Managing software assets is not just about compliance

Sean Robinson reckons software asset management (SAM) has more potential than many realise

Organisations are often ill equipped with the skills or specialist knowledge to take advantage of software asset management (SAM). They either choose not to deploy SAM tools or fail to fully use any tools they already have. This results in wasted investment and an increased chance of facing non-compliance or other unnecessary costs.

MSPs can combine advanced audit and licensing technologies with expert knowledge, although these are still relatively few and far between, and usually the preserve of LARs or top-tier resellers for major vendors. Why, then, are other resellers slow to seize what is a real opportunity around managed SAM services?

Any venture balances risk and reward, where the size of the potential reward correlates with the size of the risk. Is the risk too high or are the rewards too small?

IDC figures have suggested that many, if not most, organisations need help. Surely this means the rewards are there, so it must be a matter of risk. But how much risk is involved?

Those who have tried to offer SAM services in the past may understandably retain concerns about the limitations of SAM software. Traditionally, SAM software needed to be deployed on the customer's site, making the service more difficult to deliver and manage.

Customers are unwilling to pay a consultant to visit the office every week. They also tended to rely on manual rather than automated data entry, which is relatively time consuming, costly and prone to error. The amount of manual labour involved also eliminated worthwhile margin for the service provider – reducing the reward as well as raising the risk.

However, this is simply not the case today. MSPs can now host SAM themselves and deliver it cheaply. SAM apps have also become much more automated, especially in terms of data entry for both audit and licensing information.

Importing Microsoft licence statements, for example, used to take days or weeks, but can now be done in an hour. Similarly, applying intelligence to different licensing conditions used to take encyclopaedic knowledge on the part of a SAM consultant, but so much can now be automated.

Many other improvements have been made to SAM offerings over the years.

SAM should also not be viewed as merely a tool for ensuring compliance, reducing the cost of software audits, and avoiding hefty fines. It is also a means of ensuring end user customers get the best value from the licences they have bought.

Proactively managing a software portfolio can ensure the amount spent on it directly relates to the productivity benefits derived from it, by showing clearly how much is spent on each application and how much it is used. Full knowledge of software versions on the estate also helps with version control as you can see which titles need to be retired or upgraded.

Sean Robinson is managing director of License Dashboard