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The Importance of Asset Management

With a constant stream of new products, the ongoing move to SaaS and cloud, frequent licensing changes, and regular price increases, it is increasingly clear that a focus on managing software across the business – on premises, SaaS, and Cloud - is critical for business of all types and sizes. Software Asset Management (SAM) brings benefits in many areas including:

• Financial: Reducing spend through over-licensing and audit penalties as well as enabling data driven negotiations are common benefits of mature SAM programs.
• Digital Transformation: A key executive focus for many businesses, strong SAM helps identify focus areas, uncover technical debt, highlight opportunities, and ensure correct and efficient licensing.
• Reputational: Reducing the likelihood, frequency, and impact of software audits reduces the risk of reputational damage through non-compliance scenarios.

Combining SAM with VAR

A growing trend in the ITAM and SAM market is for both the Value-Added Reseller (VAR) requirements and the Software Asset Management (SAM) requirements to be bundled together within customers. The general types of services will be:

What is a VAR?

A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that supplies software, hardware, and other related products to customer organisations. As well as earning revenue through the sale of these products (and their own services), VARs also receive a range of rebates and incentives from software publishers that may affect their impartiality. These are often focused on certain products where the manufacturer wants to increase sales such as SaaS or Cloud products. If these focus products are an organic part of your plans, these incentives can help you to extract commercial gain, but if not, it can lead to a lack of alignment between customers and partners.

Nowadays, many VAR partners also offer SAM & ITAM services alongside their traditional software reselling business. One of the challenges with this combination is that the partner’s largest revenue generator is much more likely to be the selling the software rather than managing and optimising the software. Revenue generally dictates focus and so this means a typical VAR’s focus is much more on selling and much less on managing.

The Issue of Data Quality

A consistent challenge in Software Asset Management is data quality – is it complete, has it been normalised, is it trustworthy and so on. A hugely important element of this data quality is the procured and entitled licensing estate – i.e. what has been purchased and what specific licensing rights and limitations are in place.

Good quality licensing entitlement data should include:

Application Details

The vendor, application, version, edition, and any other reference to the specific application that is being licensed.

Coverage/Support Dates

Vendor will have a lifecycle of application releases which will be covered by the purchase date and also the support dates included. In many cases, support only agreements will dictate the current licensable version you would be entitled to.

Metrics

Normally a specific metric is applied to the licence which can be infrastructure related (E.g. Processor, Core, Device), user related (E.g. Named User, Concurrent User) or other ways of licensing such as Clicks on a website or Token based.

Special Terms or Concessions

Many times, a customer organisation will negotiate special terms with a software publisher that then affect the standard contractual terms and conditions.

VAR systems can have limitations in these areas. Often, due to the changes in technology and different ways of reporting over the years, their existing systems simply are not fit to deliver the quality of data necessary for modern asset management.

Furthermore, due to the focus on selling software, rather than the subsequent management, there isn’t always a focus on capturing the data points that are important. This means key asset management information, such as specific application details and start and end dates, are not consistently recorded.

Conclusion

We’ve seen that effective Software Asset Management (SAM) is crucial for optimizing resources, reducing costs, and ensuring compliance but also the potential for problems when working with your software supplier. This is where partnering with an independent SAM expert like Synyega can make a significant difference. By acting as an advocate for your organization, a dedicated SAM partner can “go to bat” for you, negotiating the best deals and ensuring that your interests are always prioritized.

Moreover, an external SAM partner brings an unbiased perspective, free from the constraints of vendor targets or incentive programs. This objectivity allows them to focus on the bigger picture, identifying opportunities for improvement and growth that might be overlooked internally. With a clear, strategic approach, they can help you navigate the complexities of software licensing, compliance, and optimization, ultimately driving your SAM & ITAM strategy forward.

Partnering with Synyega means leveraging our expertise and experience to achieve your IT goals. Our independent advice and support ensure that your software assets are managed efficiently, securely, and cost-effectively, enabling your business to thrive in an ever-evolving digital world – both on-premises and in the cloud.

Download our new eGuide

Choosing the right SAM, ITAM, & FinOps partner isn’t easy. Getting it right, or wrong, can have a significant impact on negotiations with vendors, your IT budgets and achieving your strategic and modernisation goals. You need to carefully consider the agenda of your partner - what are their overall targets, what are their objectives when it comes to your organisation and are they aligned to your desired outcomes?

There’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to selecting a partner; the criteria you use to make the decision will vary depending on factors including your organisation’s maturity, budget, and immediate needs. To download our eGuide simply click here or on the button below.