With Microsoft Enterprise agreements easily costing hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars / pounds / euros, it continues to sadden me that organizations will sign up without having any significant level of information regarding the Microsoft products that they have installed and actually use. When a 90 day Microsoft product usage survey to establish … Continue reading Software Asset Management and Fiscal Responsibility
We don’t get much snow here, so now that there’s a good covering, the road from my rural home here and the local road network generally are not where you want to be. The heater is on, and from the relative comfort of my home office I have a great view of the pristine snow … Continue reading Snowbound – the joys of a remote worker
Software Asset Management standard to be re-structured I first referred visitors to this blog to ISO 19770-1 in a post in March 2010, and a technical briefing note generated around the same time. ISO 19770-1 sets out processes which would be implemented by an organization pursuing Software Asset Management. The twenty seven processes outlined in … Continue reading ISO 19770-1 : your chance to contribute
ITAM+ITSM = ?? This blog usually takes its subject matter seriously, but with the UK (where I’m based) gripped in the coldest and snowiest start to winter on record, you will excuse me for appearing lighthearted in the title to this post. Sometimes, a theme can suddenly become popular in our industry, and in the … Continue reading ITAM / ITSM / SAM / … – another acronym in time for Christmas?
Helpdesk and ITAM tools – measuring effectiveness We talk a lot about using surveys to gauge customer satisfaction with the service provided by the IT support help desk. What we don’t talk about so much is how we involve the analysts in assessing the effectiveness of the tools that we provide them with. A post on this blog a … Continue reading Help Desk analysts – valued for their views?
ITAM/ITSM opportunities for integration – right now We have talked before today about the broader opportunities for exploiting the data held in an IT asset management database. We have also talked about the integration of a help desk with other very separate systems such as customer information held on Great Plains, and such as incoming … Continue reading ITAM/ITSM in the cloud? watch out for integration challenges
ITSM and ITAM – why so separated? While some organizations are still struggling on with spreadsheets and clipboards, others have the vision to apply effort to continuously evolving their ITSM / ITAM processes. With each area of activity supported by its trade organizations, annual trade shows and conferences, I sometimes think we may be missing … Continue reading The help desk contribution to asset lifecycle management
Software License Compliance – a risk not worth taking? In a recent press release on the Business Software Alliance’s Web site, the BSA’s UK-based Michala Wardell reminds anyone listening that not paying attention to compliance can results in penal costs that far outstrip the nominal cost of the software in question. The offending Scotland based organization … Continue reading License Compliance not going away as significant risk issue
IT Asset Management – multiple areas of RoI The commonly cited and generalized reasons for making the effort with ITAM are reducing risk and reducing cost. Less often quoted, but equally valid, is an increase in user productivity. In a short white paper that you’re welcome to download (no registration required), we set out in … Continue reading The breadth of opportunity for RoI in IT Asset Management
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