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
Many of our customers are becoming more pro-active in the management of their software assets, driven by the twin concerns of shelf-ware and escalating vendor audit activity. No two organizations take precisely the same approach to the topic. Those just emerging from an expensive audit cycle are looking primarily to ensure that a repeat event will not be so … Continue reading Software License Compliance and ISO 19770-1
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
I found this thread this morning, started by Uttam Kumar at KPMG in India. The thread takes the lid off the situations Uttam regularly uncovers, with very variable attention given the demands of full software asset management. One contributor to the thread talks about the realities of achieving comprehensive software identification, and the importance of … Continue reading Very useful thread on realities and challenges of SAM
For a long time, Vector has promoted the idea of Software Asset Optimization as a best practice approach to managing software assets. Our view is that management of software assets is never properly ‘joined-up’ until equal weight is given to the four elements of Quantifying what your organization really needs. So often, this is largely overlooked … Continue reading Software Asset Optimization – right for today