Benefits of Leveraging Software Asset Management

Nearly 75 percent of SAM managers spend the majority of their time on transactional license management tasks such as learning the ins and outs of software agreement terms and the different licensing metrics, creating a centralized software inventory for all existing software, and reconciling license entitlement to software utilization.

Fremont, CA: Software Asset Management has become an integral part of businesses today. With benefits like compliance, agility, and efficiency, it is hard to overlook the need for implementing a Software Asset Management (SAM) system. The implementation of a SAM system, however, can take months or even years, depending upon the size of the organization and the availability of resources. A SAM system provides complete control over the complicated risks that come with managing software license spend, giving the IT department full visibility of the software estate. This results in optimized asset use, and should a software vendor send in an audit request, and the IT department can be confidently compliant and provide a timely response. At the same time, SAM also helps saving up on the IT budget by not overspending, helping the organization to escape hefty fines for non-compliance, without having to spend extra resources to gather license and user data.

Nearly 75 percent of SAM managers spend the majority of their time on transactional license management tasks such as learning the ins and outs of software agreement terms and the different licensing metrics, creating a centralized software inventory for all existing software, and reconciling license entitlement to software utilization. What they fail to realize is how their valuable time could be spent better on analyzing usage data and turning software inventory into real business intelligence. Outsourcing a software license management service means the responsibility of gathering and uploading discovery and license entitlement data lies elsewhere. This enables the IT department to manage the estate proactively. Hence, the software isn't over-deployed, there's no unnecessary purchase of hardware, and usage and reconciliation results are more reliable, meaning unused licenses can be returned or re-issued.

Once a business understands the financial gains of utilizing SAM, it becomes a top priority within the business. The IT department needs to be convinced of the benefits of knowing what's been deployed and where, who is using what, and what is going unused. Having control and understanding of the entire IT estate and how it operates helps to formulate effective procedures for upgrading and to release software. As a result, it streamlines the entire department's processes and harmonizes the relationship between IT and the rest of the organization.

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