NederlandsSoftware Asset Management (SAM) is at In2SAM a daily discussion topic. We see this day after day in various organizations around us. Companies that bought an IT & SAM tool (often on advocacy of a vendor or tooling partner) and start enthusiastically an IT & SAM project. During the project, it becomes clear that all is a little more complicated than just installing and running the tool.
Information (or the lack of it)
There’s actually a lot more to it. Existing information sources need to be verified and adjusted where possible. Which is a very short sentence with major impact for most organizations. It isn’t much fun to determine that things weren’t as well registered as you always thought. And as humans, we tend to directly start searching for the cause or the perpetrator. Why? It is so much easier to accept the current situation a search improvement. And in fact, you can only do that when you place your IT & Software Asset Management project/department correctly in the organization. Next, to that, you need to introduce solid policies that are the foundation for proven Best Practices. Automatically you’ll realize management buy-in when you follow this path. And that is an absolute necessity for success for any IT & SAM project. As an organization, you’re seeking progression and not a status quo while performing deep root cause analyses. Your competitors won’t wait for you to catch up!
Be Agile
Are there no lessons learned then? Of course, but don’t make a full-blown scientific research of who was responsible and when and how it all went wrong. That information you just get from seasoned experts. The same experts that can help you design and implement your new organization quick and easy, and resolve your past ‘hick-ups’. And then and only then the tool implementation becomes the catalyst for success. Then, you’re hired or gathered knowledge on licensing becomes truly valuable. And then you’ll be starting an avalanche of cost avoidances, savings that make you the hero of the day. I can tell you from long experience that mindblowing amounts of savings can be realized that make the business able to run for the lead.
The new ISO 19770-1: generation 3(2017) standard supports this and allows organizations to start such projects successfully.
Are you in one of the above-mentioned positions, or in any other challenging IT & SAM position, just drop us a message. We keep an eye for the details and the bigger picture.