How to control your Software Licenses
Introduction
The extent to which technology has become a part of normal life and day-to-day business has seen a change in the way business approaches how they manage the money, the processes and the systems within an organisation.
As computing becomes more widespread within a company and takes a more prominent critical within the critical functions of that company, it is important to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this computing.
Technology have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as critical parts of any organisation. As such, they receive grander budgets but must also be able to handle a greater amount of responsibility.
But after you have spent a substantial amount of your budget on developing an IT network and seen the needs of your organisation change, how do you ensure that the IT you are using can keep up with demand?
This is the role carried out by IT management software and systems.
Every organisation and every environment will have different needs and will present different problems. To meet these needs there are a number of different technologies and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT network of your organisation.
Software Asset Management
SAM ( Software Asset Management) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin - monitoring and maintaining the deployment and usage of software packages 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 corporations operating in the field of Information Technology.
SAM is not simply an aid for support staff installing software across a large company network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at many levels of a business. The aims of SAM include monitoring expenses of the IT infrastructure within a company, negating legal threats 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 viewed as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract 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.
Financial benefits remain the most driving business factor when deciding to use software asset management technology within an organisation. Every corporation needs to make profit after all and expenditure is a very measurable figure.
An increasingly large amount of a company’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly monitor this spending. As companies grow and diversify, their software needs can change greatly and hardware and programs can quickly become out of date. There is no requirement to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an edge.
SAM is not restricted to simply the technology of your business either. As a management cycle it will often include many of the branches within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow established corporate models.
Ironically, IT service companies themselves, such as the service vendor softcat demand equally as much IT management as their customers. To see their website click here.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the multiple benefits of deploying a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be right for your organisation? Every business is different and has its own unique set of challenges and benefits, so any plan you will use needs to be tailored to these specific traits.
There are more than simply financial advantages that can be made through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across an organisations IT network. Productivity can be hugely boosted by ensuring that employees 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 utilise SAM within your company is the potential cost savings that can be made. The profitability of your business is always going to be the bottom line so any system that can help to increase this profitability by descreasing expenses is one that should be considered.
The most immediate way that SAM can help to lower costs is by identifying any software running on your corporate IT system that is no longer necessary. The software might not be being used anymore, 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 help to the running of your company you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT infrastructure. Paying for unneeded software licenses and maintenance contracts means that more finance can be spent on the essential sections of your IT system. Focusing your finances on these vital components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising proportion of software that is currently used in the corporate environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Having any amount of unmonitored software on your IT network is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for IT managers.
Unlicensed software applications can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was originally 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? Operating a complex software system without the correct support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can critically inhibit your responsiveness to unforeseen events. The cost of recovery will always outweigh the cost of prevention when it comes to data systems.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are many potential benefits to utilising a good software asset management strategy within your company, both monetary and otherwise. It is therefore important to consider which elements of software asset management 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.
The discovery process can be viewed as three basic stages that have to be undertaken to truly build an accurate picture of the usage of IT assets within your business. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery process. It is vital that an accurate audit of IT assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT managers to maintain baselines regarding your IT network.
Fortunately, this process can now be made automatic and even the grandest of networks can be searched and analysed in a reasonably short period. Inventory should be able to identify your software assets regardless of their physical location or technological characteristics.
Capture
The next step in the discovery process involves the capture of the software license entitlements that cover the software programs discovered in the inventory. The capture process should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your network, even if the software is not currently used. Without this step the inventory would be almost useless.
The element of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically created to build a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently employed are incredibly efficient at gathering accurate data. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from IT vendors.
Identification & Validation
The third step is to match up your software audit to the repository of licensing data that were built in the previous two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original invoices for software to the latest audits performed 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 within your system to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any disputes with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle.
After these three steps have been undertaken you will have built an incredibly rich picture of how your IT network is delivering software programs to its users. It will be a lot easier to identify particular trouble spots on your system, or sections of software use that are no longer of any practical benefit to your operations.
You can now begin 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 bridge any gaps between the two. This is when the financial benefits of SAM start to take effect.
The software spread within your system may include many hundreds or perhaps thousands of individual instances, and there are any number of restrictions that may be associated with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation period, using one or more tools to apply intelligent rules to the process.
The IT industry is in dire need for plenty of Centennial vendors who will supply the right IT monitoring services.
Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management
Many of the fundamental 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 management of IT functions. The ITIL can be found online.
This library is a changing publication and is often updated with new ideas and techniques that reflect the constantly changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be flexible enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing needs of the business within which it is actively used.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created 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 SAM is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an essential role in achieving standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should really be adhered to when planning a software asset management strategy for your own organisation, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting challenge. It is important to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when designing a SAM strategy, whatever plan you decide to implement must aid your organisation rather than hinder it.
Creating a complete and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own business may actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible enough to change and grow as your organisation does, and it must allow for modifications to your daily activities, no matter how small or underlying they might be. This really is the key to a worthwhile software asset management plan.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the scope and importance of computer systems within your organisation grow, so does the requirement for good and effective management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a luxury 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 company, a number of different plans should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the efficient running of daily activities. SAM should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your organisation, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary policies used to control the system as a whole. software asset management can go a long way toward helping your business but should be helped by other techniques.
So if you think that your organisation is currently suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the potential advantages outlined in this article could manufacture a crucial market advantage over your competitors, then it would be worth researching how software asset management could be used within your company. There might be no time to spare.