The number of software resellers flocking into the software asset management (SAM) space is rocketing following the introduction of an international SAM standard last summer (CRN, 8 May).
This is according to license compliance vendor Business Continuity Services (BCS).
Andrew Fisher, sales manager at Ayr-based BCS, claimed that renewed vendor pressure to get licences in order and the onset of more stringent international standards are prompting more firms to examine SAM.
“The new ISO [19770-1 SAM] standard has had a big impact,” he claimed. “The large publishers out there, such as Microsoft, are applying a lot of pressure to the channel.
“There will be a growth in the number of resellers that play in this space and I would like our partner arena to grow in tandem with this.”
BCS currently works with 15 resellers, including Grey Matter SAMwise, Computacenter and Atos Origin.
Darryl Tring, head of SAM solutions at Grey Matter SAMwise, said: “While SAM should be a mature market, customers are still buying into it. But more and more are getting the message and now see SAM as key to their business.”
Shaun Frohlich, chairman of Investors in Software (IiS), which helped establish the ISO standard in the UK, said: “We are aware that many firms are looking to get into the SAM market. There’s definitely an upsurge in the market, both in terms of customers and the number of third-party specialists. Since the ISO standard has been adopted, there has been more consistency and emphasis on SAM.”
Frohlich added that the ISO plans to distribute an interactive software version of the SAM standard from February or March. He claimed IiS wrote 95 per cent of the standard’s text.
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