Introduction
The degree to which computing has become a part of normal life and everyday commerce has prompted a change in the way business approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the assets within an organisation.
As computing becomes more widespread within a business and takes a more prominent critical within the critical processes of that company, it is important to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given to this technology. Technological assets that may have once been overlooked are now important elements in the decision making process.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as vital parts of any business. As such, they are allocated larger budgets but must also be able to manage a larger amount of work.
But after you have spent a substantial amount of money on developing an IT infrastructure and seen the needs 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 function by IT management software and procedures.
Every company and every situation will have different requirements and will present unique problems. To meet these needs there are a range of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT assets of your company.
Software Asset Management
SAM ( Software Asset Management) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and controlling the deployment and usage of software packages 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. 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 support staff rolling out software across a large corporate network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at many levels of a organisation. The goals of SAM include monitoring expenses of the IT infrastructure within a organisation, 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 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 full of the software infrastructure of a company has been undertaken. Once existing problems have been highlighted however, the use of software asset management becomes self evident.
Monetary benefits are still the most driving commercial factor when deciding to employ software asset management software within a business. Every business needs to make money after all and expenditure is a very measurable figure.
An increasingly large amount of a company’s IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly monitor this spending. As companies expand and spread, their software needs can change radically and hardware and software can quickly become outdated. There is no requirement to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an edge.
software asset management is not restricted to simply the IT department of your company either. As a management process it will often involve many of the departments within a company, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow established bureaucratic levels.
When choosing an appropriate provider of a software asset management solution for your system Centennial Discovery must be a product that is considered amongst others.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the multiple benefits of employing a SAM 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 undertake needs to be catered to these specific characteristics.
There are more than just cost advantages that can be gained through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be greatly by ensuring that employees have the newest editions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication inside the company is helped when support staff know exactly what is installed on every workstation 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 utilise SAM within your business is the potential financial savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any system that can help to increase this profitability by descreasing costs is one that should be considered.
The most direct way that software asset management can help to lower costs is by identifying any applications running on your corporate network that is no longer needed. 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. SAM 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 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.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising proportion of software that is actively used in the business environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Having any amount of unmonitored software on your IT system is not 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 bundled when your IT hardware was first purchased although the original 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 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? Running a complicated software system without the proper support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can critically inhibit your responsiveness to unpredictable events.
Of the many products and services available from a international Centennial distributor SAM is only one solution that can be used.
Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are many potential advantages to using a good SAM strategy within your business, 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 quickly than others.
This discovery process can be seen as three fundamental stages that have to be undertaken to really develop an informative picture of the usage of IT assets within your business. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic function of the discovery process. It is crucial that an accurate inventory of IT assets within your business is created to help your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT system.
Fortunately, this process can now be made automatic and even the largest of infrastructures can be searched and analysed in a reasonably short period of time. Inventory must be able to identify your IT 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 programs identified in the inventory. The capture process should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that is installed on your system, even if the software is not currently in use. Without this information the inventory may be nearly useless.
The element of human error can be mitigated by using automated tools that are specifically created to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently available are very efficient at capturing accurate information.
Identification & Validation
The third process is to match up your software inventory to the repository of licensing information that were created in the previous two stages. Errors may have occurred anywhere from the original invoices for software to the most recent audits undertaken on your IT system. These errors can now be rectified.
One crucial factor in the validation step is the ability to link the license entitlements within your system to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery process.
After these steps have been undertaken you will have built an incredibly detailed image of how your IT system is serving software packages to its users. It will be a lot easier to identify particular trouble areas on your system, or sections of software usage that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations.
You can now begin a period of reconciliation upon your network. You should compare the software packages that are actually employed on your network against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and bridge any divides between the two. This is when the financial benefits of software asset management start to take effect.
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 involved with the licensing agreements you have in place. It is therefore a necessity to automate the reconciliation period, using one or more programs to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your company
If you are able to locate a unique Centennial reseller informed about your particular company you will reap the benefits, one such specialist is Softcat, click here to view their website.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the fundamental principles of a successful software asset management strategy are based upon the principles set 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 control of IT functions.
This library is a changing publication and is often updated with new ideas and policies that cater to the constantly changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be flexible enough to comply with the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing requirements of the business within which it is actively used. This is an essential requirement of effective SAM
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies directly to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive set of guidelines that are designed to ensure that SAM is utilised 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 followed when designing a SAM strategy for your own company, although the level of detail included 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 must aid your business rather than stifle it.
Creating a complete and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own company might actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to change and mature as your business does, and it must allow for modifications to your daily activities, no matter how small or fundamental they might be. This really is the key to a successful software asset management plan.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the scope and importance of computer systems within your company grow, so does the need for correct and efficient monitoring of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT branch was a bonus that would sometimes progress the business. IT networks are now critical to the modern company.
As with other branches of any company, a number of separate plans should be considered and used in order to ensure the efficient running of daily activities. SAM should not be the only tool used to manage technological resources within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary policies used to manage the system as a unit.
So if you think that your company is currently suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and management over its IT network, or that the possible benefits outlined in this article could provide a crucial market advantage over your competitors, then it would be worth investigating how software asset management could be employed within your company. There might be no time to lose.
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