How to control your Software Licenses
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010Introduction
The extent to which technology has become a part of normal life and day-to-day commerce has seen a change in the way business approaches how they manage the money, the tasks and the systems within an organisation. IT is becoming an important factor in business.
As computing becomes more widely used within a business and takes a more prominent critical within the vital functions of that business, it is important to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given to this technology. Technological systems that may have once been ignored are now important elements in the decision making process.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as vital elements of any organisation. As such, they receive greater 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 your IT network and seen the needs of your organisation change, how do you make sure that the systems you are using can keep up with demand?
This is the role undertaken by IT management software and procedures.
Every business and every situation will have different needs and will offer different issues. To satisfy these requirements there are a range of different technologies and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT network of your organisation.One of these options is discussed below.
Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is built to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and managing the deployment and usage of software programs within your company. It is a business process rather than a distinct skill 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 program for technicians deploying software across a large company network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at many levels of a company. The aims of SAM include managing of the IT infrastructure within a business, negating legal threats associated with incorrect software license usage and maintaining high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose. As IT usage in a business 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 financial case for using a SAM solution is not always obvious until a broad inspection of the software infrastructure of a company has been undertaken.
Financial benefits remain the most motivating business factor when deciding to use software asset management technology within an organisation. Every company needs to make money after all and profitability is a very measurable figure.
An increasingly large proportion of a business’ IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly handle this spending. As companies expand and diversify, their software requirements can change greatly and hardware and software can swiftly become out of date. There is no requirement to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where software asset management really delivers an edge.
SAM is not limited to simply the IT department of your organisation either. As a management operation it will often involve many of the branches within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow regular.
Software asset management can easily be achieved within your organisation through a feasible Centennial Discovery package that is tailored to your requirements.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having heard the multiple advantages of utilising a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your company? Each company is different and has its own separate set of challenges and benefits, so any plan you will undertake needs to be catered to these specific traits. The benefits of software asset management do cover the fundamental aspects of IT management.
There are more than just monetary advantages that can be made through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT system. Productivity can be hugely improved 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 workstation under their control. The benefits of SAM are not confined to the technological hardware of your business.
Financial Savings
As discussed previously, perhaps the most persuading reason to implement SAM within your business 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 reducing costs is one that should be evaluated. Money can be saved in a number of ways.
The most direct way that SAM can help to lower costs is by identifying any software running on your corporate network that is no longer needed. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be very 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 running of your organisation you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT network. Paying for unneeded software licenses and maintenance agreements means that more finance can be spent on the essential sections of your IT system.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising amount 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 network is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly frustrating factor for network managers.
Unlicensed 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 purchased 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. Operating a corporate IT system in this wild way will almost certainly lead to trouble.
The danger of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform behind your critical processes, how do you manage the situation? Operating a complex software system without the appropriate support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can seriously inhibit your responsiveness to unforeseen events. The cost of recovery will forever outweigh the cost of mitigation when it comes to IT systems.
The business case for working alongside a full-time Centennial vendor throughout your IT review process has never been stronger.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are numerous potential benefits to using a good software asset management strategy within your business, both monetary and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which branches of software asset management you should implement 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 seen as three basic phases that have to be undertaken to really develop an informative picture of the deployment of software assets within your company. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most fundamental function of the discovery process. It is important that an accurate audit of IT assets within your business is created to help your IT managers to maintain baselines for your IT system. This inventory process must be performed before continuing with discovery.
Thankfully, this process can now be automated and even the largest of infrastructures can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory must be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics.
Capture
The second step in the discovery cycle involves the capture of the license entitlements that manage the software programs identified in the inventory. The capture process should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that is installed on your network, even if the software is not currently used. Without this step the inventory would be almost useless.
The factor of human error can be mitigated by using automatic tools that are specifically designed to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently employed are incredibly efficient at gathering accurate information.
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 paperwork for software to the latest audits performed on your IT network.
One crucial factor in the validation stage is the ability to associate the license entitlements on your network to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any arguments with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery process.
After these three steps have been performed you will have built an incredibly detailed picture of how your IT system is delivering software assets to its users. It will be much simpler to identify particular trouble spots on your system, or areas of software use that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations. This detailed map can be used for future reference as well.
You can now commence a period of reconciliation upon your network. You can compare the software packages that are actually used on your network against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and bridge any gaps between the two.
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 involved with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation process, utilising one or more programs to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your company
There is a growing respect in the IT world toward Centennial vendors as they can provide vital services for a modern business.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the fundamental principles of a modern software asset management strategy are based upon the principles laid 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 control of IT functions.
This library is a dynamic publication and is often updated with new concepts and techniques that cater to the constantly 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 requirements of the company within which it is actively used. This is an essential requirement of successful SAM
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies specifically to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive set of guidelines that are designed to ensure that software asset management is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an important part in achieving standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should certainly be adhered to when designing a SAM strategy for your own company, although the level of detail covered within can easily become a daunting prospect. It is vital to remember that no matter what recommendations you follow when planning a software asset management strategy, whatever plan you decide to implement needs to help your business rather than stifle it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them within your business.
Creating a full and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own company might actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible to adapt and grow as your business does, and it should 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 clear to see that as the scope and importance of computer systems within your organisation grow, so does the need for correct and efficient management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a luxury that would sometimes progress the business. Computer networks are now critical to the modern organisation.
As with other parts of any business, a number of separate plans should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the efficient running of daily activities. software asset management should not be the only tool used to manage technological assets within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary policies used to control the system as a unit.
So if you feel that your company is currently suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and control over its IT network, or that the possible advantages described in this article could manufacture a critical market edge over your competitors, then it would be worth researching how SAM could be used within your company. There may be no time to spare.