Overcoming the Obstacles to Successful SAM
They say that life is never simple, and that’s never more apt than for those charged with managing an organization’s software assets and licenses. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking the world was conspiring against successful Software Asset Management (SAM) – what with ever-increasing complexity on the network, new and confusing licensing schemes and a greater diversity in software delivery mechanisms. Despite these challenges, SAM cannot be allowed to fail. Put simply, the risks are too high.
With analyst firms such as Gartner stating that organizations now have a 65% chance of being audited by at least once vendor in the next 12 months and others stating that the average organization is currently over-spending on software by around 20%, the current situation scream financial risk. To succeed, a SAM strategy needs to overcome a number of hurdles, including:
- Inventory Collection
- Software Recognition
- Tracking Software Usage
- Capturing & Processing License Entitlements
- Reconciling Entitlements Against Usage
- Creating a collaborative SAM team
- Proving the value of SAM The list looks daunting, and to some extent it is.
But with the right people, processes and technologies in place it is possible to deliver a successful SAM strategy that simultaneously reduces risk, minimizes costs and optimizes the availability of assets and licenses.
We’ll look into each of these challenges in upcoming blog posts, but for now you might be interested to download Snow’s new guide “SAM in an imperfect World”, which discusses how to address the real-world challenges of managing software assets on today’s networks.