Cost-Effective Network Management
Introduction
The extent to which computing has become a part of normal life and day-to-day commerce has prompted a change in the way management approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the assets within an organisation.
As computing becomes more widespread within an organisation and takes a more prominent critical within the vital functions of that business, it is important to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this technology.
Technology have come a long way during the past few years and are now seen as vital parts of any company. As such, they receive grander budgets but must also be able to handle a greater amount of responsibility.
But after you have spent a substantial amount of your budget on developing your IT network and seen the circumstances of your business change, how do you ensure that the IT you are using can keep up with demand? Moreover, how can you achieve this without spending a prohibitive amount of money?
This is the function by IT management software and procedures.
Every organisation and every situation will have different specifications and will create different challenges. To meet these requirements there are a number of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT infrastructure of your business.
Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is built to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and managing the deployment and usage of software programs within your organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct area of expertise and is becoming a more critical part of the modern commercial environment, particularly for corporations operating in the field of Information Technology. Despite the many benefits of SAM, there are still a great many companies that are not utilising it to its full potential.
SAM is not simply a tool for technicians deploying software across a large company network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at multiple levels of a company. The objectives of SAM include controlling of the IT infrastructure within a company, negating legal threats associated with incorrect software license usage and preserving high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose. As IT usage in a business grows, so do the potential benefits of SAM.
The practice of SAM is often viewed as an unnecessary evil due to the intangible nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the business case for using a SAM solution is not always obvious until a full of the software infrastructure of a company has been done. Once existing problems have been identified however, the use of SAM becomes self evident.
Economic benefits are still the most motivating business factor when choosing to use software asset management software within a business. Every business needs to make money after all and revenue is a very measurable metric.
An increasingly large amount of a company’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a real need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As businesses grow and diversify, their software needs can change radically and equipment and programs can swiftly become out of date. There is no requirement to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where software asset management really delivers an edge.
software asset management is not restricted to simply the technology of your company either. As a management process it will often involve many of the branches within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow established bureaucratic models.
Some of the most experienced SAM technicians work for Centennial specialists so their skills are put to good use.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the many advantages of deploying a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your business? Each business is different and has its own unique set of problems and benefits, so any strategy you will use needs to be tailored to these specific traits. The benefits of SAM do cover the basic aspects of IT management.
There are more than just cost advantages that can be achieved through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT system. Productivity can be greatly by ensuring that users have the newest editions of software available under current licenses held, and communication within the corporation is helped when support staff know exactly what is in use on every workstation under their control. The benefits of software asset management are not confined to the technological hardware of your organisation.
Financial Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most persuading reason to implement SAM within your business is the potential cost savings that can be made. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any plan that can help to improve this profitability by descreasing expenses is one that should be considered. Money can be saved in a number of ways.
The most direct way that software asset management can help to reduce costs is by identifying any applications running on your corporate IT system that is no longer necessary. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be too outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. software asset management can help to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By clearing these items of software that are no longer a help to the running of your organisation you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT network. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance contracts means that more finance can be spent on the essential parts of your IT infrastructure.
Mitigate Risk Factors
A surprising percentage of software that is currently used in the corporate environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Having any amount of uncontrolled software on your IT system is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly frustrating factor for network managers.
Unlicensed software programs can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was first purchased although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct access policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the network.
The danger of running unlicensed software on your network is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your vital processes, how do you manage the situation? Running a complex software system without the appropriate support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can critically inhibit your responsiveness to unforeseen events.
Even in a stagnating and unknown economy Centennial distributors continue to find that software asset management is a technology in demand from businesses.
Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are numerous potential benefits to using a good software asset management strategy within your company, both financial and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which branches of software asset management you should implement first since certain benefits will be realised more quickly than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.
This discovery process can be seen as three basic phases that have to be performed to really build an informative picture of the deployment of IT assets within your business. These are:
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery cycle. It is vital that an accurate audit of IT assets within your organisation is created to help your IT department to maintain baselines regarding your IT system. This inventory process must be performed before carrying on with discovery.
Fortunately, this process can now be made automatic and even the grandest of infrastructures can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory should be able to identify your software assets regardless of their physical location or technological characteristics.
Capture
The second step in the discovery process involves the capture of the license entitlements that concern the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture process should gather entitlements regarding all of the software that exists on your system, even when the software is not currently used.
The element of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically designed to build a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently available are incredibly efficient at capturing accurate information. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from software vendors.
Identification & Validation
The third step is to match up the software audit to the repository of licensing information that were built in the last two stages. Errors may have occurred anywhere from the original paperwork for software to the most recent audits performed on your IT system.
One critical factor in the validation step is the ability to combine the license entitlements on your network to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any arguments with software resellers arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle.
After these three steps have been performed you will have built an incredibly detailed image of how your IT system is delivering software assets to its users. It will be much simpler to identify particular trouble areas on your system, or areas of software use that are no longer of any practical benefit to your operations.
You can now commence a period of reconciliation upon your system. You can compare the software programs that are actually installed on your system against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and bridge any gaps between the two.
The software distribution within your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual instances, and there may be any number of restrictions that may be involved with the licensing agreements you have in place. It is therefore a necessity to automate the reconciliation stage, utilising one or more tools to apply smart rules to the process.
The benefits of working with a freelance Centennial reseller are greater than than ever before. You can find one such Centennial specialist at this website.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the basic practices of a successful software asset management strategy are based upon the principles set out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of ideas and best practices that should be adopted for successful management of IT operations. The ITIL can be found online.
This library is a changing publication and is often updated with new ideas and techniques that reflect the constantly changing IT environment of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be fluid enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing needs of the company within which it is actively used.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has published a standard that applies directly to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive collection of guidelines that are built to ensure that software asset management is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an important part in achieving standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should certainly be followed when designing a software asset management strategy for your own company, although the level of detail included within can quickly become a daunting prospect. It is vital to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when designing a software asset management strategy, whatever plan you decide to employ needs to help your business rather than hinder it.
Creating a complete and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own business may actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible to adapt and mature as your organisation does, and it must allow for updates to your daily activities, no matter how small or fundamental they might be. This really is the key to a successful SAM plan.
Conclusion
It is clear to see that as the extent and importance of IT systems within your company grow, so does the need for correct and efficient monitoring of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT branch was a bonus that would occasionally progress the business. IT networks are now vital to the modern company.
As with other parts of any business, a number of separate plans should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the efficient running of day to day tasks. SAM should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your organisation, but rather one of a number of complimentary policies used to manage the system as a whole.
So if you feel that your company is really suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the potential benefits described in this article could manufacture a crucial market advantage over your competitors, then it would be worth researching how software asset management could be used within your business. There might be no time to lose.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 3:28 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.