Recession compromises SAM abilities of firms

Organisations are in need of help from channel to deal with licensing worries

The downturn has forced UK end users to slash back internal resource around software asset management (SAM), meaning they are in greater need of guidance from the channel than ever.

That is the key finding of research conducted by Dynamic Markets on behalf of software licensing reseller Trustmarque.

As many as 91 per cent of the senior IT managers and directors of large UK organisations questioned admitted their handling of software assets had been impacted by the downturn.

More than two-thirds (67 per cent) of large firms were found to have cut staff in this area. The corresponding figures for mid-sized and small firms were 78 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.

The survey also found the downturn has led to a 35 per cent spike in auditing activity among software vendors as they look to claw back lost revenues from under-licensed customers. However, only 17 per cent of respondents said they were completely sure that if a software vendor were to audit them they would have the correct amount of licences.

Cherry Taylor, managing director of Dynamic Markets, said: “This research shouts that there is a real sense of disarray and that businesses are only dealing with the problem when a vendor or the BSA comes knocking on their door.”

Andy Pearce, managing director of FAST, said: “The recession has created downward pressure on software sales. SAM has been identified as a means of filling that gap.”

Trustmarque claimed that end users are in dire need of help from specialists to help them “true up” their licence position before they receive notice of a vendor audit.

Tony Fisher, managing director of SAMpartners, the software licensing consultancy arm of Trustmarque, said: “More businesses should self-audit with someone taking on the responsibility of the software asset manager job title. After self-audits, firms can then send Trustmarque their findings ­ we conduct a ‘sanity check’ and let them know whether their results are accurate or not.”