An effective SAM solutions perspective

Table of Contents: Article SYNC Pro and Effective SAM Solutions a Partnership model for delivering effective SAM Solutions Are you an innocent victim of mis-licensing?

SYNC Pro and Effective SAM Solutions:

The cornerstone of an effective SAM solution is the maintenance of a complete and current knowledge base of the installed software on the IT infrastructure and a comprehensive profile and understanding of the licence agreements, including the organisation’s entitlements and benefits under these contracts.
A thorough knowledge of the hardware, operating system environments and software usage is required to correctly interpret the most Effective Licensing Position for an organisation.
ScanTrack’s SYNC Pro Product & Services are geared towards organisations who want to improve management of their IT and software assets. Solutions are scalable and may range from once-off discovery and compliancy reviews to comprehensive, ongoing solutions that encompass automated inventory processes together with policies and procedures to facilitate all SAM activities.

SYNC Pro Product Suite provides organisations with the tools to fully discover all IT assets operating on the networks and to provide a comprehensive and current knowledge base on both hardware and software elements and a usage profile of those assets. 

SYNC Pro Inventory Manager ensures that asset information is complete and up to date. Once deployed, the continuous, unobtrusive, network efficient, automated, accurate collection of data provides management with real decision making capability based on current information of hardware and software deployed on their computer infrastructure and networks.

Microsoft SQL Discovery is a unique tool designed to assist with the discovery of Microsoft SQL instances operating within an environment and interrogating the found instances to establish their configuration. This information is vital in making sound licensing and effective utilisation decisions.

SYNC Pro Licence Manager provides a unique profiling tool of contracts, entitlements and benefits to accurately assess compliancy. Our team of certified licensing specialists with practical knowledge in the field developed a practical set of tools and provide comprehensive SAM solutions.

The benefit to the customer is that ScanTrack's SYNC Pro Product Suite is a purpose built framework designed to facilitate the quick and efficient extraction of IT infrastructure and software inventory information with the least possible impact on both network and customer resources.

SYNC Pro Starter Pack provides an affordable and scalable entry point for IT Service providers in the SME market place and those companies starting the SAM journey.

SYNC Pro Software Asset Identification Service is a web-based service that facilitates the interpretation, conversion and classification of incomplete software inventory data into meaningful software asset information.

Collaborative Service Delivery. ScanTrack has developed several collaborative engagement strategies to enable us to work with Large Account Resellers, Value Added Resellers and Microsoft directly to deploy our SAM offering.

Simple and easy deployment, with a very low impact on networks makes SYNC Pro Product Suite an ideal tool for quick discovery and review projects.

A PARTNERSHIP MODEL FOR DELIVERING EFFECTIVE SAM SOLUTIONS


Software Asset Management (SAM) is the effective lifecycle management, control and protection of software and hardware assets within an organisation.


SAM - A MODERN DAY IMPERATIVE


The essential need of this management principle is rapidly gaining prominence as organisations and people rely increasingly on technology that is becoming more widely dispersed over large networks of relatively powerful devices. Technology mobility and the use of the internet cloud as a means of communication has further increased the complexity and quite often results in information overload. It is safe to say that unless this business model is placed high on the management agenda, organisations will be exposed to substantial risks as a “going concern”.


SOFTWARE – A COMPLEX AND EVER-CHANGING ASSET

  • Software is bundled Intellectual Property (IP) which is never sold outright. What is typically bought is a set of contractual entitlements to use the IP of one or many products over a period by or on a defined set of users, devices or network structure.
  • These entitlements sometimes provide upgrade rights within a specified product range.
  • Acceptance of these complex contracts are quite often entered into by selecting a tickbox while installing the software; generally without having read the terms. The result being that the terms of use are not studied until a vendor audit is performed.
  • Interpretation of complex licensing rules and making sense of fragmented and incomplete data on installed software in order to match the information from the installed base to the purchased entitlements within the contracts requires specialised licensing skills. This skill is not always needed on a full time basis.


PREREQUISITES FOR EFFECTIVE SAM


In order for organisations to establish an effective SAM process they will need to have, or put in place

  • An automated IT infrastructure Management technology platform

  • Clearly defined and communicated policies and processes

  • Access to Licensing and Data Interpretation specialists

  • A policy and process monitor

Microsoft developed and published the SAM optimisation model below to assist customers to grow an effective SAM process within their organisations.

Microsoft SAM Optimization Model

 


THE SOUTH AFRICAN LANDSCAPE


A recent Microsoft survey of the South African market shows that the majority of organisations are at the BASIC level: that means that very few of the prerequisites exist within the local organisations. An analysis of the results from the various reviews ScanTrack has performed in partnership with Microsoft confirms that there is generally a low level of knowledge of the IT infrastructure and its effective utilisation within organisations.
Growth of most organisations in South Africa come about through acquisition, with the result that a lot of the networks and policies are not fully rationalised and remain fragmented. A distributed management philosophy is also quite often practised which is at odds with the recommendations of SAM; namely to centralise management of software to extract the most benefit.

The philosophy of “sticking to the knitting” is very much alive in South Africa where organisations frequently elect to “outsource” management of their IT infrastructures to professional IT service providers. Contrary to the perception that this is an attempt at abdication of responsibility, the risk exposure in reality remains with management. Management can and should, however, require the IT Service provider to maintain the dynamic inventory and knowledgebase on the IT assets.
In large, fast changing environments, however, the Process and Policy Adherence Role should remain internal as this element of the Business Risk Assessment function should constantly be monitoring changes in risk profiles.
Microsoft and other software publishers and their reseller networks sell a large percentage of their products on volume agreements and provide the user organisations with product on a trust basis. They therefore have a vested interest in ensuring that an accurate and up to date knowledgebase of installations and usage is maintained.
Access to reliable information will enable them to provide advice and guidance on the most effective use and licensing of their products whilst monitoring as to whether licence entitlements are adhered to.
ScanTrack recognises that the delivery of a successful SAM solution requires a collaborative approach between the customer and the IT solution providers. ScanTrack believes in building synergistic partnerships with IT solution providers and software vendors that will enable the delivery of best of breed solutions for the customer. These solutions include:

A PARTNERSHIP MODEL

MICROSOFT DIRECT


ScanTrack has worked closely with Microsoft SA in performing a number of very successful SAM reviews at Microsoft strategic customers with a resultant involvement in building their SAM capabilities going forward.
The philosophy here is to kick-start the SAM process with a comprehensive initial review that provides a thorough understanding of the IT infrastructure and the licence entitlements they hold. This places the customer in an excellent position to decide on how to manage this information base.

LARGE ACCOUNT RESELLERS (LAR) (MICROSOFT COMPETENCY DIVISIONS)

A hosted SAM Solution has been developed whereby one of our Partners delivers a SAM solution to their “Enterprise Agreement” customers on an ongoing basis. The resultant SAM knowledgebase is maintained at the LAR and the collection of information is performed at the client’s site on an ongoing basis. Web access to reports and information is available from the LAR.
ScanTrack also provides SAM review services to a number of other LAR’s on a once off review basis.

SME FOCUSED IT SERVICE PROVIDERS


ScanTrack’s latest offering, the SYNC Pro Starter Pack is aimed at the SME end of the market and the IT Service Providers who service the SME market space by administering multiple small networks. This Starter Pack is was launched at the Microsoft 2009 Partner Summit.

SYNC Pro Starter Pack has three modules

  • SYNC Pro Collector – a multi functional set of collection methods which inventory assets on the various networks
  • SYNC Pro Inventory Manager –the information repository and inventory process manager
  • SYNC Pro Software Asset Identification Service – a ScanTrack web service for performing the data interpretation necessary when managing software

As the leading South African developer of SAM products and a provider of packaged SAM business solutions, ScanTrack is well positioned to partner with companies looking for SAM solutions for their customers.

ARE YOU AN INNOCENT VICTIM OF MIS-LICENSING


In today’s recessionary climate most companies are scrutinising all expense areas in order to remain lean and competitive. In the IT area it is often difficult to establish what potential there is for savings, what risks there are to your business due to under-licensing and what software and hardware is under-utilised or not needed.


Software vendors, on the other hand, knowing that most IT users are under-licensed, are likely to increase review activities to ensure due returns from the users of their software. Companies need comprehensive views of their deployed assets to avoid these sometimes costly procedures.
ScanTrack has recently completed software compliance reviews for over 30% of the top 40 companies in South Africa. The findings of these reviews have served to confirm the Gartner statistics, that 35% of software utilised within organisations is under licensed. In many cases this under licensed position came as a great surprise to the top executives, as they had recently spent a great deal of effort and money introducing corporate governance policies and processes, only to find that procedures are ineffective in the IT arena for a variety of reasons.
We believe that there are a number of factors and practices at play in the market that contribute to organisations falling into this “mis-licence” trap.

These include-


Complex Licence Structures – Most commercial software is licensed via a complex structure of volume agreements that provides entitlement to use a suite of programs for a period. Some of these agreements have upgrade and downgrade rights attached and also contain components that are provided as a free service. This often leads to a “mis-licensing” position where what is deployed does not match the entitlement profile purchased.

Deploy Now Pay Later Philosophy – The majority of software vendors make the deployment of software very easy and often use the internet as an easy and efficient distribution method. This generally leads to a position where the goods have been delivered and are in use before the commercial considerations have been agreed on and formalised. Volume agreements further complicate this situation in that customers can use a single licence key to deploy software for which they only have to pay at the end of the “true up” period, when they may find there is insufficient budget to meet this commitment.

Software Assurance and Version Management – The concept of software assurance has recently been introduced whereby entitlement to upgrade rights and training are sold with products. These entitlements are optional and often an assumption is made that they have been taken up when in fact they have lapsed or have been cancelled. It is also frequently found, in our experience, that when upgrades of environments take place, the previous systems are not retired effectively and the licensing liability may remain.

Peak and Valley Demand – This occurs often where a particular piece of software is installed to be used temporarily to perform functions for a particular project. On completion of the project - when the program is no longer required - it is often not uninstalled, creating a hidden liability. Project Management and multimedia programs are often “culprits” in this category. These types of products need to be managed on a pool basis where they are booked out on demand and properly uninstalled when the task has been completed.

Asset Ownership – In organisations that utilise a contractor workforce or have an employee base that “own” their own laptops, confusion often exists as to who carries the responsibility for licensing the software running on these machines. The general rule is that the organisation is responsible for licensing all software used to perform business functions.

Overwhelming Data Volumes – The volume of software titles evidenced on machines in any fairly large sized network can run into many thousands. Furthermore, information relating to the titles stored on the machines is often fragmented and incomplete, making licence risk assessment a very difficult task.

Policy and Process Monitoring – Although there has been a vast improvement in the definition and communication of sound Software Asset Management (SAM) policies and processes , these will all amount to nothing unless there are robust and practical procedures in place to monitor adherence to these principles.


Given the above factors and the fast changing software profiles prevalent in company environments, adherence to SAM policies and practical risk exposure monitoring processes are critical going forward.

The implementation of SAM processes will give the Board of Directors some comfort, but their responsibility extends to ensuring that there is adherence to these policies and processes. ScanTrack assists in this process by providing a practical method to report on changes in the environment and highlighting deviations from policies and processes.

Owing to the dynamic nature of the software that companies operate today and the ever increasing reliance that is placed on computer systems, it is imperative that a continual process of risk assessment is maintained over the software being introduced onto the company networks. This will require a function to be introduced whose purpose will be to continually monitor the environment and assess licence and security risk of software being installed.

We at ScanTrack are specialists in this niche area, and provide reviews, tools and processes, to assist organisations in having the most cost effective information system with which to drive and administer business. We have assessed the needs of this specialist position and have adapted our tool set to meet the specific needs of this risk profiler. For clients who have SYNC Pro, ScanTrack’s SAM Suite installed, we are willing to offer this as a specialised outsourced service through our SYNC Pro Software Asset Identification Service.