What is SAM?
A common question for a tricky topic. Let us guide you through it...
In short, it's:
Managing and optimising the life cycle of software within an organisation...
...to reduce IT costs and limit risk related to its ownership and use.
Indispensable, but too often overlooked
Software is everywhere, running our production lines, managing our bank transactions, driving our cars, enabling instant communication. The more dependent we are on software, the more critical it is that we manage it effectively and efficiently, ensuring it meets our business requirements and delivers value.
In short, it has become crucial for any business in today’s world.
With the ever-increasing dependency on software and investments on the rise, it is very important for organisations to have proper controls in place to manage its software environment.
So, what is SAM exactly?
Software Asset Management (SAM) is a business practice that involves managing and optimising the purchase, deployment, maintenance, utilisation, and disposal of this highly important asset within an organisation.
According to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), SAM is defined as “…all of the infrastructure and processes necessary for the effective management, control and protection of the software assets…throughout all stages of their lifecycle.”
Fundamentally intended to be part of an organisation’s information technology business strategy, the goals of SAM are to reduce information technology (IT) costs and to limit business and legal risk related to the ownership and use of software, whilst maximising IT responsiveness and end-user productivity.
SAM is particularly important for corporations in regard to the redistribution of licenses and managing legal risks associated with software ownership and expiration.
Don't suffer an audit nightmare
With products and solutions emerging constantly, it is important that organisations are aware of the necessary safeguards in licensing to mitigate any misuse and infringement of their intellectual property. For a licensee organisation, investments in software are huge and carry the burden of maintenance, which is a recurring cost. On the other hand, software support and maintenance fees account for the major source of revenue for software publishers.
Typically, an organisation faces an average of three compliance audits per year. Any compliance audit will take two to three months to complete and requires significant time and effort on the part of companies. Compliance audits would generally lead to the identification of over-deployment of software and the presence of pirated or cracked software.
This situation could change a friendly compliance conversation to a rather disagreeable situation.
Make sure your house is in order
It is therefore important for both licensors and licensees to incorporate proper controls in place to check the use of an organisation’s software assets. This should be done to not only avoid financial setbacks, but also reduce reputational risks for infringing entities.
Effective Software Asset Management can ensure organisations meet their contractual and regulatory compliance responsibilities, while maintaining a lean and efficient IT software environment!
EasySAM helps organisations achieve effective SAM through our SAMplicity Services – which range from one time help for a specific issue, ongoing support to training opportunities so you can become a SAM expert too!
The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.
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