Introduction
The degree to which technology has become a part of everyday life and everyday commerce has prompted a change in the way management approaches how they manage the finances, the tasks and the systems within a business. Computing fast becoming an increasing factor in business.
As technology becomes more widespread within a company and takes a more prominent role within the critical processes of that organisation, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given to this computing. Technological systems that may have previously been overlooked are now key in the decision making process.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as vital elements of any organisation. As such, they are allocated larger budgets but must also be able to deal with a larger amount of work. There is an eternal race between corporate needs and IT capabilities.
But once you have spent a substantial amount of money on developing an IT system and seen the requirements of your business 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 prohibitive amount of money?
This is the role carried out by IT management software and procedures.
Every company and every situation will have different specifications and will offer different issues. To satisfy these requirements there are a range of different technologies and approaches that can be used to help manage the IT assets of your business.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 organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct area of expertise and is becoming a more essential part of the modern corporate environment, particularly for corporations operating in the field of Information Technology. 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 an aid for support staff deploying software across a large corporate network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at all levels of a business. The aims of SAM include controlling of the IT infrastructure within a organisation, negating legal risks 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 company grows, so do the potential benefits of SAM.
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 done. Once existing problems have been identified however, the use of SAM becomes self evident.
Economic benefits are still the most motivating commercial factor when choosing to operate SAM software within a business. Every company needs to make money after all and revenue is a very measurable figure.
An increasingly large proportion of a company’s IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As businesses grow and spread, their software needs can change radically and equipment and software can swiftly become out of date. There is no need to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an edge.
SAM is not limited to simply the technology of your organisation either. As a management cycle it will often include many of the branches within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible.
The forward thinking technology services company softcat noticed the need for good software asset management services a very long time ago.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the many benefits of deploying a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be right for your business? Every business is different and has its own unique set of problems and benefits, so any strategy you will use needs to be tailored to these specific traits. The benefits of SAM do cover the fundamental aspects of software management.
There are more than just cost advantages that can be achieved through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that staff have the latest editions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication within the business is aided 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 business.
Financial Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most convincing reason to implement SAM within your company is the potential financial savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your business is always going to be the bottom line so any strategy that can help to increase this profitability by descreasing expenses is one that should be considered.
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 necessary. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be too outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. software asset management can be used to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By clearing these items of software that are no longer a help to the running of your business you are streamlining a large portion of your IT network. Paying for unneeded software licenses and support and maintenance agreements means that more finance can be spent on the critical parts of your IT system.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising amount 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 ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly frustrating factor for IT managers.
Unlicensed software applications can be introduced into an unmonitored IT system 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 access policies in place, users may also be able to load 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 appropriate support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can seriously limit your responsiveness to unforeseen events. The cost of recovery will forever outweigh the cost of prevention when it comes to data systems.
If you are able to do business with the best IT solutions distributor your business 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 benefits to employing a good SAM strategy within your organisation, both monetary and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which parts of software asset management you should deploy first since certain benefits will be realised more speedily than others.
This discovery process can be seen as three fundamental areas that have to be undertaken to really develop an informative picture of the usage of software assets within your business. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most fundamental function of the discovery cycle. It is crucial that an accurate audit of software assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT department to maintain baselines regarding your IT system.
Fortunately, this process can now be made automatic and even the grandest of networks can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period. Inventory should be able to identify your software assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics. Modern inventory processes are capable of this.
Capture
The second step in the discovery cycle involves the capture of the software license entitlements that manage the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture stage should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your system, even if the software is not currently used.
The risk of human error can be avoided by using automatic tools that are specifically designed to create a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently employed are very efficient at gathering accurate data.
Identification & Validation
The next step 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 paperwork for software to the most recent audits undertaken on your IT system.
One crucial factor in the validation stage is the ability to link the license entitlements on your network to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any arguments with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.
Once these three steps have been undertaken you will have created an incredibly detailed image of how your IT network is serving software assets to its users. It will be much simpler to identify any trouble spots on your network, or areas of software usage that are no longer of any practical benefit to your operations.
You can now begin 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 bridge any divides between the two.
The software distribution within your system may include many hundreds or perhaps thousands of individual instances, 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 period, utilising one or more tools to apply smart rules to the process.
To learn more about the software asset management process you could utilise virtualisation information via the Internet.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the fundamental 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 details a number of principles and best practices that should be adopted for successful control of IT functions. The ITIL can be found online.
This library is a changing publication 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 follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the business within which it is actively used. This is an essential requirement of effective SAM
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has published a standard that applies specifically to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive collection of guidelines that are designed to ensure that software asset management is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.
The ISO standard should really be adhered to when planning a SAM strategy for your own company, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting challenge. It is important to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when planning a software asset management strategy, whatever plan you decide to employ needs to aid your organisation rather than stifle it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them to your organisation.
Creating a full and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own company might actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible to adapt and grow as your business does, and it must allow for modifications to your daily tasks, no matter how trivial or fundamental they might be. This really is the key to a worthwhile software asset management plan.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the scope and importance of computer systems within your organisation grow, so does the need for good and effective management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a luxury that would sometimes forward the business. Computer systems are now critical to the modern business.
As with other branches of any organisation, a number of separate plans should be considered and utilised in order to ensure the efficient running of daily tasks. software asset management should not be the only tactic used to manage computing resources within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary techniques used to control the system as a whole.
So if you think that your company is really suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT network, or that the possible benefits outlined in this article could manufacture a critical market advantage over your competitors, then it would be well worth investigating how SAM could be employed within your company.