Deverill Software Asset Management
Times are tough for IT departments. With the recession taking hold fast, businesses must attempt to maximise revenue while reducing outgoings.
The truth is that nearly every organisation buys software – or pays for maintenance – that it simply doesn’t need, and at the moment, organisations can ill afford to spend more on software than it absolutely has to.
When addressed, this overspend could present major savings to the IT budget.
The harsh economic conditions will also lead more vendors to audit end users for software compliance – and therefore the organisation may face a cost to overcome any under-licensing of applications and operating systems.
Software Asset Management protects your organisation's software and helps you recognise what you've got, where it's running, and any licensing overlap. SAM is essential in today's business world.
Implementing SAM in your organisation is easy and we’re here to help. Often SAM can be accomplished through four easy steps:
1. Perform a Software Inventory
Begin by taking a survey of all the software installed on your company’s PCs, workstations, servers and other devices, and collect the information in a report. You can choose to do this manually or you can use a software inventory tool to perform your inventory automatically.
2. Match Software to Licenses
Once you’ve identified which software titles you’re using, the next step is to match your license documentation to the software itself. It will be easy to see if you are over-licensed or under-licensed for certain software titles.
3. Review Policies and Procedures
Now that you’ve identified what you have and where it is, the next step is to review and/or write policies and procedures that your employees can use to ensure proper software asset management. Sample topics may include software acquisition, deployment, use and recovery.
4. Stay the Course
The final step is to establish an ongoing plan, construct a library for your media licenses and keep up your company’s documentation up-to-date.
Deverill Software Asset Management offers customised SAM services to cover a basic SAM service as outlined above, or a more comprehensive SAM service in line with the ISO 19770 SAM certification. All our SAM services start with understanding your position and requirements. Only then can we match your needs with our service offerings.
Having full visibility of the software on the network not only gives IT professionals the peace of mind that they know what is happening, it can also deliver much-needed cost savings that can be used to fund high-priority initiatives.
Benefits to implement SAM:
Smoother Operations: Take your mind off things like unsupported programs, viruses and security problems stemming from a lack of patches or updates. You can focus on running your business.
Financial Security: A good SAM plan gives you financial security against unexpected licensing costs. Eliminate waste and redundancy: Software reconciliation - an important step in any good SAM Plan.
Volume discounts: Should you buy licences for each person, for each PC, or look into volume licences? Your SAM plan will tell you exactly what you need and save you money.
Every employee benefits: Software that functions as it should and is trouble free can increase the morale of your employees. A central SAM plan can also cut down on training costs.
Liability: A proper SAM plan can help reduce the number of legal liabilities that can arise from a lack of software licensing policies and practices, and help prevent any potential damage to your professional reputation that could arise from legal action.
Future Benefits: SAM gives you a better insight into your future software needs. Instead of buying every new update and software program, you'll be able to decide exactly what software is needed and when. It can also help you schedule new hardware.
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