Cost-Effective Network Management

Introduction

The extent to which computing has become a part of everyday life and everyday commerce has prompted a change in the way business approaches how they manage the money, the processes and the systems within an organisation.

As computing becomes more widespread within a business and takes a more prominent role within the vital functions of that business, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given to this computing. Technological assets that may have previously been ignored are now key in the decision making process.

Technology have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as critical parts of any organisation. As such, they receive greater budgets but must also be able to deal with a larger amount of responsibility.

But once you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing an IT system and seen the needs of your organisation change, how do you make sure that the IT you are using can keep up with demand? Moreover, how can you achieve this without spending a large amount of money?

This is the role carried out by IT management software and systems.

Every business and every environment will have different specifications and will offer unique problems. To meet these requirements there are a range of different solutions and approaches that can be used to help control the IT infrastructure of your company.One of these solutions is discussed below.

Software Asset Management

Software Asset Management (SAM) is built to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and controlling the deployment and usage of software packages within your company. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline and is becoming a more essential part of the modern corporate environment, particularly for companies operating in the field of IT.

SAM is not simply a tool for technicians installing software across a large company network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at many levels of a organisation. The goals of SAM include monitoring costs of the IT infrastructure within a organisation, negating legal risks associated with incorrect software license usage and sustaining high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose.

The practice of SAM is often seen as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the commercial case for going with a SAM solution is not always obvious until a complete of the software infrastructure of a company has been undertaken.

Economic benefits are still the most motivating commercial factor when choosing to operate software asset management technology within an organisation. Every corporation needs to make profit after all and expenditure is a very measurable metric. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.

An increasingly large amount of a organisation’s IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a critical need to invest to correctly handle this spending. As businesses grow and diversify, their software needs can change greatly and hardware and software can swiftly become outdated. There is no need to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an edge.

SAM is not restricted to simply the IT department of your business either. As a management process it will often include many of the branches within a organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow regular.

IT managers and staff with decision making authority should note Centennial Discovery  at meetings about the implementation of IT resource management.

Why follow a SAM Strategy?

Having heard the various benefits of utilising a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be correct for your business? Every business is different and has its own separate set of challenges and advantages, so any strategy you will undertake needs to be catered to these specific traits. The benefits of software asset management do cover the fundamental aspects of software management.

There are more than just cost benefits that can be gained through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be hugely improved by ensuring that staff have the newest versions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication within the corporation is helped when support staff know exactly what is deployed on every computer under their control. The benefits of SAM are not confined to the technological hardware of your organisation.

Cost Savings

As discussed before, perhaps the most convincing reason to utilise SAM within your business is the potential financial savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any system that can help to increase this profitability by reducing costs is one that should be evaluated. Money can be saved in a number of ways.

The most immediate way that software asset management can help to lower costs is by targeting any software running on your corporate network that is no longer needed. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be very outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. software asset management can be used to remove this unnecessary overhead.

By removing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the operation of your business you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT network. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and maintenance agreements means that more finance can be spent on the critical parts of your IT system. Focusing your finances on these critical components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.

Mitigate Risk

A surprising amount of software that is actively used in the business environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Running any amount of unmonitored software on your IT system is not advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for network managers.

Rogue software applications can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been bundled when your IT hardware was originally bought although the original software licenses may have expired. Without the correct security policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the network.

The danger of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your critical processes, how do you handle 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 limit your responsiveness to unforeseen events.

There are a great deal of affordable Centennial distributors focusing on software asset management who can create the ideal solution for your organisation.

Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation

As previously discussed, there are many potential advantages to employing a good software asset management strategy within your organisation, both monetary and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which parts of SAM you should implement first since some benefits will be realised more quickly than others.

The discovery process can be seen as three fundamental stages that have to be performed to really build an accurate picture of the usage of IT assets within your company.

Inventory

Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery process. It is crucial that an accurate audit of software assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT department to maintain baselines regarding your IT system. This inventory process must be performed before continuing with discovery.
Thankfully, this process can now be automated and even the largest of networks can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period. Inventory should be able to identify your software assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics.

Capture

The next step in the discovery cycle is the capture of the license entitlements that cover the software assets discovered in the inventory. The capture process should collect entitlements for all of the software that is installed on your system, even if the software is not currently in use. Without this step the inventory may be almost useless.

The risk of human error can be mitigated by using automatic tools that are specifically created to create a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently available are very efficient at capturing accurate information.

Identification & Validation

The third process is to match up your software inventory to the repository of licensing information that were created in the previous two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original invoices for software to the latest audits undertaken on your IT system. These errors can now be rectified.

One crucial factor in the validation step is the ability to combine the license entitlements within your network to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any arguments with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.

Once these steps have been undertaken you will have built an incredibly rich image of how your IT system is serving software programs to its users. It will be a lot easier to identify any trouble spots on your network, or areas of software usage that are no longer of any particular benefit to your operations.

You can now commence a period of reconciliation on your system. You should compare the software programs that are actually used on your system against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and close any gaps between the two.

The software spread in your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, and there may be any number of restrictions that may be associated with the licensing agreements you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation period, utilising one or more programs to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your organisation.

As demand for SAM technology grows, the chance a well known Centennial reseller has to grow their client base should be taken.

Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM

Many of the fundamental principles of a modern SAM strategy are based upon the concepts laid out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of concepts and best practices that should be adopted for successful management of IT functions.

This library is a dynamic publication and is often updated with new ideas and policies that reflect the constantly changing IT environment of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be flexible enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the company within which it is actively used.

The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has created a standard that applies directly to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive collection of guidelines that are designed to ensure that software asset management is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an essential role in achieving standardisation across an industry.

The ISO standard should really be adhered to when designing a software asset management strategy for your own company, although the level of detail covered within can easily become a daunting prospect. It is important to remember that no matter what recommendations you follow when designing a SAM strategy, whatever you decide to implement needs to aid your organisation rather than stifle it. Industry standards cannot simply be copied when it comes to applying them within your company.

Designing a full and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own business may actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible enough to adapt and grow as your business does, and it should allow for modifications to your daily activities, no matter how small or fundamental they might be.

Conclusion

It is easy to see that as the extent and importance of computer systems within your company grow, so does the need for good and effective monitoring of these systems. Gone are the times when an IT department was a luxury that would sometimes forward the business. IT systems are now vital to the modern company.

As with other parts of any organisation, a number of separate plans should be evaluated and used in order to ensure the efficient running of daily activities. SAM should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your company, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary policies used to control the system as a whole. software asset management can go a long way toward helping your company but should be supported by other strategies.

So if you feel that your business is really suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and management over its IT network, or that the possible benefits outlined in this article could manufacture a crucial market edge over your competitors, then it would be worth researching how software asset management could be employed within your organisation.