IT Infrastructure Monitoring
Introduction
The degree to which technology has become a part of normal life and day-to-day commerce has forced a change in the way business approaches how they manage the finances, the processes and the systems within an organisation.
As technology becomes more widespread within an organisation and takes a more prominent vital within the vital functions of that business, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate level of attention is given to this technology.
Technology have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as essential parts of any company. As such, they receive greater budgets but must also be able to deal with a larger amount of responsibility.
But after you have spent a large amount of your budget on developing an IT infrastructure and seen the circumstances of your organisation change, how do you ensure that the systems you are using can keep up with demand?
This is the function by IT management software and systems.
Every organisation and every environment will have different requirements and will offer different issues. To meet these needs there are a range of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT infrastructure of your organisation.One of these approaches is discussed below.
Software Asset Management
SAM ( Software Asset Management) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and maintaining the deployment and usage of software packages within your organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct area of expertise and is becoming a more essential part of the modern commercial environment, particularly for companies operating in the field of IT. Despite the many benefits of SAM, there are still a great many companies that are not utilising it to its full potential.
SAM is not simply a program for support staff rolling out software across a large corporate network, but can be a crucial tool to help improve performance at many levels of a business. The aims of SAM include controlling of the IT infrastructure within a business, negating legal risks associated with incorrect software license usage and sustaining high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose. As IT usage in a company grows, so do the potential benefits of SAM.
The practice of software asset management is often viewed as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the commercial case for employing a SAM solution is not always obvious until a full of the software infrastructure of a company has been done.
Monetary benefits are still the most driving commercial factor when deciding to operate software asset management software within a business. Every company needs to make money after all and expenditure is a very measurable figure. The financial benefits of software asset management do certainly exist however.
An increasingly large proportion of a company’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly handle this spending. As companies expand and diversify, their software requirements can change greatly and hardware and programs can quickly become out of date. There is no need to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an advantage.
SAM is not restricted to simply the technology of your organisation either. As a management process it will often involve many of the branches within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as cost-Effectively as possible.
Anybody who was going to challenge Centennial resellers that which package stands out would get the simple answer SAM.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having seen the various advantages of utilising a software asset management solution, how do you know that it would be appropriate for your company? Each company is different and has its own separate set of problems and benefits, so any strategy you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific traits. The benefits of software asset management do cover the basic aspects of software management.
There are more than simply financial benefits that can be made through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT system. Productivity can be greatly by ensuring that users have the latest versions of software available under current licenses held, and communication inside the corporation is aided when support staff know exactly what is installed on every computer under their control. The benefits of SAM are not confined to the technological hardware of your business.
Financial Savings
As discussed previously, perhaps the most persuading reason to implement software asset management within your company is the potential cost savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your business is always going to be the bottom line so any strategy that can help to increase this profitability by reducing costs is one that should be considered.
The most direct way that software asset management can help to reduce costs is by identifying any software running on your corporate IT system that is no longer needed. The software might not be being used anymore, it may be very outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. software asset management can help to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By removing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the running of your organisation you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT network. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and support and maintenance agreements means that more money can be spent on the essential parts of your IT system. Focusing your attention on these vital components will improve the overall performance of your IT department.
Mitigate Risk Factors
A surprising amount of software that is currently used in the business environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Having any amount of uncontrolled software on your IT network is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable.
Rogue software programs can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT environment in a number of ways. Software may have been included when your IT hardware was first purchased although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct access policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the network.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your network is clear. When anything goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your critical processes, how do you handle the situation? Operating a complex software system without the proper support can create a metaphorical minefield when it comes to disaster recovery and can critically limit your responsiveness to unforeseen events.
Many companies have reported increases in productivity after Centennial consultants worked alongside their current IT support team.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously mentioned, there are numerous potential advantages to employing a good SAM strategy within your business, both monetary and otherwise. It is therefore important to consider which elements of software asset management you should implement first since certain benefits will be achieved more quickly than others. Some may take a period of years to be fully felt.
The discovery process can be viewed as three fundamental phases that have to be performed to truly build an informative picture of the deployment of IT assets within your organisation.
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery cycle. It is important that an accurate audit of software assets within your business is created to aid your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT system.
Thankfully, this process can now be automated and even the largest of infrastructures can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory should be able to identify your software assets regardless of their physical location or computing characteristics.
Capture
The second step in the discovery cycle involves the capture of the software license entitlements that cover the software assets identified in the inventory. The capture stage should gather entitlements for all of the software that is installed on your network, even when the software is not currently in use. Without this information the inventory would be almost useless.
The element of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically created to build a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently employed are incredibly efficient at capturing accurate information. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from IT vendors.
Identification & Validation
The next step is to match up your software audit to the repository of licensing data that were built in the last two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original invoices for software to the most recent audits undertaken on your IT network. These errors can now be rectified.
One critical factor in the validation step is the ability to associate the license entitlements on your system to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any disputes with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery cycle.
Once these three steps have been performed you will have built an incredibly detailed image of how your IT system is serving software packages to its users. It will be much easier to identify any trouble areas on your network, or sections of software use that are no longer of any practical benefit to your activites.
You can now begin a period of reconciliation upon your system. You can compare the software packages that are actually used on your system against the licensing and support entitlements that you are paying for and close any divides between the two. This is when the financial benefits of SAM start to take effect.
The software spread within your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual instances, and there are any number of rules that may be associated with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation stage, utilising one or more programs to apply intelligent rules to the process.
The use software asset management within your company is a very specific cycle which should be strategised by a good Centennial reseller as they will have more information.
Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM
Many of the basic principles of a modern software asset management strategy are based upon the principles laid out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of ideas and best practices that should be followed for successful management of IT functions.
This library is a changing entity and is often updated with new ideas and policies that cater to the ever changing IT backdrop of modern business. A good SAM strategy should be fluid enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst meeting the changing needs of the company within which it is actively used.
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has published a standard that applies specifically to SAM practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an incredibly comprehensive set of guidelines that are built to ensure that SAM is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an important part in realising standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should really be adhered to when designing a software asset management strategy for your own company, although the level of detail covered within can quickly become a daunting prospect. It is important to remember that no matter what recommendations you follow when planning a software asset management strategy, whatever plan you decide to implement needs to aid your organisation rather than hinder it.
Designing a complete and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own business might actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible enough to adapt and mature as your business does, and it must allow for modifications to your daily activities, no matter how trivial or fundamental they might be.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the scope and importance of computer systems within your company grow, so does the need for correct and efficient management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT branch was a bonus that would occasionally forward the business. Computer systems are now critical to the modern organisation.
As with other branches of any business, a number of separate strategies should be evaluated and used in order to ensure the smooth running of day to day tasks. software asset management should not be the only tool used to manage computing resources within your company, but rather one of a number of complimentary policies used to control the system as a whole. SAM can go a long way toward aiding your company but should be helped by other techniques.
So if you think that your company is really suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the potential advantages described in this article could provide a critical market advantage over your competitors, then it would be well worth investigating how SAM could be employed within your company. There may be no time to spare.
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