Camino Inca

Introduction

The degree to which computing has become a part of everyday life and day-to-day commerce has seen a change in the way management approaches how they manage the finances, the tasks and the systems within an organisation.

As computing becomes more widespread within an organisation and takes a more prominent vital within the vital processes of that company, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this computing.

IT capabilities have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as vital elements of any organisation. As such, they receive grander budgets but must also be able to manage a greater amount of work.

But after you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing your IT network and seen the circumstances of your business 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 function by IT management software and procedures.

Every company and every environment will have different requirements and will create different issues. To satisfy these needs there are a number of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT network 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 controlling the deployment and usage of software packages within your business. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline 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 rolling out software across a large corporate network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at multiple levels of a business. The goals of SAM include monitoring expenses of the IT infrastructure within a company, 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 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 inspection of the software infrastructure of a company has been done. Once existing problems have been identified however, the use of software asset management becomes self evident.

Financial benefits remain the most driving commercial factor when deciding to operate SAM software within a business. Every corporation needs to make profit after all and revenue is a very measurable figure. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.

An increasingly large percentage of a business’ IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As companies grow and diversify, their software needs can change greatly and equipment 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.

software asset management is not restricted to simply the IT department of your business either. As a management process it will often include many of the branches within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible.

One highly recommend software asset management solution claim Centennial resellers must be SAM.Suite; a modern solution to modern IT licensing challenges.

Why follow a SAM Strategy?

Having seen the many benefits of deploying a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be correct for your company? Each company is different and has its own separate set of problems and benefits, so any plan you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific characteristics. The benefits of SAM do cover the fundamental aspects of software management.

There are more than simply cost advantages that can be achieved through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that employees have the newest editions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication within the corporation is aided when support staff know exactly what is installed on every computer under their control.

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 made. The profitability of your business is always going to be the bottom line so any plan that can help to improve this profitability by reducing expenses is one that should be evaluated. Money can be saved in a number of ways.

The most immediate way that software asset management can help to lower costs is by targeting any software running on your corporate IT system 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. software asset management can help to remove this unnecessary overhead.

By removing 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 infrastructure. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance agreements means that more finance can be spent on the vital sections of your IT infrastructure. Focusing your attention 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. Running any amount of unmonitored software on your IT system is not advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly frustrating factor for network managers.

Unlicensed software applications can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT environment in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was first purchased although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct control policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the system. 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 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 critically limit your responsiveness to unpredictable events.

If your company undertakes an IT system overhaul, a qualified Centennial distributor should be one of the first ports of call.

Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation

As previously mentioned, there are numerous potential advantages to using a good software asset management strategy within your organisation, both financial and otherwise. It is vitally important to consider which parts of SAM you should deploy first since some benefits will be achieved more quickly than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.

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

Inventory

Inventory is the most basic function of the discovery cycle. It is important that an accurate audit of IT assets within your business is created to help your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT network. This inventory process must be performed before carrying on with discovery.
Fortunately, this process can now be automated and even the largest of networks can be investigated and analysed in a reasonably short period. Inventory must be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their physical location or technological characteristics.

Capture

The second step in the discovery cycle is the capture of the license entitlements that concern the software programs discovered in the inventory. The capture process should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your system, even if the software is not currently in use. Without this information the inventory would be nearly useless.

The factor of human error can be mitigated by using automatic tools that are specifically created to build a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently employed are very efficient at capturing accurate data. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from software vendors.

Identification & Validation

The next step is to match up your software inventory 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 system. These errors can now be rectified.

One crucial factor in the validation stage is the ability to link the license entitlements on your system to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any disputes with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery process. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.

Once these three steps have been undertaken you will have created an incredibly rich image of how your IT system is serving software assets to its users. It will be much easier to identify any trouble areas on your system, or areas of software use that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations.

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

The software distribution within your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, and there may be any number of rules that may be involved with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation stage, utilising one or more tools to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your company

Employees who have past experience working with any Centennial specialist company may be able to provide an early insight into how SAM can benefit your organisation.

Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management

Many of the fundamental practices of a successful SAM strategy are based upon the concepts laid out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library defines a number of principles and best practices that should be followed for successful control of IT functions.

This library is a changing entity and is often updated with new ideas and policies 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 requirements of the business within which it is actively utilised.

The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has published a standard that applies specifically to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive collection of suggestions that are built to ensure that software asset management is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.

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

Creating a complete and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own organisation might actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible enough to change and grow as your business does, and it should allow for updates to your daily tasks, no matter how small or fundamental they might be.

Conclusion

It is clear to see that as the extent and importance of IT systems within your company grow, so does the need for correct and efficient management of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT department was a luxury that would occasionally progress the business. Computer networks are now vital to the modern organisation.

As with other branches of any company, a number of separate strategies should be considered and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of daily activities. SAM should not be the only tactic used to manage technological resources within your organisation, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary policies used to manage the system as a unit.

So if you think that your organisation is currently suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and control over its IT infrastructure, or that the potential advantages described in this article could manufacture a crucial market edge over your competitors, then it would be well worth investigating how software asset management could be employed within your organisation.