Introduction

The extent to which computing has become a part of normal life and day-to-day commerce has seen a change in the way management approaches how they manage the money, the processes and the systems within a business.

As computing becomes more widespread within a company and takes a more prominent critical within the vital functions of that organisation, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given 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 receive larger budgets but must also be able to manage a greater amount of work. There is an eternal race between business demands 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 IT 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 procedures.

Every company and every environment will have different needs and will offer different challenges. To satisfy these needs there are a range of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT network of your organisation.

Software Asset Management

Software Asset Management (SAM) is built to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and maintaining the deployment and usage of software programs within your company. 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 businesses operating in the field of Information Technology.

SAM is not simply a tool for support staff deploying software across a large company network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at multiple levels of a company. The goals of SAM include monitoring costs 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. As IT usage in a company grows, so do the potential benefits of SAM.

The practice of SAM is often thought of 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 complete of the software infrastructure of a company has been carried out.

Monetary benefits remain the most motivating business factor when deciding to operate SAM technology within an organisation. Every corporation needs to make money after all and expenditure is a very measurable figure.

An increasingly large amount of a organisation’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a critical need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As businesses expand and diversify, their software requirements can change radically and hardware and programs 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.

software asset management is not restricted to simply the technology of your company either. As a management process it will often involve many of the branches within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as efficiently as possible.

Ironically, IT service companies themselves, such as the service provider Centennial demand equally as much IT management as their customers.

Why follow a SAM Strategy?

Having heard the multiple benefits of employing a software asset management solution, how do you know that it would be correct for your business? Every business is different and has its own unique set of challenges and advantages, so any plan you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific characteristics.

There are more than just cost advantages that can be achieved through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT system. Productivity can be hugely improved by ensuring that staff have the latest editions of software available 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 organisation.

Cost Savings

As discussed previously, perhaps the most persuading reason to utilise software asset management within your business is the potential cost 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 reducing costs is one that should be considered.

The most direct way that software asset management can help to reduce 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 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 running of your company you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT infrastructure. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance contracts means that more finance can be spent on the vital sections of your IT infrastructure.

Mitigate Risk

A surprising proportion of software that is currently used in the business environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Running any amount of unmonitored software on your IT system is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly frustrating factor for IT managers.

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 originally bought although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct access policies in place, users may also be able to install their own software onto the network.

The danger of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform behind your vital processes, how do you recover 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 limit your responsiveness to unforeseen events.

There are a number of adaptable Centennial distributors focusing on SAM who can create the ideal solution for your business.

Implementing SAM in your Organisation

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

This discovery process can be seen as three primary areas that have to be performed to really develop an informative picture of the usage of software assets within your business. These are:

Inventory

Inventory is the most basic function of the discovery process. It is important that an accurate audit of IT assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT managers to maintain baselines regarding your IT system. This inventory process must be performed before continuing with discovery.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the largest of networks can be investigated and analysed in a reasonably short period of time. 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 license entitlements that manage the software programs discovered in the inventory. The capture process should collect entitlements for all of the software that is installed on your system, even if the software is not currently used.

The risk of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically created to create a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently available are very 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 created in the previous two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original paperwork for software to the most recent audits performed on your IT network.

One critical factor in the validation step is the ability to associate the license entitlements on your system to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software resellers 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 created an incredibly rich image of how your IT network is delivering software programs to its users. It will be much simpler to identify particular trouble areas on your system, or sections of software use that are no longer of any practical benefit to your activites.

You can now commence a period of reconciliation on your system. You should compare the software packages that are actually installed on your network against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and close any divides between the two. This is when the financial benefits of SAM start to take effect.

The software distribution within 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 contracts you have in place. It is therefore a necessity to automate the reconciliation stage, using one or more programs to apply intelligent rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your business

More information about utilising SAM in your company can be learned via a Centennial reseller or reading on the Internet.

Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM

Many of the basic practices of a successful 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 adopted for successful control of IT operations. The ITIL can be found online.

This library is a dynamic entity and is often updated with new concepts and techniques that reflect the ever changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be flexible enough to comply with the guidelines laid out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the company within which it is actively utilised. This is an essential requirement of successful software asset management

The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies specifically to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive set of suggestions that are designed to ensure that software asset management is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an essential role in realising standardisation across an industry.

The ISO standard should really be adhered to when designing a software asset management strategy for your own company, although the level of detail covered within can easily become a daunting challenge. It is vital to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when planning a SAM 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 company.

Creating a full and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own company might actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible enough 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 requirement for good and effective management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT branch was a bonus that would occasionally progress the business. Computer systems are now vital to the modern business. Critical systems need to be monitored to an appropriate standard.

As with other parts of any company, a number of separate plans should be considered and used in order to ensure the efficient running of daily tasks. software asset management should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary techniques used to manage 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 infrastructure, or that the possible advantages outlined in this article could manufacture a crucial market edge over your competitors, then it would be worth investigating how SAM could be employed within your company.