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 management approaches how they manage the money, the processes and the assets within an organisation.

As computing becomes more widespread within a business and takes a more prominent vital within the vital functions of that business, it is important to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is applied to this computing.

IT capabilities have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as essential parts of any organisation. As such, they are allocated larger budgets but must also be able to deal with a larger amount of responsibility.

But once you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing an IT system and seen the needs of your organisation change, how do you ensure 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 business and every situation will have different specifications and will present different challenges. To meet these needs there are a number of different technologies and approaches that can be implemented to help manage the IT assets of your organisation.One of these solutions 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 packages within your organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct area of expertise 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 technicians installing software across a large corporate network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at all levels of a business. The objectives of SAM include controlling of the IT infrastructure within a organisation, negating legal threats 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 software asset management is often viewed as an unnecessary evil due to the intangible nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the business case for using a SAM solution is not always obvious until a broad audit of the software infrastructure of a company has been undertaken. Once existing problems have been highlighted however, the use of SAM becomes self evident.

Monetary benefits are still the most driving commercial factor when choosing to employ software asset management software within a business. Every company needs to make profit after all and profitability is a very measurable figure.

An increasingly large percentage of a organisation’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 diversify, their software requirements can change greatly and hardware and programs can swiftly become outdated. There is no need to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an advantage.

SAM is not limited to simply the IT department of your organisation either. As a management cycle it will often involve many of the branches within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible.

The forward thinking IT services company selling Centennial Discovery noticed the need for good software asset management services a very long time ago.

Why follow a SAM Strategy?

Having heard the multiple benefits of employing a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your company? Every business is different and has its own separate set of problems and advantages, so any strategy you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific traits.

There are more than simply financial benefits that can be achieved through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be greatly by ensuring that users have the latest editions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication within the company is aided 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 business.

Financial Savings

As discussed before, perhaps the most convincing reason to implement software asset management 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 system that can help to improve this profitability by descreasing costs 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 reduce costs is by identifying any software 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 clearing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the running of your organisation you are streamlining a large portion of your IT system. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance contracts means that more finance can be spent on the critical parts of your IT system.

Mitigate Risk Factors

A surprising amount of software that is actively used in the business 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.

Rogue 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 purchased although the original 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. Running a corporate IT system in this unmanaged 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 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 limit your responsiveness to unforeseen events. The cost of recovery will forever outweigh the cost of prevention when it comes to IT systems.

Many companies have reported increases in efficiency since Centennial consultants worked alongside their current IT support staff.

Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation

As previously mentioned, there are many potential benefits to utilising a good software asset management strategy within your business, both monetary and otherwise. It is therefore important to consider which elements of SAM you should deploy first since some benefits will be realised more quickly than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.

This discovery process can be seen as three primary phases that have to be performed to really build an informative picture of the deployment of software assets within your business.

Inventory

Inventory is the most fundamental function of the discovery cycle. It is crucial that an accurate audit of IT assets within your business is created to aid your IT department to maintain baselines regarding your IT network.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the largest of infrastructures can be investigated and analysed in a reasonably short period. Inventory should be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics.

Capture

The next 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 is installed on your network, even when the software is not currently used. Without this information the inventory may be almost useless.

The risk of human error can be mitigated by using automatic tools that are specifically created to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently available are incredibly efficient at gathering accurate information.

Identification & Validation

The third process is to match up your software audit to the repository of licensing data that were created in the last 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 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 vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.

After these three steps have been performed you will have created an incredibly rich picture of how your IT system is serving software packages to its users. It will be much easier to identify particular trouble areas on your system, or areas of software usage that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations. This detailed image can be used for future strategies as well.

You can now start a period of reconciliation on your system. You can compare the software packages that are actually used on your system against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and close any gaps between the two. This is when the financial benefits of SAM 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 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 programs to apply intelligent rules to the process.

The advantages of working with a contract Centennial reseller are greater than than ever before. You can find one such Centennial specialist at this website.

Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management

Many of the fundamental 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 ideas and best practices that should be adopted for successful control of IT operations. The ITIL can be found online.

This library is a dynamic publication and is often updated with new ideas and techniques that cater to the ever changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be fluid enough to comply with the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing needs of the business within which it is actively used. This is an essential requirement of successful 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 suggestions that are built to ensure that software asset management is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.

The ISO standard should really be followed when designing a software asset management strategy for your own business, although the level of detail included within can quickly become a daunting prospect. It is vital to remember that no matter what recommendations you follow when designing a software asset management strategy, whatever plan you decide to employ needs to help your business rather than hinder it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them within your business.

Designing a full and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own business may actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to adapt and grow as your organisation does, and it must allow for updates to your daily tasks, no matter how small or underlying they might be.

Conclusion

It is clear to see that as the scope and importance of IT systems within your company grow, so does the need for correct and effective management of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT department was a bonus that would sometimes progress the business. Computer systems are now critical to the modern organisation. Crucial systems need to be maintained to an appropriate standard.

As with other parts of any organisation, a number of separate plans should be considered and used in order to ensure the efficient running of day to day tasks. SAM should not be the only tool used to manage technological resources within your organisation, but rather one of a number of complimentary policies used to control the system as a unit.

So if you think that your organisation is really 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 well worth researching how SAM could be used within your business. There may be no time to lose.