Introduction
The degree to which technology has become a part of everyday life and day-to-day business has forced a change in the way business approaches how they manage the finances, the tasks and the systems within an organisation. IT is fast becoming an increasing factor in business.
As computing becomes more widely used within a business and takes a more prominent role within the critical processes of that organisation, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is applied to this computing.
IT departments have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as critical parts of any organisation. As such, they receive greater budgets but must also be able to manage a larger amount of responsibility.
But after you have spent a substantial amount of your budget on developing an IT system and seen the needs of your business change, how do you ensure that the technology 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 organisation and every situation will have different specifications and will present unique issues. To satisfy these needs there are a range of different solutions and approaches that can be used to help control the IT network of your business.
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 suites 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 support staff deploying software across a large company network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at all levels of a organisation. The objectives of SAM include monitoring expenses 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 software asset management is often thought of as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract 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 complete of the software infrastructure of a company has been carried out.
Economic benefits remain the most driving business factor when choosing to operate SAM technology within an organisation. Every corporation needs to make money after all and profitability is a very measurable figure. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.
An increasingly large percentage of a company’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a real need to invest to correctly monitor this spending. As businesses expand and diversify, their software needs can change greatly and equipment and programs can quickly become outdated. There is no need to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where software asset management really delivers an edge.
SAM is not restricted to simply the IT department of your organisation either. As a management operation it will often involve many of the departments within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible.
IT service professionals working for a company called softcat supply a range of IT management solutions including software asset management tools. See their website.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the various benefits of deploying a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be correct for your company? Every company is different and has its own separate set of challenges and benefits, so any strategy you will use needs to be tailored to these specific traits.
There are more than just financial advantages that can be made through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across a businesses IT network. Productivity can be hugely improved by ensuring that users have the latest versions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication within the business is helped when support staff know exactly what is installed on every computer under their control.
Cost Savings
As discussed previously, perhaps the most convincing reason to implement SAM within your business is the potential cost 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.
The most immediate way that SAM can help to lower costs is by targeting any software running on your corporate IT system that is no longer necessary. 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.
By removing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the operation of your company you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT system. Paying for unneeded software licenses and support and maintenance agreements means that more finance can be spent on the essential 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 proportion 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 ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for network managers.
Rogue software programs can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been bundled 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 install their own software onto the system.
The danger of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform behind 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 seriously inhibit your responsiveness to unpredictable events. The cost of recovery will always outweigh the cost of prevention when it comes to IT systems.
Many companies have reported increases in efficiency after Centennial consultants planned alongside their current IT support team.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously discussed, there are numerous potential advantages to employing a good software asset management strategy within your organisation, both financial and otherwise. It is vitally important to consider which branches of SAM you should implement first since some benefits will be realised more speedily than others.
This discovery process can be seen as three primary areas that have to be performed to really develop an accurate picture of the deployment of IT assets within your business.
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic function of the discovery cycle. It is crucial that an accurate inventory of IT assets within your organisation is created to help your IT managers to maintain baselines regarding your IT system.
Thankfully, this process can now be automated and even the largest of networks can be investigated and analysed in a reasonably short period of time. Inventory must be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their geographical location or technological characteristics. Modern inventory processes are capable of this.
Capture
The next step in the discovery cycle is the capture of the software license entitlements that concern the software assets 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 step the inventory may be nearly useless.
The element of human error can be mitigated by using automated tools that are specifically created to create a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently available are very efficient at capturing accurate data.
Identification & Validation
The third process is to match up the software audit to the repository of licensing information that were created in the last two stages. Errors may have occurred anywhere from the original paperwork for software to the latest audits undertaken on your IT network. These errors can now be rectified.
One critical factor in the validation stage is the ability to associate 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.
After these steps have been performed you will have created an incredibly detailed image of how your IT system is serving software packages to its users. It will be much simpler to identify any trouble areas on your network, or areas of software usage that are no longer of any practical benefit to your activites.
You can now begin a period of reconciliation on your network. You can compare the software packages that are actually installed on your system against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and bridge any gaps between the two. This is when the financial benefits of software asset management start to take effect.
The software distribution within your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, and there are any number of restrictions that may be associated with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore a necessity to automate the reconciliation process, utilising one or more tools to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your company
More about deploying SAM within your organisation is accessible via www.softcat.com which can be found around the country.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the basic principles of a successful software asset management strategy are based upon the concepts set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of ideas and best practices that should be followed for successful management of IT functions. The ITIL can be found online.
This library is a dynamic entity and is often updated with new concepts and policies that reflect the constantly changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good SAM strategy should be fluid enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the company within which it is actively used. This is an essential requirement of successful software asset management
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 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 role in realising 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 easily become a daunting prospect. It is vital to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when designing a SAM strategy, whatever you decide to employ must aid your business rather than stifle it.
Creating a complete and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own business might actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to change and mature as your business does, and it must allow for updates to your daily tasks, no matter how small or underlying they might be. This really is the key to a successful software asset management strategy.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the extent and importance of IT systems within your organisation grow, so does the need for correct and effective monitoring of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a bonus that would occasionally forward the business. IT systems are now critical to the modern company. Critical systems need to be maintained to an appropriate level.
As with other branches of any organisation, a number of separate strategies should be evaluated and used in order to ensure the efficient running of day to day tasks. software asset management should not be the only tool used to manage computing assets within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary techniques used to control the system as a whole. software asset management can go a long way toward helping your company but should be supported by other strategies.
So if you think that your business 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 provide a critical market advantage over your competitors, then it would be well worth researching how software asset management could be employed within your business.
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