How to control your Software Licenses
Introduction
The extent to which computing has become a part of everyday life and day-to-day business has seen a change in the way management approaches how they manage the money, the processes and the systems within a business.
As technology becomes more widely used within a company and takes a more prominent critical within the critical functions of that business, it is important to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given to this technology. Technological assets that may have once been overlooked 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 parts of any company. As such, they are allocated greater budgets but must also be able to manage a greater amount of work. There is an eternal race between business needs and computing capabilities.
But once you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing an IT system and seen the requirements of your company change, how do you make sure 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 systems.
Every company and every environment will have different requirements and will create unique issues. To meet these needs there are a number of different technologies and approaches that can be used to help control the IT infrastructure of your business.One of these solutions 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 suites within your company. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline and is becoming a more critical part of the modern commercial environment, particularly for companies operating in the field of IT.
SAM is not simply a program for support staff deploying software across a large corporate network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at multiple levels of a organisation. The objectives of SAM include monitoring expenses of the IT infrastructure within a organisation, negating legal threats associated with incorrect software license usage and sustaining 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 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 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 deciding to use SAM technology within an organisation. Every corporation needs to make money after all and expenditure is a very measurable figure.
An increasingly large amount of a organisation’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly handle this spending. As businesses expand and diversify, their software needs can change radically and hardware and programs can swiftly 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 advantage.
SAM is not limited to simply the IT department of your business either. As a management cycle it will often involve many of the departments within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as efficiently as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow established bureaucratic models.
SAM can easily be achieved within your organisation through a operable Centennial Discovery package that is tailored to your requirements.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having heard the multiple advantages of deploying a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your organisation? Every business is different and has its own separate set of problems and advantages, so any strategy you will undertake needs to be catered to these specific characteristics.
There are more than simply monetary benefits that can be gained through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be hugely boosted by ensuring that staff have the latest editions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the company is helped when support staff know exactly what is deployed on every computer under their control.
Cost Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most persuading reason to implement SAM within your company is the potential financial savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any plan that can help to improve this profitability by reducing costs is one that should be considered.
The most direct way that software asset management can help to reduce costs is by targeting any software running on your corporate network that is no longer needed. 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. software asset management can be used to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By removing these items of software that are no longer a help to the operation of your company you are streamlining a large portion of your IT infrastructure. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and maintenance contracts means that more money can be spent on the essential parts of your IT infrastructure. Focusing your finances on these critical components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.
Mitigate Risk
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 not advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable.
Rogue software programs can be introduced into an unmonitored IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was originally 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 network.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your network 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 critically limit your responsiveness to unforeseen events.
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Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are numerous potential benefits to using a good software asset management strategy within your organisation, both financial and otherwise. It is therefore important to determine which elements of SAM you should deploy first since certain 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 stages that have to be undertaken to truly build an informative picture of the deployment of software assets within your business.
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 aid your IT managers to maintain baselines for your IT system.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the grandest of networks can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period. Inventory should be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their geographical location or technological characteristics.
Capture
The second step in the discovery process is the capture of the software license entitlements that concern the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture stage should gather entitlements for all of the software that exists on your network, even when the software is not currently in use.
The element of human error can be avoided by using automatic tools that are specifically designed to create a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently available are very efficient at gathering accurate information. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from IT vendors.
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 most recent audits undertaken on your IT network. These errors can now be rectified.
One critical factor in the validation step is the ability to associate the license entitlements on your system to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any arguments with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery process.
After these three steps have been performed you will have created an incredibly rich picture of how your IT network is delivering software assets to its users. It will be a lot easier to identify any trouble areas on your system, or sections of software use that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations.
You can now begin a period of reconciliation on your system. You should compare the software programs that are actually used on your system against the licensing and support entitlements 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 spread in 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 a necessity to automate the reconciliation stage, utilising one or more programs to apply smart rules to the process.
More information about implementing SAM in your business can be learned via a Centennial reseller or reading on the web.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the basic principles of a modern software asset management strategy are based upon the concepts set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library defines a number of principles and best practices that should be adopted for successful management of IT operations.
This library is a changing publication and is often updated with new ideas and techniques that reflect the constantly changing IT environment of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be fluid enough to follow 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 software asset management
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies directly to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive collection 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 important part in realising standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should certainly be followed when designing a software asset management strategy for your own organisation, although the level of detail covered 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 you decide to implement needs to help your business rather than stifle it.
Designing a complete and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own organisation may actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to adapt and mature as your organisation does, and it must allow for modifications to your daily tasks, no matter how small or fundamental they might be. This really is the key to a successful SAM strategy.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the scope and importance of computer systems within your company grow, so does the requirement for correct and efficient management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a bonus that would occasionally forward the business. Computer networks are now critical to the modern organisation. Crucial systems need to be maintained to an appropriate level.
As with other parts of any business, a number of separate strategies should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of daily tasks. software asset management should not be the only tactic used to manage computing resources within your company, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary policies used to manage the system as a unit. SAM can go a long way toward helping your business but should be helped by other techniques.
So if you feel that your business is currently suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the possible advantages outlined in this article could manufacture a crucial market advantage over your competitors, then it would be well worth researching how SAM could be used within your organisation.
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 4:43 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.