How to control your IT Infrastructure

Introduction

The extent to which computing has become a part of everyday life and day-to-day commerce has forced a change in the way business approaches how they manage the money, the tasks and the assets within an organisation.

As technology becomes more widely used within an organisation and takes a more prominent critical within the critical functions of that organisation, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is applied to this technology. Technological assets that may have previously been ignored are now key in the decision making process.

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

But once you have spent a large amount of money on developing an IT system and seen the requirements of your organisation change, how do you make sure that the systems you are using can keep up with demand?

This is the function by IT management software and procedures.

Every company and every situation will have different specifications and will offer different issues. To satisfy these needs there are a number of different technologies and approaches that can be used to help control the IT assets of your organisation.One of these approaches is discussed below.

Software Asset Management

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

SAM is not simply an aid for support staff deploying software across a large company network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at many levels of a company. The objectives of SAM include controlling of the IT infrastructure within a organisation, negating legal risks associated with incorrect software license usage and maintaining high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose. As IT usage in a company grows, so do the potential benefits of SAM.

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

Economic benefits are still the most motivating business factor when deciding to operate software asset management software within a business. Every corporation needs to make profit after all and expenditure is a very measurable metric.

An increasingly large percentage of a company’s IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As organisations grow and diversify, their software needs can change greatly and equipment and programs can quickly become out of date. There is no requirement 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 company 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.

One highly recommend software asset management package claim Centennial resellers must be SAM.Suite; a modern solution to modern IT licensing challenges.

Why follow a SAM Strategy?

Having seen the multiple benefits of deploying a SAM solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your organisation? Each business is different and has its own separate set of problems and advantages, so any plan you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific characteristics. The benefits of software asset management do cover the basic aspects of IT management.

There are more than just monetary advantages that can be gained through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across an organisations IT network. Productivity can be hugely improved by ensuring that staff have the latest versions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the corporation is helped when support staff know exactly what is in use on every workstation under their control. The benefits of SAM are not confined to the technological hardware of your business.

Financial Savings

As discussed previously, perhaps the most convincing reason to implement SAM within your company is the potential financial savings that can be made. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any system that can help to increase this profitability by descreasing costs is one that should be considered.

The most direct way that SAM can help to lower costs is by identifying any software running on your corporate IT system that is no longer necessary. The software might not be being used anymore, it may be too outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. SAM can help to remove this unnecessary overhead.

By removing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the running of your business you are streamlining a large portion of your IT system. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance contracts means that more finance can be spent on the vital sections of your IT system. Focusing your attention on these vital components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.

Mitigate Risk Factors

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

Rogue software programs can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was originally purchased although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct access policies in place, users may also be able to install their own software onto the network. Operating a corporate IT system in this unmanaged way will almost certainly lead to trouble.

The danger of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your vital processes, how do you recover the situation? Running a complex software system without the proper support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can seriously limit your responsiveness to unpredictable events.

If your company undertakes an IT system overhaul, a certified Centennial distributor should be one of the first ports of call.

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 company, both monetary and otherwise. It is therefore important to determine which elements of SAM you should deploy first since certain benefits will be achieved more speedily than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.

This discovery process can be seen as three basic stages that have to be performed to truly build an accurate picture of the deployment of IT assets within your organisation. These are:

Inventory

Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery cycle. It is crucial that an accurate inventory of software assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT network.
Fortunately, this process can now be made automatic and even the grandest of networks can be investigated and analysed in a relatively short period. Inventory should be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics.

Capture

The second step in the discovery cycle is the capture of the license entitlements that manage the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture process should gather entitlements for all of the software that is installed on your network, even when the software is not currently in use.

The element of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically created to create a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently available are very efficient at gathering accurate data.

Identification & Validation

The next step is to match up the software audit to the repository of licensing data 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 network. These errors can now be rectified.

One critical factor in the validation stage is the ability to associate the license entitlements within your network to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle.

Once these steps have been performed you will have built an incredibly detailed picture of how your IT network is delivering software packages to its users. It will be much easier to identify particular trouble spots on your network, or sections of software usage that are no longer of any practical benefit to your activites. This detailed map can be used for future strategies as well.

You can now start a period of reconciliation upon your network. You should compare the software packages that are actually used on your system against the licensing and support contracts that you are paying for and bridge any divides between the two. This is when the financial benefits of software asset management start to take effect.

The software distribution within your network may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, and there may be any number of rules that may be associated with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation period, using one or more programs to apply intelligent rules to the process.

The use software asset management within your company is a very specific process which can be strategised by a good Centennial reseller as they will have extra information.

Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management

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

This library is a changing publication and is often updated with new concepts and techniques that reflect the ever changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good software asset management strategy should be fluid enough to comply with the guidelines laid out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing requirements of the company within which it is actively used.

The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has published a standard that applies specifically to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive set of guidelines that are designed to ensure that software asset management is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.

The ISO standard should certainly be followed when planning a SAM strategy for your own business, although the level of detail included within can quickly become a daunting challenge. It is important to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when creating a SAM strategy, whatever you decide to implement needs to help your business rather than stifle it.

Creating a complete and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own business might actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to change and mature as your business does, and it must allow for updates to your daily tasks, no matter how small or fundamental they might be. This really is the key to a successful software asset management plan.

Conclusion

It is clear to see that as the extent and importance of computer systems within your organisation grow, so does the need for correct and efficient monitoring of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a bonus that would occasionally forward the business. Computer systems are now vital to the modern company. Critical systems need to be maintained to an appropriate level.

As with other branches of any business, a number of separate plans should be evaluated and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of daily activities. software asset management should not be the only tool used to manage computing resources within your company, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary policies used to manage the system as a whole. software asset management can go a long way toward helping your business but should be helped by other strategies.

So if you feel that your company is really suffering from a lack of planned monitoring and control over its IT network, or that the potential advantages described in this article could provide a critical market advantage over your competitors, then it would be worth investigating how SAM could be used within your organisation. There might be no time to lose.