Clouds come in many types. Cumulus clouds are the big puffy white clouds you see on sunny days with a beautiful blue sky visible around them. Stratus clouds are a uniform layer of grayish cloud resembling fog that overcasts the sky and blocks out the sun. Cirrus clouds are thin white strands that streak across the sky at high altitudes, letting a lot of sky visible from below.

As this is a technology asset management blog, you know we are not here to talk about the sky. The IT environment is very different today than just a few years ago. The traditional IT environment consists of a datacenter that offers services through a corporate network or via remote workers through a VPN.

The modern IT environment, however, in addition to the traditional IT offerings, includes a multitude of cloud services that are accessed by people inside or outside the firewall. Basically, if you are not yet using the cloud, you will be, and this shift brings enormous challenges due to the lack of visibility.

Some of the impacts around lack of visibility include:

• Security breaches
• Increased cost of support
• Reduced performance
• Compliance risk
• Reduced productivity

If you are a professional in the areas of IT Asset Management, Vendor Procurement, Datacenter, or ITSM, then maintaining transparency into virtual and cloud assets is vital to your role. So how can you learn more about why improving cloud visibility is crucial?

Join Flexera for a live webinar featuring Cyndi Tackett, Vice President of Pre-Sales for an exciting new webinar “From Cloudy to Transparent, Managing Assets in the Sky.” In under an hour, your will learn how to:

• Leverage new processes and technology to effectively manage your assets in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure
• Control the costs of your cloud infrastructure as a service – IaaS
• Reduce risks as you install software licenses in the cloud – BYOSL
• Manage and optimize Software as a Service – SaaS

Register Here
Be sure to join us at the following dates and times for this informative session:

• Thursday, March 1^st – 10:00 am CT (Chicago, USA) Show in my time zone
• Tuesday, March 6^th – 10:00 am AEDT (Sydney, Australia) Show in my time zone
• Tuesday, March 6^th – 10:00 am GMT (London, UK) Show in my time zone

Multiple Stakeholders Necessitates Role Clarity

SAM crosses many organizations within an enterprise. SAM is impacted by software procurement, contract/agreement negotiations, installation requests, hardware deployment/refresh, etc. With all of these functional stakeholders as part of the lifecycle, it is important to have role clarity. During an implementation phase, a role and feature matrix can assist with feature assignment. And when evaluating SAM tools, there are specific capabilities you should consider to help in creating a transparent environment

• The capability to create roles based on the responsibilities defined in the SAM processes and RASIC/RACI documentation.
• The flexibility for data to be maintained by those who have the responsibility across the enterprise.
• The capability to for role based access. This allows users to have access to only those areas that they are required to read and/or edit the data that is specified by their role within the SAM processes.

Revisiting Processes May Also Require Role Re-Definition

SAM processes and procedures are not solely impacted by the implementation of a SAM program and tool. The way software is handled in each organization across the enterprise may be required to change.

• The SAM team should meet with each stakeholder organization (i.e. procurement, contract, hardware asset management, request management, etc.) to outline new processes as well as document roles and responsibilities.
• Each organization needs to understand the impact, role, and effort in maintaining software asset management data. RASIC or RACI matrices can assist in documenting which organization will own the tasks and activities that are needed for each process.
• Once the processes have been documented, roles and responsibilities clearly defined and organizational stakeholders have agreed and approved, a SAM tool can be updated accordingly.
• There are times where a role must be divided up across regions and, at times, even by countries.
• It is of the utmost importance to ensure that all parties are in agreement with the roles and responsibilities to support SAM going forward. Do not underestimate that this can be a challenging task.

Reporting Can Assist with Adherence to New Processes and Roles

In an effort to ensure that the processes and procedures to support SAM are being adhered to and are functioning correctly (no adverse effects), there needs to be reporting and dashboards put in place to measure success.

• The SAM team will need to monitor and report the percentage of success to all business stakeholders. This will ensure that the SAM team and data within their SAM tool is maintained and accurate across the enterprise and the success of the SAM program.
• If available, leverage the out of the box reports to assist with providing a holistic view of your data health.
• Create custom reports to meet the needs of stakeholders. Be sure to distribute the reports on a regular cadence to support process adherence.

In summary, revisiting your stakeholder role definitions in concert with your SAM processes and operating procedures will ensure that you have a team “rowing in rhythm” and enabling you to harvest optimal benefits from your SAM program.

For more information about roles, stakeholders, and a successful Software Asset Management program, be sure to download our White Paper “Human Change Management – the Overlooked Aspect of a Successful Software Asset Management Program.” You will learn how human change management enables organizations to keep SAM projects moving forward to realize business value at each stage of maturity.

If you need help with your Software License Optimization project, check out the comprehensive consulting, implementation and training offerings from Flexera Global Consulting Services. Our experts in license compliance services are fully versed in software asset management (SAM) best practices as well as the functionality of our solutions. They apply proven methodologies that result in thorough planning, sound design, and smooth implementation and configuration of your Software License Optimization solutions.

Did you find this information useful? SUBSCRIBE to the Software License Optimization Blog!

And for the latest insights to Software Asset Management and IT Asset Management, follow SAM Insights on Twitter!

One of my colleagues made a statement that I have heard before but have not really connected to Software Asset Management:

“It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.” Do you know who originally said this? More about this at the end of this blog.

This statement made me think. Do companies really do this in practice with software vendors? Do they routinely just install software without a proactive approach toward license compliance? In other words, are they more concerned about asking “forgiveness” during a software vendor audit than reviewing their “permission” of product license rights?

If this sounds familiar, you could be spending far more money than you need to, and setup yourself up for a huge disruption due to an audit at some point in the future.

Here are some examples of potential negative impact if your SAM Program is reactive, not and not proactive:

1. Risk of software audits

Software audits are expensive. In a survey by Flexera, 65% of organizations were audited at least once in the past 12 months, and 23% were audited more than three times. Those license true costs were expensive. 44% resulted in a cost of over $100,000, with 20% over $1 million. [i]

Remember that any money spent as a result of an audit is an unbudgeted expenditure that must be diverted from other strategic projects.

2. Overspending on software.

In the same survey, 62% organizations said that at least 10% of their software went unused. 30% said that over 20% of their software was unused. For many companies, that is the equivalent of wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Software licensing costs account for a significant portion of the typical IT budget—as much as 25 percent. This is a substantial cost for today’s enterprise.

3. Exposure to malware and security risk

According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) recent Global Software Survey, 39% of all software installed globally is not licensed. In addition, 25% of the software used in the banking, insurance, and securities industries was unlicensed.  And there is a high correlation between the use of unlicensed software and encountering malware. The threat of software vulnerabilities can be expensive, with the average cyberattack costing an organization $11 million. [ii]

So the key takeaway is that unlicensed software can be both risky and expensive.

Sometimes, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission” might work for you when borrowing a car, scoring tickets to the big game and not taking your significant other, or eating that last piece of delicious cake. When it comes to software licensing, however, “asking for forgiveness” is quite risky and potentially costly. A proactive approach towards Software Asset Management with the right processes and solutions will enable continuous license compliance and the peace of mind that comes from the fact you will not need to ask for forgiveness from a software vendor.

So, how can you learn more about a proactive approach towards Software Asset Management? I would like to share with you three on-demand webinars that cover this in more depth. Whether you are in an IT Procurement, IT Asset Manager, or IT Finance, or IT Security role, you will learn some tips and insights to avoid having to ask for forgiveness.

How Software License Optimization Empowers IT Procurement

Be Faster! SAM Best Practices that Drive Business Value

Do You Manage Software? Understanding Your Role in Cybersecurity Defense

Finally, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission[iii]” is generally attributed to Rear Admiral Grace Hopper. She was a pioneer of computer programming, and at the time of her retirement, was the oldest active-duty commissioned officer in the United States Navy.

Did you find this information useful? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the Software License Optimization Blog!

And for the latest insights to Software Asset Management and IT Asset Management, follow SAM Insights on Twitter!

[i] The State of the (Software) Estate: Waste Is Running Rampant in Enterprises. 2016 Key Trends in Software Pricing & Licensing Survey Report. Flexera. January 2016.

[ii] Seizing Opportunity Through License Compliance. BSA Global Software Survey. Business Software Alliance. May 2016.

[iii] Only the Limits of Our Imagination. Exclusive interview with Rear Adm. Grace Hopper. Chips Ahoy, The Department of the Navy’s Information Technology Magazine. July 1986.

Risk Management within a project or a program is essential and contributes to the success and failure of projects and/or programs. There are numerous ways to identify and mitigate risks associated with each project.

Identifying and monitoring project risks is a pre-requisite for the success of any project. It is also important to understand that each risk should be identified only once. This must be done to allow for proper monitoring, mitigation and managing the risk for the project. Many times, the same risk is identified multiple times within a project, which can create confusion and subsequently can add additional overhead from a risk management perspective. This will make it harder to track the risks and create the illusion of more risks than truly are related to the project.

Additional Risks Add to Project Timeline

Projects will always have risks such as market risks, capital risks or execution risks. When not managed and identified properly, risks can multiply and add unbudgeted scope to each project resulting in wasted resources. Each project must identify the risks through qualitative and quantitative assessment. One way to achieve this is by using brainstorming sessions with all project participants, so that risks are identified, and controls can be put in place for mitigation. This will allow all stakeholders to understand the risks, what is accepted and how the mitigation applies to the risk and the project. In some instances, the risk may impact the budget and or the timeline based on the probability of them occurring. In this instance, the risks cannot be ignored but used for management to make decisions for the next course of action on each risk identified. If fatal risks such as lost market opportunity due to delay in execution are identified, higher level of controls can be put in place to protect the project from a disaster.

Risks Can Provide Opportunities

You may have heard how weaknesses can create potential opportunities during a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. Risks in a project can also help pave the way for additional opportunities. Projects are based on requirements and deliverables that are driven by the Project Sponsor and Stakeholder goals and objectives.  This forms the basis for project initiation and project planning. A thorough review of the requirements and deliverables during the planning process, with an emphasis on the challenges and roadblocks for fulfilling the goals and objectives, will help in identifying the associated risks.. Focus on the end goals and objectives is crucial here, as the goals and objectives typically do not change during the project. This process may add additional tasks and or activities due to identified risks.

Within each risk identified there can be an opportunity to deliver additional services, or an opportunity to identify additional projects and/or additional phases to the project.  This helps in looking at a project as a program with a holistic view thereby augmenting value realization for the customer or stakeholder.

Be sure to read the blog Project Stakeholder Communication for additional tips about project management.

You can learn more valuable information as soon as it is published. SUBSCRIBE to the Software License Optimization Blog!

And for the latest insights to Software Asset Management and IT Asset Management, follow SAM Insights on Twitter!

If you need help with your Software License Optimization project, check out the comprehensive consulting, implementation and training offerings from Flexera Global Consulting Services. Our experts in license compliance services are fully versed in software asset management (SAM) best practices as well as the functionality of our solutions. They apply proven methodologies that result in thorough planning, sound design, and smooth implementation and configuration of your Software License Optimization solutions.

It seems that communication should be easy enough since we tend to interact with experienced professionals in our careers. However, stakeholder literacy and skill-set does not always translate into a project with good communication. Complexities of geographical distance, technology, and multiple stakeholders who must interact with each other along with corporate politics create additional strain on project communications and can add to the communication challenges. For instance, a project sponsor may have concerns on meeting the planned delivery date due to a perception that project activities are not being completed in a timely manner. In reality, the client project manager may not be regularly sharing project status with senior leadership.

Here are several concepts that can be useful in managing communications on a project:

Basis for Project Interaction

Develop a communication plan that reduces the risk of project interaction issues. Consider what plan elements to include based on these two goals:

1. Will this process help the project constituents do a better job of sharing information and getting things done?
2. Will this process be productive for the stakeholders without over burdening already heavy workloads?

If both of these questions can be answered “yes,” then consider implementing the idea. Otherwise, always consider the potential negatives of a process that might not be beneficial.

Projects, Politics, and People

Relationship building is always a work in progress; it will never be fully-finished. There are several important elements that should always be remembered when building and maintaining business relationships:

1. Respect – The ability to hold another in regard, to value the contribution an individual makes and to treat another with curtesy. For some people, respect comes easy because you value their abilities and they reciprocate, in kind.
2. Resonance – The way in which you harmonize with other people’s working styles, goals, and points of view. When you have a high resonance with another, there is an easy sense of cooperation.

Effective interpersonal communication cannot occur using short emails and brief interaction with stakeholders. Good communication is the result of sound working relationships. Good relationships are slowly developed through consistent interaction, and honest behavior.

Take the time to always assess which of your working relationships could use some attention and seek to improve both respect and resonance in all of interactions with stakeholders.

Project Vision

Clearly define and communicate the high level objectives for the project with the following items:

• Business Vision – the specific business strategy that the project must align with.
• Problem or Opportunity – the current state and present conditions.
• Mission Statement – future state or end results expected to be attained.
• Success Criteria – defined in terms of cost, time, and performance factors.
• High Level Scope – expected deliverables and out of scope items.
• Assumptions and Constraints – define assumptions and known impositions that could affect the execution of work.
• Risks – Identify potential threats to the project success.

Stakeholder Analysis

Determine how a stakeholder should be engaged during the project. The strategy for involvement and communication should be developed after an analysis is completed. Key attributes that should be considered:

1. Impact – How direct of an impact does this stakeholder have upon the project’s deliverables and outcomes?
2. Influence – What is the level of influence that this stakeholder has upon the actions and opinions of others?
3. Inclination – What is the stakeholder’s expected view of the project?

Each stakeholder should be measured for these three attributes as a method for developing a strategy for their inclusion into the project effort.

In summary, good project communication is a critical core component to the successful delivery of projects as well as many other situations that involve the interaction among team resources and stakeholders. Keep these concepts in mind and they should become another valuable tool within your tool set.

Did you find this information useful? Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the Software License Optimization Blog!

And for the latest insights to Software Asset Management and IT Asset Management, be sure to follow SAM Insights on Twitter!

And if you need help with your Software License Optimization project, be sure to check out the comprehensive consulting, implementation and training offerings from Flexera Global Consulting Services. Our experts in license compliance services are fully versed in software asset management (SAM) best practices as well as the functionality of our solutions. They apply proven methodologies that result in thorough planning, sound design, and smooth implementation and configuration of your Software License Optimization solutions.

Regardless of the subject, you can find education and thought leadership videos from industry experts. Granted, there is a lot of fluff videos, including celebrity gossip, cute cat antics, and people attempting to do dangerous stunts in the hope of becoming famous. But if you want to learn something or gain insight on a topic, YouTube is a terrific resource.

For many years, Flexera has actively shared software knowledge and licensing expertise in our YouTube Channel. Our content includes case studies, insights from industry analysts, market trends, product demos, and technical information.

Here are some examples of the software asset management videos you can find on the Flexera YouTube channel from a few of our subject matter experts:

Nicolas Rousseau – Principal Strategy Consultant
SAM: The Best Technology is Necessary, but Best Practices Make it Successful – Part 1
Understand the Benefits but Also the Risks of Enterprise Agreements – Part 1

Greg Holmes – Director, Presales
The Business Challenges of Licensing Software in the Datacenter – Part 1

Cyndi Tackett – Vice President, Presales
Best Practices in Software License Optimization
Leveraging Integration between Software License Optimization and IT Service Management (ITSM)

Brent Pietrzak – Vice President, Producer Solutions and Strategy
Software License Optimization Becoming Strategic Business Function Tied to Finance

Richard Northing – Senior Vice President, Customer Success
Addressing the Broken Software Supply Chain – Improving Software License Compliance Management

The Flexera YouTube Channel has over 600 product, education, and thought leadership videos where you can learn how Flexera is reimagining how software is bought, sold, managed and secured. Be sure to subscribe today!

Every computer in the world has unused applications. In your personal computer, these may have been bundled with the new machine purchase, or free trials that you never tried. This unused software probably has not been patched or upgraded, meaning that your PC is vulnerable to exploits.

A large organization or enterprise can have thousands of computers, many or all of which may have unused software. Now, the vulnerability risk is compounded exponentially. Besides the threats to potential exploits, unused software can be expensive.

Many companies have no defined process to determine if the existing installed base of applications are being used. When a user requests an application, additional licenses are purchased and the software installed. Some of these users only need the application for a specific project or a period of time. When the software is no longer needed, the lack of usage monitoring and reclamation process results in a large installed base of unused software. Constantly buying more software in the absence of a well-defined SAM program constitutes a huge unknown risk and expense for an enterprise.

This is a risky business.

Updating software though the deployment of patches can be a massive undertaking in so many organizations.  It is a time-consuming and repetitive task that can just add additional issues.

Often, an enterprise will not first analyze the environment to determine the relevance of the applications that require patches on each device. They are reactive, continually pushing out patches to all applications including any that are unused, because it just easier to patch everything. This really just shifts the risks and creates additional burdens to the Help Desk, as they are now tasked with troubleshooting any issues caused by the deployment of those patches.

A far more effective method is to take a proactive approach towards vulnerability management. This begins by first, reducing the attack surface by uninstalling unused applications from devices in the environment. Next, IT can deploy software patches for the applications that are currently in use. But even a proactive approach can be a resource intensive process without the right tools.

Fortunately, Flexera has two solutions, App Portal and FlexNet Manager® Suite for Enterprises that integrate with a deployment system such as Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMrg / SCCM) to effectively address the unused-software-uninstall challenge. The solution provides two methods for software reclamation:

1. User driven – a user is notified to uninstall or keep software that has met an unused software threshold, for instance 90 days or 120 days. After a grace period for the user to respond the policy can be configured to force uninstallation.
2. Admin driven – the administrator can configure the solution to immediately and silently uninstall the software from a user’s computer when the unused software threshold is met

A manual software reclamation campaign is possible, but it is time-consuming and resource intensive. Streamlining and automating a software reclamation process is just one of the many benefits of the Flexera Software and Cloud Optimization Solutions.  Other benefits include software license optimization, and self-service software request with license reservation, approvals and procurement.

For more information about how you can reduce the risky business of not managing your applications be sure to read the White Paper Best Practices for Governance and Compliance using an Enterprise App Store.

This year, we are adding something extra, a list of those blogs that have made multiple top ten lists since we began this annual review.

Most popular blogs in 2017 (published any time):

1. An Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server Licensing
2. Why a SKU is important to Software Asset Management
3. Track These Software Asset Management Program Metrics for Success
4. How will Microsoft licensing for Windows Server 2016 affect you?
5. Oracle Database Licensing in a VMware Virtual Environment (Part 1 of 3)
6. Congratulations to SoftwareONE for Winning the ITAM Review Partner of the Year Award!
7. Should I be using a Triad License Server Configuration?
8. You’re Getting Warmer—License Management for Hot, Warm, and Cold Backup Servers
9. Microsoft SQL Server Licensing – A Deeper Look
10. Congratulations to Astute Licensing for the ITAM Innovation Award!

Our top blog for 2017 is a terrific piece that provides an overview of the complex topic of Microsoft SQL Server Licensing. This is vital information for any organization. Not surprising, 5 of these top ten blogs in 2017 are either specifically about Microsoft licensing, or refers to Microsoft in the piece. For instance, our #2 blog “Why a SKU is important to Software Asset Management” is one of the most popular we have ever posted. Published in 2010, it has made 6 consecutive top ten lists since we began this annual review, and uses specific examples from Microsoft. The #5 blog on Oracle Database licensing is another one that has appeared in every top ten list since inception, and is one of the most read pieces of all time. Be sure to schedule time to read these blogs!

A pair of blogs in our 2017 top ten need to be mentioned because they review the achievements of two of our valued partners. “Congratulations to SoftwareONE for Winning the ITAM Review Partner of the Year Award!” was published just in early December, yet still was the 6^th most read blog of the year. “Congratulations to Astute Licensing for the ITAM Innovation Award!” was published in November, and still made the top ten list. Both SoftwareOne and Astute Licensing are members of our global network of partners that help deliver value to our customers.

Most popular blogs in 2017 (published in 2017):

1. An Introduction to Microsoft SQL Server Licensing
2. Congratulations to SoftwareONE for Winning the ITAM Review Partner of the Year Award!
3. Microsoft SQL Server Licensing – A Deeper Look
4. Congratulations to Astute Licensing for the ITAM Innovation Award!
5. Beware of SAP Indirect Access
6. A Letter to a New Software Asset Manager
7. The Year Ahead for Software Asset Management
8. Visibility into the Cloud
9. Fusion, in More Ways than One
10. Dealing with Complex Licensing and Software Request Workflows

The standout blog published in 2017 in terms of potential impact is “Beware of SAP Indirect Access.” This piece reviewed the court decision in the SAP UK v Diageo Great Britain case, where SAP received a ruling that user license fees also apply to Diageo’s 5,800 indirect users, with a potential liability of £55 million. This blog is an essential read for anyone that leverages SAP data in an external system.

And for the first time, here are the blogs that have appeared in multiple top 10 lists, including the year and position on that list:

1. Oracle Database Licensing in a VMware Virtual Environment (Part 1 of 3) 
   (2017 – 5, 2016 – 2, 2015 – 1, 2014 – 1, 2013 – 1, 2012 – 5)
2. Why a SKU is important to Software Asset Management 
   (2017 – 2, 2016 – 3, 2015 – 2, 2014 – 4, 2013 – 4, 2012 – 10)
3. How will Microsoft licensing for Windows Server 2016 affect you? 
   (2017 – 4 , 2016 – 1)
4. You’re Getting Warmer—License Management for Hot, Warm, and Cold Backup Servers 
   (2017 – 8, 2016 – 6)
5. Should I be using a Triad License Server Configuration? 
   (2017 – 7, 2016 – 10)

Did you know that in almost every SLO blog, we include links to more detailed and in-depth information? Whether a white paper, webinar, or analyst report, our blogs give you an easy way to learn related information from authoritative sources.

For 2018, we plan on bringing you practical information, industry trends, tips and tricks, and thought leadership on topics and important issues you can leverage in your company or organization. Please subscribe to the SLO Blog by using the link on the top of this page or by using the Software License Optimization subscription link.

And we love comments! Be sure to add your thoughts or questions to every blog.

To close out this first Software License Optimization Blog for 2018, I want to share two other channels where you can get the latest info from Flexera. First, you can follow SAM Insights on Twitter. This is the Flexera Twitter feed dedicated to #SAM, #ITAM, and #SLO. Also, be sure to subscribe to the Flexera YouTube Channel with over 600 product, education, and thought leadership videos where you can learn how Flexera is reimagining how software is bought, sold, managed and secured.

On behalf of everyone at Flexera, we would like to thank you for reading our blog and we look forward to engaging with you across all our social media channels in 2018!

Demonstrating ROI is a critical aspect of any IT project, but perhaps even more so in Software Asset Management (SAM).  Demonstrating the value of your SAM program requires you to be nimble and flexible so you can accelerate the ROI and make a positive impact to your organization’s balance sheet.

As we all know, there are a number of components that make up the SAM process, including:

• Hardware and Software Discovery and Inventory
• Software Identification and Data Normalization
• Software License Entitlements (POs and Contracts)
• Business Data, including User and Organizational Data
• License Reconciliation and Optimization

Not to mention negotiation with various lines of business, as you work to integrate your solution across the enterprise.

The challenge is— how do you navigate the deployment of new technology – at WARP SPEED!

To achieve this, you may need to adjust your mindset.

How many times do we venture into a project – fully aware of the various elements needed to be pieced together and integrated, but are stymied by “analysis paralysis” or wanting things to be perfect, so that we only do it once?  In this era of instant social media, a 24-hour news cycle and easy access to the internet, we’ve grown accustomed to having instant access to information.  And…in most cases, it takes several iterations of that news cycle to get an accurate picture of the headline or item of interest.

This is the model we should adopt in our Software Asset Management deployment strategies!

So, why wait for things to be perfect?

Some people call this methodology Agile or Conference Room Pilot (CRP).  It’s anything but the traditional waterfall (SDLC) method.

Vendors don’t come to the table with a pre-configured system due to the varied complexities found in each customer’s IT environment.  We also can’t come with a blank slate and start from scratch formulating requirements leading to a functional and technical design then building your solution. And, we understand that you have dependencies that enable other aspects of the solution to be achieved.  In deploying a Software Asset Management solution, you should leverage components and concepts from each of these methodologies to find the best approach.  You may not reduce the effort, but the goal is to reduce the time to ROI.

It used to be… a chain of serial steps, with each step addressing a dependency that feeds into another phase of the project:

Gather Requirements –> Discover Software and Hardware Inventory –>  Import Business Data (Contracts & Entitlements, Users, Locations, Enterprise Groups, Assets, Suppliers) –> Once Inventory is complete and Business Data is imported, start your license reconciliation process –> Optimize Your License Position –> Integrate with the CMDB –> Implement Additional Use Cases (Software Reclamation & Automated Software Request & installation) …

Figure 1: SAM Serial Process (where each step has “perfect” data)

In this scenario, you may not really see anything come together for at least 12-14 weeks.

Now…adjust your mindset and philosophy to understand that you do not need perfection to deliver value in an accelerated manner.

1. Gather all of your Software Asset Management program requirements. Engage multiple stakeholders to get their input into this process.
2. Have advanced discussions involving the deployment of technology and environmental requirements. A series of these technical discussions, leading up to a Design Workshop, serves to address concepts and questions ahead of a face-to-face meeting with the SAM vendor, so that you are then confirming both tool requirements and infrastructure requirements and streamlining the discussion.
3. Start working parallel work streams so that your plan represents several parallel tasks all converging at the first “business value point”—an initial license position for one or more of your target vendors. This could entail integrating to existing inventory tools and 3^rd party applications, compiling and loading software license entitlements, contracts and other business data.

Figure 2: Parallel SAM Process with Data Improvement Iterations

4. At this point you have incremental software inventory with software license entitlements. You perform a license reconciliation and begin to compile license compliance data.  It’s not complete yet, but you can start showing early results.  As inventory continues to improve, so does your compliance picture.  You will get to an Effective License Position after a few iterations of the process. All the while, you can be socializing results with the Executive Steering Committee – demonstrating a path to ROI, which was the basis for investing in your SAM Project in the first place.

Of course, you have to be prepared to work collaboratively with your SAM tool vendor to gather the data in a proactive manner and address difficult technical issues early in the engagement.

Being able to show the end-to-end Software Asset Management process as early as 4-5 weeks into the project and being able to socialize this with senior management helps with engagement across the organization. It also speeds sustainability of your SAM program, and leads to more rapid Return on Investment.

To learn more about how you can achieve faster ROI with your SAM program, view our on-demand webinar:

Be Faster! SAM Best Practices that Drive Business Value

We are thrilled to report that SoftwareONE, a Solution Provider partner, just won the “Partner of the Year Award” at the 2017 ITAM Review Excellence Awards gala!

What makes this award particularly noteworthy is that SoftwareONE was chosen by the public for this award. As a result, this award is a true reflection of the value and return on investment that they bring to their customers.

SoftwareONE helps clients manage all aspects of their software portfolio, with the objective of reducing complexity, costs and risks for the client, while increasing the flexibility of their IT landscape to adjust to changing business needs. Its proprietary Software Portfolio Management (SPM) approach covers all aspects of the client’s software lifecycle, which includes:

• Translating their business needs into a software portfolio strategy
• Optimizing both the procurement process and the software licenses
• Managing clients’ demand, utilization and deployment, as well as compliance with contracts

Darryl Sackett, Global Director at SoftwareONE said on winning this award, “SoftwareONE is honoured and humbled to be awarded the Partner of the Year 2017. It’s a reflection of the value and return on investment we realise for our customers, and our tireless work to constantly improve. It’s great to be recognised as the leader in this field and we look forward to an extremely productive year ahead with our customers, partners and colleagues.”

Martin Thompson, owner and founder of The ITAM Review, said of the Partner of the Year award, “SoftwareONE stood out head and shoulders above other nominations in terms of positive feedback from their customers.”

SoftwareONE is no stranger to “Partner of the Year” awards. On May 30, we announced that they had taken top honors at the 2016 Flexera Partner of the Year Awards during our annual Partner Summits. SoftwareONE, was recognized as both the Emerging Partner of the Year in North America and Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) for rapidly establishing themselves as a significant Flexera partner.

Globally headquartered in Stans, Switzerland with a footprint in 82 countries, SoftwareONE has 3,000 technology consultants to help customers optimize all aspects of their software portfolio, leveraging extensive technical and commercial expertise and strong knowledge of and relationships with all  major publishers, such as Microsoft, Adobe, IBM, VMware, Oracle, Citrix, Symantec, McAfee, and many more. You can learn more at www.softwareone.com.

SoftwareONE offers SAMSimple, an end-to-end Software Asset Management (SAM) managed service that enables organizations to more quickly realize the full value of their investment, mitigate compliance risk and reduce the cost of their entire software portfolio. SAMsimple leverages SoftwareONE’s unparalleled in-house software licensing expertise and is powered by FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises by Flexera.

SAMSimple addresses the most common SAM pain-points including gathering an accurate inventory, contract / license complexity, understanding entitlements, publisher audits, resourcing, and cost optimization.

And if you want to learn more about how Flexera and SoftwareONE are working together to serve the SAM community, be sure to view the on-demand webinar “Show Me the Value! Accelerating Time to Value for Your Software Asset Management Practice.”

Presented by subject matter experts Kevin Hooton, North American SAM Lead for SoftwareONE and Jim Griffin, Senior Solution Engineer from Flexera, you will learn how to realize value for your SAM practice and the quickest route to get there.