Software licensing simplified

Matt Fisher: The business can enjoy immediate cost savings from improved software allocation

It is an irony of modern business that, despite investing huge amounts of financial and human capital into IT, organisations often have less interest in effectively tracking and managing those assets than they do in maintaining the company car.

Although most IT directors would claim to know exactly how many PCs they have on their network, some two-thirds of organisations have a discrepancy of up to 30 per cent between expected and actual inventories. This lack of knowledge poses problems for IT directors. How can you accurately budget and plan if you do not know what you already have?

Effective software asset management (SAM) allows organisations to manage IT assets to support business goals, enabling companies to control costs, strengthen security and improve corporate governance. Many businesses still view SAM as confusing and time consuming. However, according to Gartner, SAM may help organisations save up to 30 per cent.

Dealing with crisis
Although chief information officers (CIOs) initially need to be aware of the whole SAM process, including deployment and patching, some aspects are quick and easy to implement. Discovery of the software installed across the network provides the foundation for everything else. You cannot figure out what you need if you do not know what you have. Licence management offers immediate RoI by reducing wastage and risk.

More importantly, the business can enjoy immediate cost savings from improved software allocation, volume licence discounts and accurate asset depreciation ­ while eliminating risks associated with software non-compliance.

When crisis threatens, chief executives must maximise revenue while reducing outgoings and often the IT department is the first to suffer cutbacks. Unfortunately for CIOs, many suppliers and vendors are also seeking ways to minimise revenue losses. For software vendors, this means getting tougher on software licences, exercising their legal right to audit customers’ software use and deal severely with firms that breach licensing conditions.

It is crucial to ensure organisations are licensed correctly to avoid fines. While there will always be CIOs who ignore licensing laws in the hope that the savings will outweigh the risk of an audit, it is more likely that mismanagement of software is done through ignorance. SAM can help companies minimise the risks associated with under-licensing.

SAM is based on having the technology in place to understand what is happening on the network as well as adopting best practices to manage IT operations, forming the foundation for effective software licence compliance.

SAM tools make it easier for senior IT staff to record licence entitlements and compare these against actual use, giving an at-a-glance view of whether money is being wasted. It is likely that both under- and over-licensing will be found. So, while some new licences will need to be purchased, the cost of this can be offset by savings in surrendering unnecessary software.

Matt Fisher is a vice-president of marketing at FrontRange Solutions