10th June 2009
Roundtable experts discuss SAM solutions as vendor audits rise,
getting executive buy-in and a role for SaaS mooted as possible
solutions.
FAST, a leading UK authority on Software Asset Management and IT
Compliance, providing software, education, consulting and managed
services, hosted a CEO roundtable of industry SAM experts at the
end of May, the results of which were fascinating. The great and
the good gathered together to discuss how best to approach Software
Asset Management (SAM) as vendor audits are on the increase which
means that compliance and SAM have become watchwords for savvy
companies needing to keep their costs in check.
The benefits of effective management of software assets are not
widely appreciated, leaving companies at the mercy of disruptive
software audits, the participants in this key discussion forum also
concluded. Despite the economic downturn, companies are still
struggling to get buy-in from their board on implementing effective
software asset management. Participants reported that many
executives still do not understand the risk to organisations’
finances and reputation from failing to take action to achieve
software compliance, preferring to ‘leave it to IT’ to sort out.
Software as a Service (SaaS), however, could take away these
licensing headaches that are now familiar to customers of software
vendors, the roundtable concluded.
There is already evidence to suggest that the compliance
landscape is set to change and that vendor audits from software
publishers are on the increase. Independent UK research conducted
by IDC in October 2008 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.
The roundtable event, ‘Every Penny Counts’, part of the CEO
Series was hosted by FAST and included software vendors
Microsoft and Staff&Line, together with Microsoft Large Account
Reseller, Trustmarque Solutions, Scalable Software, Webroot
Software and Bytes Software Services.
A key driver for the discussion was the steep rise in FAST
customers requesting the organisation’s help in conducting
Software Asset Management (SAM) reviews for tier
one 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.
Sam Bramwell, Licensing & Anti-piracy Manager for
Microsoft, said many organisations still have only a basic
understanding of their software estate and agreed that it is
important to bring greater clarity to the SAM process to empower
organisations to make quick, positive strides towards achieving
software compliance.
“80% of companies have got some SAM practices in place, but the
maturity of it is very basic. SAM as a job role isn't there in
organisations - and there is a lack of authority and executive
sponsorship and though we’re starting to change that, it doesn't
happen overnight. We have got to take ownership of it. SAM
optimisation can help companies assess where they are, and
organisations need an olive branch from vendors and from the
industry. It’s about more than simply compliance, though we’d like
to make sure all companies are totally compliant. People are very
scared of divulging information and Microsoft has devolved its
practices to make it easier every step of the way.”
And Bramwell admitted that vendors could do more. “Where does
the blame lie for not moving forward over the years - is it
the vendors fault because we haven’t done enough to help our
customers? Many customers are overlicensed, and we need to start
helping people. Software licensing is so complex people are always
fire-fighting, but good governance will help you free up
budgets.”
Andrew Highland, MD of Staff&Line, pointed out that the
vendors needed to take charge of the problem themselves.
“Businesses always react and if they find something is too
difficult to do, they’ll find another way of doing it. That’s why
they’ll do software as a service.
Webroot Software’s EMEA Channel Director Ian Moyse told the
roundtable that economic reality meant IT departments are
themselves having to play a greater role. “We’re seeing IT become
very interested negotiators. Resellers I’ve spoken to say IT has
never acted like this before. It’s like the IT department has read
a book on negotiating. One of the issues is that most companies
don’t have a software asset limit. It’s always an expense, not a
capital item.”
Kevin Trinkwon, a solution specialist for Trustmarque Solutions,
said it is key for organisations that they only have to go through
the challenge of an audit once.
“If you do audit me because you think I’ve got a shortfall, then
I don’t want to be doing an audit again in 2-3 years time. How do
we make sure that doesn’t happen? Companies have usually passed it
down to IT because the CFO still sees SAM as an IT issue. But for
the CFO, procurement is their baby. At the point of sale is where
everything can be done, because otherwise, someone has to admit a
mistake.”
Scalable Software’s president Mark Cresswell told the roundtable
that it isn’t easy to get buy-in for SAM. “It is often difficult to
get IT to embrace SAM because it implies that they haven’t been
managing it very well over the last few years. If organisations
approached this as a cost-saving measure, saying ‘we’re going to
get compliant’, the revenue would fall through floor for the main
publishers. There is a guy from Volkswagen Credit, Scott Fuzer, who
did a SAM project and he didn’t spend a dime on software purchases
for 2 years, simply by reconciling licences.”
FAST Managing Director Andy Pearce suggested that in difficult
times, what companies must get from their IT estate is
predictability and reassurance, not unexpected, unbudgeted costs.
So SAM and compliance become even more pertinent as organisations
attempt to get their costs in check in a recession.
“Getting executive support for SAM is very important,” said
Pearce. “I don’t think the industry has done a good job in
communicating the benefits of SAM. The challenge to the industry is
for us to partner and to collectively get those benefits across to
businesses. Effective SAM is about determining where you are today,
and then getting it right and managing those assets on a regular
basis. It’s estimated that 60% of companies are under-licensed
and 40% are over-licensed,” he added.
FAST recently launched its own software compliance tool,
FAST
Compliance Manager, to help customers pass the acid test for
software compliance and gain a clear view of their entitlement and
usage rights. It also offers a wide range of professional,
consulting and managed services to UK organisations that want to
benefit from smarter IT and software asset management strategies,
and ensure they have a legally compliant IT infrastructure.
