11th May 2009
FAST announced today that there has been a notable rise in the
number of customers approaching its consultancy practice for
services and advice in 2009.
In particular, companies are requesting help in conducting
Software Asset Management (SAM) reviews for major
software publishers, where there is deemed to be a high risk of a
software compliance failure if an organisation were to find itself
subject to an audit.
With organisations throughout the UK looking to do ‘more with
less’, this has had a knock-on impact for software publishers who
now appear to be stepping up their auditing regime. This trend is
underpinned by research conducted by IDC in October 2008 which
cited that 52% of all companies have been subject to a vendor audit
or review in the past 12 months, whilst 23% have been subject to
three or more audits or review during this timeframe, indicating
that software audits are on the increase as the recession bites. In
their quest for revenue, publishers are ensuring that they leave no
stone unturned to recover any money which is rightfully theirs.
In recent projects, FAST discovered both a £1.7m over-spend
which the organisations concerned will be able to claw back and put
to better use by re-harvesting licences and deploying software more
effectively, and also a £200,000 under-spend where the company
involved needed to find additional funds. In today’s uncertain
economic climate, this lack of control and the subsequent impact of
unexpected costs could have severe consequences for both the
business and individuals involved.
Phil Heap, Head of Consultancy Services at FAST comments,
“For IT to make real progress in recessionary times will require a
new ruthless, laser focused mindset. It means shifting gears to do
more with less, maintaining tighter budgetary control and managing
your environment to eliminate any waste and deliver operational
efficiencies. Over the years, organisations have frittered away
billions of pounds because they have failed to manage their IT
infrastructures effectively. In today’s unforgiving economy this
kind of wastage or inefficiency is no longer acceptable.
Re-evaluating how you do things and getting into better shape will
pay dividends. Almost certainly, those who start to think about
efficiency, regaining control, cost containment, and best practice
SAM will be the ones who come out ahead of their competition when
the upturn finally arrives.”
Organisations have previously approached FAST for help with
determining their software licence compliance position. Often
organisations are faced with having to fathom out millions of lines
of data collected by their audit tool to understand their legal
entitlement. By using FAST’s sophisticated recognition service,
this data can be normalised, categorised and processed into
manageable, easy-to-read reports. Now they are also interested in
process improvements and SAM policy and procedure reviews,
including access to recommendations around industry best practice
and help with identifying gaps in and rewrites of particular
policies. Other projects have included providing advice on volume
licensing, terminal services and new ways of procuring technology
such as virtualisation and Software as a Service
(SaaS) which can lead to cost savings but whose software
licensing obligations can be complex to understand.
Heap continues “The revenue implications for organisations if
this is not managed effectively really are significant. In
5 most recent projects alone, we identified £2 million worth of
either over or under spend. Imagine if this were your own
money. Can any business really afford to have to pay thousands of
pounds in software bills they simply weren’t expecting or to lose
thousands because they haven’t managed their environment as well as
they should?”
Stuart Perry is ICT Manager at the personal care products
specialist, the Standard Soap Company, which has recognised that
working with FAST can help it save money by having a greater
awareness of licensing implications, thus reducing business
risks.
“A major cost saving of working with a specialist in this area
is the transfer of knowledge so that we can understand how many
licences we have. For example, I know how many Microsoft licences I
have in my estate, so there is less wastage, and I am not
purchasing unnecessary licences,” he says.
Another beneficiary of a relationship with FAST is Dacorum
Borough Council, “General awareness of software licensing issues
has improved and in turn this has helped us to save money. We know
not to buy further licences without checking the pool of
unallocated existing licences and licences that can be
recycled.”
The professional, consulting and managed services from
FAST were set up to provide dedicated expertise to UK
organisations that want to benefit from smarter IT and SAM
strategies, as well as to help organisations that want to
ensure they have a legally compliant IT infrastructure. With a team
of SAM specialists and a dedicated Asset Management Methodology
(designed to highlight potential business risks and pinpoint cost
containment opportunities), FAST specialises in helping
organisations to deliver excellence in IT and software management
and achieve registration to the FAST
Standard for Software Compliance (FSSC-1:2007).