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Flexera to acquire Snow Software

19/10/2023

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in a major narrowing of ITAM / ISAM providers in the market ...


Clients with funds to spare no doubt mulled over - and most likely performed a market comparison - across these 2 players, and now, they will be left with .... one.

A win for clients or a dent to market competitiveness ... well remember - there are alternatives !
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Flexera's announcement would suggest that the "Joint offering and strengthened partner network will provide customers with more data and capabilities to understand their IT environments, manage cost and reduce risk", and interestingly (at least for now) state that they will "continue to innovate, enhance, maintain, and support both Flexera and Snow solutions".
Now for those organizations that aren't flush with funds, and don't need a full FinOp's solution, but perhaps just want to get across their IT hardware and software landscape and garner control of those assets why not look at the niche solutions market here - including our own ComplianceWare product - you might well find that you can have a product at a much lower cost that meets your needs and solves the problems you have, without over investing in inflated platforms that are over-loaded, over-sold, and over-priced for what you actually need.
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SAM Practices - The NASA Experience

25/1/2023

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Internal Audit Report highlights flaws in NASA's SAM Practices that many organizations will relate to.

Oh oh ... it's 2023 yet we see it all here again: "Software Asset Management practices at NASA currently expose the Agency to operational, financial, and cybersecurity risks with management of the software life cycle largely decentralized and ad hoc."
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The OIG summary of their SAM audit says it all: 
  • Efforts to implement an enterprise-wide Software Asset Management program have been hindered by both budget and staffing issues and the complexity and volume of the Agency’s software licensing agreements.
  • NASA has not implemented a centralized Software Asset Management tool to discover, inventory, and track license data as required by federal policy.
  • NASA’s Software Asset Management policy is not comprehensive or standardized, leaving roles, responsibilities, and processes unclear.
  • Training for software license use and management is inconsistent across the Agency, with aging web-based training randomly assigned to personnel and a lack of a general software licensing training course available to the entire workforce.
  • NASA’s current efforts to compile a complete and accurate report of annual software spending is a time consuming and mostly manual effort.

... with all of the above quantified in cost terms as:

​We estimate the Agency could have saved approximately $35 million ($20 million in fines and overpayments and $15 million in unused licenses) and moving forward could save $4 million over the next 3 years by implementing an enterprise-wide Software Asset Management program.
All very compelling to implement improvements and progress NASA’s Software Asset Management from “basic” — the lowest of the four rating options in the Software Asset Management Maturity and Optimization Model developed by Microsoft — through the scale as per tiers and representations below:
  • Basic. Software is managed on an ad hoc basis with few, if any, comprehensive policies.
  • Standardized. The agency uses a discovery tool or data repository for tracking assets, although the information may not be complete or accurate enough for decision-making.
  • Rationalized. Assets are actively managed, and the agency has put in place policies, procedures, and tools integrated into the full IT asset life cycle.
  • Dynamic. Assets are optimized, with near real-time alignment with changing business needs.
The report is an insightful read for all SAM practitioners - and responsible management and executives - with clear language and succinct descriptions of the scope and challenges in the field of software asset management, and a pragmatic approach to the creation of an effective SAM Practice that applies to any size organization with a notable software inventory, not just those on the NASA scale.

So, to the findings ...

It was recommended that the Chief Information Officer:
(1) establish enterprise-wide (institutional and mission) Software Asset Management policy and procedures;
(2) implement a single Software Asset Management tool across the Agency;
(3) align the Agency Software Manager position to report to the Agency Chief Information Officer;
(4) establish formal legal representation and guidance for vendor software audits;
(5) establish a software license awareness training ‘short course’ focusing on approvals, compliance, and other issues a general user might encounter;
(6) implement a centralized repository for NASA’s internally developed software applications; and
(7) develop an Agency-wide process for limiting privileged access to computer resources in accordance with the concept of least privilege.

Additionally, to strengthen the financial aspects of NASA’s Software Asset Management it was recommended that  the Chief Financial Officer:
8) implement a “penalty spend” classification in SAP to track license infractions and true-up payouts and
9) centralize software spending insights to include purchase cards.

Nothing fresh there, just the usual (and often unheeded) advice. 

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The state of ITAM in 2021

28/7/2021

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Insights from the latest Deloittes report following their global survey.

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2500 individuals from all major sectors of industry across 18 countries were invited to participate in the annual survey of the state of ITAM in their organizations.

Many of the key findings  emphasize the basic requirement of effective tools and processes:
  • A vast majority (84%) of respondents believe that they lack a truly effective ITAM initiative in place in their organizations;
  • ​37% of respondents are currently in the defined, managed or optimized levels while 82% aspire to make significant progress over the next two years to reach these stages;
  • Clear recognition of the need to upgrade ITAM tools and technology to address changing requirements including those related to reporting or performance metrics (67%). In addition to these technical facets of ITAM, we are also starting to see financial concerns being raised by participants. For instance, issues such as chargeback are becoming more and more relevant to respondents.
And of course the investment and value aspects are always front of mind:
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Deloittes rightly call out additional measures that organizations should factor into the value equation:
  • Cost savings achieved by the organizational IT asset management program year-on-year (33%)
  • Results of license compliance audits year-on-year (33%)
  • Timeliness and accuracy of IT asset management reporting (30%)
  • Non-active IT assets repurposed (e.g., inactive IT assets/owner or location unassigned) (18%)
Given the challenges in collecting correct asset utilization data within the organization (29%) and recognition that a greater investment in ITAM tools and technology (25%) is required, it is not surprising that specialist third party support features in the report, in the main operating an on-premise ITAM tool (16%) or providing such as tool through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform (14%).  Other key areas where external assistance is being sought includes software vendor-specific licensing expertise that is not often readily available in-house (27%), followed by ITAM tool maintenance (20%) or strategic advice to transform ITAM teams (20%) 
Lets not forget the ongoing bugbear that is audits ... what did respondents face in the past year:
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And finally, we wholeheartedly agree with Deloittes prediction "that the more progressive and astute organizations will increasingly recognize ITAM as a longer-term strategic investment that creates ongoing value across the entire organization going far beyond just their IT team." 
They also go on to say "this would be in sharp contrast to the more traditional (and increasingly fading) mindset that perceives this as a tactical one-off short-term fix, primarily aimed at minimizing costs related to IT assets." ​

... so if you're ready to get started with your SAM program - or want to move faster - we can help, just get in touch! 

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