within your company grow, so does the need for correct and efficient management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a bonus that would occasionally forward the business. Computer networks are now critical to the modern company. Crucial systems need to be maintained to an appropriate level.
As with other branches of any company, a number of different strategies should be evaluated and used in order to ensure the smooth running of daily activities. SAM should not be the only tool used to manage technological assets within your company, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary techniques used to manage the system as a whole. SAM can go a long way toward helping your company but should be supported by other techniques.
So if you think that your organisation is really suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, 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.
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