Today almost all the SaaS companies are familiar with ITAM (IT Asset Management) and the plethora of benefits that come with it. One of the key features of ITAM is Software Asset Management (SAM). Over the past few years there has been a surge in the interest and services availed for Software Asset Management globally. Software Asset Management professionals are treasured today as there is a high demand for them across various sectors of the companies.
Enterprises spend as much as 20% of their budget on hardware and software purchases. It is also a fact that a notable amount is spent on underutilized services and support expenses leading the software licensing into potential risk.
Software Asset Management (SAM) has got all the essential procedures and framework to organize and manage your investments through each phase of the software development lifecycle.
Before we dig deeper, let us understand the definition of Software Asset Management.
What is SAM (Software Asset Management)
SAM or Software Asset Management is an IT practice and business strategy used in enterprises these days. It is used to plan, manage the budget and maximize savings through procurement, usage and installation of software licenses.
Benefits of implementing Software Asset Management
Below mentioned points are some of the key advantages of using SAM:
- Manage and Minimize Expenses
- Legal Compliance and Licenses
- Software Security
- Employee Empowerment
- Recognizing Patterns
- Optimize Investments:
- Negotiate Strategically:
Software Asset Management policy gives a purview of the current software lifecycle of all your assets. The teams can check on the licenses and their renewal time. Timely monitoring of agreements with big vendors regulates spending policies. Unused or discontinued software can be discarded from the lifecycle and the ones that are used actively can be reused.
Since you will be spending on the usage basis, you can cut impulsive spending and any chargebacks.
It is extremely important on enterprise’s part to ensure that software licenses comply with current rules and regulations. As a part of SAM framework, it is important to realize how your assets are used. It should be a transparent and secure relationship between the two parties which goes a long way in paving a path for secure working network. SAM aids during software compliance audits by any third-party service provider.
There is always the scare of cybersecurity that looms over the business world today. Based on a Harvard Business Review, dated software are the loose points that make your entire hub vulnerable to hacking.
SAM is simple and strong fix for these issues. The SAM tool schedules a periodic scan of all software assets and identifies the software that are dated and those that needs upgrades and removes the ones that does not serve the purpose anymore.
User experiences and employee satisfaction should be a paramount goal for your company. You should have tools, techniques, information and functionalities that will enable them to complete their tasks efficiently.
SAM when implemented correctly, will benefit all departments of your company. Access to right tools will increase employees’ productivity and keep them motivated. It will also save time spent in training the employees multiple times and thus, overall cost for the company.
With the help of Software Asset Management, you can recognize the patterns based on previous usage. This helps you to respond to crisis promptly. Furthermore, SAM helps with integrating other managed services like self-service portals or any support solutions etc. that may be used in the software lifecycle.
Companies should leverage the existing assets via configuration management, normalization, manage changes and pursue business further ahead.
Reap the benefits of IT optimization chances like server consolidation or virtualization. This will help you having the right people and right processes on time and in sync with your goals.
Take advantage of IT optimization opportunities, i.e., virtualization, server consolidation, etc.
Data gathered from Software Asset Management helps in making specific decisions. This helps in negotiating w.r.t your goals and requirements. Enterprises can benefit more with the help of a SAM managed service provider with expertise.
Other benefits of Software Asset Management:
IT methodologies are streamlined with Software Asset Management policies. It reduces man hours and reduces disruptions caused by audits. SAM enables visibility and validation and offer great IT governance practices.
Companies can also leverage from past data usage and trends to predict future software requirements.
Conclusion
Software Asset Management when understood thoroughly and developed well, can bring remarkable values from your software investments to your companies. All you need is a trusted partner who makes sure that you are not paying more for software licenses that you are using and thereby reducing the options of any legal consequences.
Freshservice is one such smart ITSM and SAM solution offering amazing employee experiences with a flexible, spontaneous, and no-code solution. Freshservice with the help of its advanced AI and ML capabilities helps organizations to manage IT assets and simplify an IT agent’s job and enhance the economic growth by automating routine tasks.
