Some high-profile audits in recent months have reminded companies that they were not always prepared. But most importantly, that the management of their software licenses could be extremely costly and damaging to their image. The recent publication by Gartner in its forecasts Q4 2015 IT spending underlines the importance of software asset management, but also the effective management of licenses granted in this area. Therefore, we will analyze the findings from this study and present the issues of asset management software company.
The software, post central expenditure in business
According to Gartner, software spending will increase by 5, 3% in 2016, up $ 326 billion dollars, against $ 310 billion in 2015. After a period of budget cuts, these figures suggest that 2016 will be for companies another year of investment in software to meet their strategic objectives.
This renewed investment can be attributed to various factors, such as the arrival of new licensing models, increased audits, and software developments. The transition to subscription licenses means that long-term companies spend more money on software with the old perpetual licensing model. This increase can also be correlated with an evolving strategic positioning of companies that may have delayed until now investment in certain software technologies because of compatibility issues or a lack of internal preparation.
Microsoft Office 365, Adobe Creative Cloud and storage offerings in the cloud as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services, impose new challenges. The management of these types of applications require the establishment of appropriate plans and processes, combined with a deep understanding of technology and licensing issues. Having the right technology to manage this new type of licenses currently seems to be an almost unavoidable obligation.
Gartner report highlights the relatively large percentage of investments in each company’s software and shows that decisions on software purchases are often made without any real understanding of the costs, models of licenses and their implications. Identify the most appropriate licensing requirements is far from being the major concern of the company’s managers.
Investment-related data center 54% of software spending
The data center is usually the environment where found the most expensive software. IBM Software, Oracle, SAP or Microsoft can be extremely costly and prove a minefield in terms of licenses. Although increased spending data center level seems relatively modest with 3%, Gartner estimates that this environment will represent 54% of global software spending, making it a key objective of efficiency and conservation programs, via the platforms of software asset management (SAM).
A new feature for a database can, for example, cost $ 20,000 more without the customer being truly aware. Often, he did realize at the time of the audit. In fact, part of the increased spending, with data centers, will come from a strengthening of audit activities on suppliers.
It is also possible that companies do not need as many licenses they think, through rights as those associated with the coverage of Microsoft , allowing an additional passive server to benefit from an active server licenses. However, without a SAM platform to interpret these authorizations related infrastructure effective enterprise network, it is likely that this will lead to overspending.
Companies often think that the office environment is the domain of easy opportunities. If this environment is considered “the simplest option for quick gains,” the overall cost of the software in the context of computers, only a fraction of their counterparts in data centers.
__________
Deleting 1000 X software for computers = € 57,600 of savings versus
removal or reassignment of licenses 10 Y software for data centers = € 320,000 from savings
__________
The data center is a cost reduction key town . Understand and have adequate visibility of the volume of cores and processors, and users with access to a server are elements that should be top of the list when it comes to choosing a SAM platform.
Guard against hidden cost mobile devices
Gartner report predicts a decline in physical investment of about $ 641 billion in 2016 and this slowdown is to correlate with appliances renewal cycle.
The concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) may be a contributing factor to this reduction in investments because if employees use their own devices, companies spend less on equipment purchase . This, however, comes greater complexity in managing personal systems used by company employees. BYOD must be part of the SAM function, insofar as these devices undoubtedly expose the company to risk in terms of security and compliance.
In a few years we went from single laptop to a multitude of mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. If the results and forecasts point to a slowdown in spending for these devices, this does not reduce the importance of these devices within the enterprise. Licensed cloud-based often allows to use software on five terminals, which shows that the supplier is aware of the increasing number of devices per person.
Companies should consider mobile devices as so many essential business systems, which allow users to always be more productive and responsive. The gap between the physical asset management (HAM) of the Software Asset Management (SAM) is rapidly closing due to the importance of the hardware specifications, in terms of requirements for licensing. They are now closely linked, insofar as the two functions provide invaluable datasets. It is crucial for companies to have appropriate technology capable of managing both aspects SAM and HAM. By combining this information then has all the data necessary to manage software and hardware investments made by the company.
2016 seems to be a year in which the companies will spend more money on new software, with more complex Licensing requirements. Indeed, the need for an effective program of software asset management has never been more important. Whether it is to ensure that the company gets the best return on investment, or protect audits increasingly driven by software companies, the year 2016 will be the year of the SAM . With $ 326 billion invested in software, companies have every incentive to ensure that this money is spent wisely.
Marc Tcherdakoff , sales manager at Snow Software France
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