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Introduction

The extent to which technology has become a part of normal life and everyday commerce has seen a change in the way management approaches how they manage the money, the tasks and the systems within a business. Computing becoming an important factor in business.

As technology becomes more widely used within a business and takes a more prominent vital within the critical functions of that company, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is applied to this technology. Technological assets that may have previously been overlooked are now important factors in the decision making process.

Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as critical elements of any business. As such, they receive larger budgets but must also be able to manage a larger amount of work.

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? Moreover, how can you achieve this without spending a large amount of money?

This is the role undertaken by IT management software and systems.

Every business and every environment will have different requirements and will present different challenges. To meet these requirements there are a number of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help manage the IT network of your company.One of these approaches is discussed below.

Software Asset Management

Software Asset Management (SAM) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and managing the deployment and usage of software programs within your organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline and is becoming a more essential part of the modern commercial environment, particularly for companies 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 installing software across a large corporate network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at all levels of a company. The objectives of SAM include controlling 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.

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 business case for going with a SAM solution is not always obvious until a full of the software infrastructure of a company has been done.

Monetary benefits are still the most motivating business factor when deciding to use SAM software within a business. Every business needs to make profit after all and expenditure is a very measurable metric. The financial benefits of SAM 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 manage this spending. As businesses expand and spread, their software needs can change greatly and equipment and software can swiftly 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.

software asset management is not restricted to simply the technology of your organisation either. As a management operation it will often involve many of the departments within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow regular.

IT managers and staff with decision making authority should discuss Centennial Discovery  in meetings regarding the implementation of IT resource management.

Why follow a SAM Strategy?

Having heard the various benefits of employing a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be right for your company? Each business is different and has its own separate set of challenges and benefits, so any plan you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific characteristics.

There are more than just monetary advantages that can be gained through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across an organisations IT system. Productivity can be vastly by ensuring that employees have the newest versions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the corporation is aided when support staff know exactly what is in use on every workstation under their control.

Cost Savings

As discussed before, perhaps the most persuading reason to utilise SAM 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 lowering costs is one that should be considered. Money can be saved in a multitude of ways.

The most immediate way that SAM can help to reduce costs is by targeting any applications 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 benefit to the running of your organisation you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT infrastructure. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance contracts means that more money can be spent on the vital parts of your IT system. Focusing your attention on these critical components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.

Mitigate Risk Factors

A surprising amount of software that is currently 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.

Unlicensed software applications can be introduced into an unmonitored IT environment 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 control policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the network.

The risk of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your vital processes, how do you manage the situation? Operating a complicated software system without the proper support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can critically inhibit your responsiveness to unforeseen events.

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

Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation

As previously mentioned, there are numerous potential benefits to utilising a good SAM strategy within your business, both financial and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which branches of software asset management you should deploy first since some benefits will be realised more speedily than others.

The discovery process can be seen as three primary areas that have to be undertaken to truly develop an accurate picture of the usage of IT assets within your organisation.

Inventory

Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery process. It is important that an accurate inventory of IT assets within your organisation is created to help your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT network.
Thankfully, this process can now be automated and even the grandest of networks can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory should be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their geographical location or computing characteristics.

Capture

The next step in the discovery process involves the capture of the 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 system, even if the software is not currently used. Without this information the inventory may be nearly useless.

The factor of human error can be mitigated by using automatic tools that are specifically designed to create a library of license entitlements. Packages 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 the software audit to the repository of licensing information that were built in the previous two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original invoices for software to the most recent audits performed on your IT system.

One critical factor in the validation stage is the ability to link the license entitlements within your network to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any arguments with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery process.

After these steps have been undertaken you will have created an incredibly rich picture of how your IT network is serving software assets to its users. It will be a lot simpler to identify particular trouble spots on your system, or areas of software usage that are no longer of any particular benefit to your activites. This detailed picture can be used for future reference as well.

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

The software spread in your system may include many hundreds or perhaps 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 essential to automate the reconciliation stage, using one or more tools to apply smart rules to the process.

More about utilising SAM within your business is accessible via Centennial vendors which can be located across the country.

Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM

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 defines a number of concepts and best practices that should be adopted for successful management of IT functions.

This library is a changing 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 laid out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the business within which it is actively utilised. This is an essential requirement of successful SAM

The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies specifically to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive set of suggestions that are designed to ensure that SAM 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 quickly become a daunting prospect. It is vital to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when planning a SAM strategy, whatever you decide to implement needs to aid your organisation rather than stifle it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them to your organisation.

Designing a complete and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own company might actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible enough to adapt and mature as your business does, and it should allow for modifications 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 organisation grow, so does the need for good and efficient monitoring of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT branch was a bonus that would sometimes progress the business. Computer networks are now critical to the modern business.

As with other parts of any company, a number of different strategies should be evaluated 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 assets within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary techniques used to manage the system as a unit. SAM can go a long way toward aiding your business but should be supported by other techniques.

So if you think that your company is really suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and control 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 software asset management could be used within your company.