Software Asset Management, Common Sense and Saving Money

Have you ever noticed how cyclical everything seems to be in this world? Well, one of the cycles I've watched since the early 1990's has been Software Asset Management.

The cycle (at least in the US, I frankly didn't track it much internationally) seems to be: Avoiding the topic, Awareness of an issue, Deciding to do something about the problem, Doing a full fledged project, Pairing that project down, Letting nature take care of itself and then the cycle starts again.

Obviously there may be some missing stages and some more "refined" terms than those I used but the basic concept is the same. When times are lush we seem to get into this phase where we feel the need to do a full bore SAM methodology but as soon as money and resources get tight we abandon the methodology in favor of "just making due".

This topic has been reinforced to me lately through two things: (1) a brand new client who emphasized the desire to have a "ala carte" proposal for SAM implementation - our existing clients know that providing options is the ONLY way we work, and (2) reading a fellow SAM practioner's (Kylie Fowler) blog which focuses on the "practical" side of ITAM and SAM (check it out...some great information).

In all our methodologies, let's not loose sight of the basic concept here...SAM is supposed to save money, manage risk and provide the business with the technology tools needed to be competitive. None of this requires complexity, extraordinary costs and it should all fit easily into common sense business practices.

If you're finding yourself ignoring your SAM methodology to run your business, do a quick re-evaluation of the methodology. What is valuable and what is just extra work? Streamline it, modify it, replace it with something simpler...do what you have to do, but don't abandon or ignore it altogether as you'll then be doomed to repeat the cycle (losing out on all those great cost savings and risk management in the meantime!).

If this is still too much for your business right now - consider outsourcing your SAM. We do this for a number of clients and they've found that (a) our costs are ridiculously low compared to in=house, (b) we typically save them more than our annual fee in increased savings, and (c) it frees their staff up to focus on running the business. Talk to me if this is of interest to you.

Ways to Cut Costs - Software Licensing

It's funny - when times are lush, companies feel they don't have the time to put in a SAM program...when times are tight, companies feel they don't have the money to put in a SAM program.

Unfortunately, it's a Catch 22...if you had a SAM program, your staff would have more time because they would be more efficient and you'd have more money because you wouldn't be wasting it on higher maintenance fees and over priced products.

Sorry, I'm on my soapbox and I know it. Just remember, it doesn't take as much time or as much money as you think it does and the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Two recent items have come up that impact the costs of software licensing:

1) Microsoft Financing - they've just changed the rules.
2) Webinar Series "Cutting Costs - Software Negotiation"

Microsoft Financing (for those of you who didn't know it, Microsoft will finance your deals that involve purchases of Microsoft software as well as hardware and other services) has changed the rules a bit. It used to be that you didn't have to buy much software to finance your whole deal...apparently they are now going to require that at least 35% of the deal be for Microsoft software. Read the details for Scott Bekker's blog.

Webinar Series on cutting costs through software negotiations. For 10 years we've been helping our clients cut their costs (after they've already internally negotiated the deals). We're now offering a webinar to help teach you some of our techniques. This series isn't about contract law, it's about understanding the insides of the deal and turning it into cash and benefits for your company.

So, I know many of you are trying not to spend money right now on software...don't forget - those annual maintenance agreements you're paying is still spending money and many of them can still be renegotiated to lower your costs!

Software Licensing - What You Don't Know Can Cost You!

I was having a conversation with a gentleman on Friday night at a business mixer and discovered that he was an IT infrastructure consultant advising a fairly large size enterprise on a new structure to support their very distributed user-base.

During the conversation he mentioned his surprise at the amount of money it was going to cost his client to implement Microsoft Office 2007 for their 7500 users. We talked a little more as I wanted to understand what program the company was considering purchasing through - and I found out that they had formerly had Software Assurance but it had expired almost 2 years ago. What this consultant didn't know (and neither did his client and no one else was bothering to point it out) is that Office 2007 was released to the general public on 1/27/2007 and (don't quote me on this date) was available to their volume licensing customers around October 2006. Software Assurance entitles you to the latest version of the software released as of your expiration date - whether you've installed it or not. That is in perpetuity (for traditional licensing).

The result being, that was $2m the client was going to spend for software they were already licensed for! I told the consultant to go back to the client and have them review their licensing statement of the Microsoft Volume Licensing web site to make sure dates were good but that it looked like that was money they could keep in the bank (and to hire us in to review the rest of their licensing plans to avoid any other costly mistakes).

This is an area where we frequently find clients uninformed or misinformed. Talk to an unbiased licensing professional before making a software investment - what you don't know can cost you a lot of money!