Has your organization ever sold a retired computer with applications still installed? Have you ever purchased software this way? A recent court ruling in Seattle has sent a chill down the spine of many IT Asset Managers around the world as the U.S. District Court upheld that software publishers can prevent their products from being … Continue reading Court ruling hikes pressure on Software Asset Management
As an IT professional, how bad do you think the non-compliance situation is in your organization? In very many organizations today, the top brass still hasn’t got the message on the potential cost savings from a strong SAM program, or on the risk reduction, or simply on the organization’s legal obligations to its suppliers as well … Continue reading Non-compliance in licensing – it’s so easy!
Software Distribution: who still needs it? One theme we come across often is a need for an automated software distribution method that makes it easy to keep applications deployed and updated, particularly where the target PCs are defined by reference to a combination of characteristics. For an example, an application may be regarded as a companion product … Continue reading Software Distribution: relevant for virtual as well as physical systems.
Software Asset Management: fundamentals for compliance Many organizations are grappling with the twin problems of adequately identifying the software they have installed, and correctly interpreting the usage entitlements defined in the pages and pages of software licenses they hold. New laptops and netbooks will often come pre-loaded with suites of utilities – some of them … Continue reading Pirated software: are you sure you are in the clear?
Software License Management for Compliance Organizations which have successfully tackled the challenges of accurate software inventory often turn their attentions to getting to grips with the wide range of license documents they hold. For compliance, the fundamental question at any point in time is – “Have we got enough documented entitlement to cover the number … Continue reading License Management: Static Recording is not enough
I’ve just read through an article on this topic posted today by Tony Lock of Freeform Dynamics. It does a good job of highlighting areas that need to be considered by anyone already involved in, or contemplating, moving ahead with either server or desktop virtualization. In particular he points to the ease with which VMs … Continue reading Software Licensing and Virtualization
I’ve been exploring a very informative article on IT Audit techniques by Robert E Davis. It dives into a level of sophistication around the choices of testing methodologies that I am naive in, so kept me occupied for more than the regulation one mug of coffee per blog read. It also gave me a link … Continue reading Software License Compliance – is it part of IT GRC?
Just a quick note to encourage anyone who has had an unfortunate experience with a software license compliance audit in the last two years to complete the online survey posted by Forrester. They promise to share their results, which will include measures taken to deal with out-of-compliance situations. I hope they’ll make it available to a larger … Continue reading Forrester Survey on Software License Audits
It’s been my pleasure today to be talking with Jeff Gordon who runs a Web site dedicated to helping organizations understand the licenses to the software that they use, and encouraging them to take a more pro-active stance in negotiating with their software suppliers. I must be nuts to be publicising this, because the thought of … Continue reading Licensing: a nightmare for customers only?
One of the analysts who I have an alert set for has today issued a research note looking at the increasing acceptance of IT Asset Management in the corporate market. This is great news for ITAM vendors like us, but it does leave me very puzzled as to why it has taken so long. At … Continue reading IT Asset Management now mainstream says Gartner