IT Infrastructure Monitoring
Introduction
The extent to which technology has become a part of normal life and day-to-day business has seen a change in the way management approaches how they manage the money, the tasks and the assets within a business.
As computing becomes more widely used within a business and takes a more prominent critical within the critical functions of that business, it is important to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is applied to this computing.
Technology have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as critical parts of any organisation. As such, they receive grander budgets but must also be able to deal with a greater amount of work. There is an eternal race between corporate demands and computing capabilities.
But after you have spent a substantial amount of money on developing your IT network and seen the needs of your business change, how do you make sure that the systems you are using can keep up with demand?
This is the function by IT management software and procedures.
Every organisation and every environment will have different needs and will create unique issues. To satisfy these requirements there are a number of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help manage the IT network of your business.One of these solutions is discussed below.
Software Asset Management
Software Asset Management (SAM) is designed to do exactly what it says on the tin – monitoring and managing the deployment and usage of software suites within your organisation. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline and is becoming a more critical part of the modern corporate 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 tool for support staff installing software across a large company network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at many levels of a company. The goals of SAM include managing of the IT infrastructure within a business, negating legal risks associated with incorrect software license usage and maintaining high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose.
The practice of SAM is often thought of as an unnecessary evil due to the intangible nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the commercial case for employing a SAM solution is not always obvious until a broad audit of the software infrastructure of a company has been done.
Economic benefits remain the most motivating business factor when choosing to employ SAM technology within a business. Every business needs to make profit after all and revenue is a very measurable figure.
An increasingly large proportion of a organisation’s IT budget is spent on software licensing so there is a vital need to invest to correctly manage this spending. As businesses expand and spread, their software requirements can change radically and equipment and software can quickly become outdated. There is no requirement to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where SAM really delivers an advantage.
software asset management is not restricted to simply the technology of your company either. As a management cycle it will often involve many of the departments within a business, including Finance Human Resources, to make sure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible.
One highly recommend SAM solution claim Centennial resellers must be SAM.Suite; a modern solution to modern IT licensing challenges.
Why follow a SAM Strategy?
Having heard the multiple advantages of deploying a software asset management solution, how do you know that it would be right for your company? Every company is different and has its own unique set of challenges and advantages, so any plan you will undertake needs to be tailored to these specific traits.
There are more than just financial benefits that can be gained through the management of licensing and maintenance agreements across a companies IT network. Productivity can be greatly by ensuring that employees have the newest editions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication inside the company 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 organisation.
Cost Savings
As discussed before, perhaps the most persuading reason to implement software asset management within your business is the potential cost savings that can be achieved. The profitability of your company is always going to be the bottom line so any plan that can help to increase this profitability by reducing costs is one that should be evaluated.
The most direct way that SAM can help to reduce costs is by identifying any applications running on your corporate network that is no longer necessary. The software might not be being used any longer, it may be very outdated to be of use or it may be duplicated on your system. SAM can be used to remove this unnecessary overhead.
By clearing these items of software that are no longer a help to the operation of your company you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT infrastructure. Paying for unneeded software licenses and support and maintenance agreements means that more money can be spent on the critical sections of your IT infrastructure.
Mitigate Risk
A surprising amount of software that is currently used in the corporate environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Running any amount of unmonitored software on your IT network is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become very unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for network managers.
Unlicensed software applications can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT system in a number of ways. Software may have been bundled when your IT hardware was originally purchased although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct control policies in place, users may also be able to load their own software onto the network.
The risk of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When something goes wrong with the hardware or software platform supporting your vital processes, how do you handle the situation? Running a complicated 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.
There are a number of affordable Centennial distributors focusing on software asset management who can create the ideal package for your business.
Implementing SAM in your Organisation
As previously discussed, there are many potential advantages to using a good SAM strategy within your organisation, both monetary and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which parts of software asset management you should implement first since some benefits will be achieved more quickly than others.
This discovery process can be seen as three primary stages that have to be undertaken to truly develop an accurate picture of the usage of IT assets within your organisation.
Inventory
Inventory is the most basic function of the discovery cycle. It is important that an accurate inventory of software assets within your business is created to aid your IT department to maintain baselines for your IT network. This inventory process must be performed before carrying on with discovery.
Fortunately, this process can now be automated and even the largest of networks can be searched and analysed in a relatively short period of time. Inventory must be able to identify your software assets regardless of their geographical location or computing characteristics.
Capture
The next step in the discovery process is the capture of the license entitlements that cover the software programs identified in the inventory. The capture stage should gather entitlements for all of the software that is installed on your system, even when the software is not currently in use. Without this step the inventory would be nearly useless.
The risk of human error can be mitigated by using automated tools that are specifically designed to build a library of license entitlements. Packages that are currently employed are very efficient at capturing accurate information. These tools will also maintain databases containing up to date information from software vendors.
Identification & Validation
The next step is to match up your software inventory to the repository of licensing data that were built in the previous two stages. Errors may have occurred anywhere from the original paperwork for software to the latest audits undertaken on your IT network. These errors can now be rectified.
One crucial factor in the validation step is the ability to associate the license entitlements within your system to your organisation’s proof of entitlement. This will be essential if any disputes with software vendors arise as a consequence of the discovery process. You want to be as informed as possible in these circumstances.
Once these three steps have been performed you will have built an incredibly detailed picture of how your IT system is serving software packages to its users. It will be much simpler to identify any trouble areas on your network, or sections of software usage that are no longer of any particular benefit to your activites. This detailed image can be used for future strategies as well.
You can now begin a period of reconciliation upon your system. You can compare the software packages that are actually installed on your network against the licensing and support entitlements that you are paying for and bridge any divides between the two. This is when the financial benefits of software asset management start to take effect.
The software spread within your system may include many hundreds or even thousands of individual installations, and there are any number of restrictions that may be involved with the licensing agreements you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation process, utilising one or more programs to apply smart rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your company
More about implementing SAM within your business is accessible via Centennial vendors who can be located around the country.
Compliancy and Flexibility with Software Asset Management
Many of the basic principles of a modern software asset management strategy are based upon the concepts laid out in the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, or ITIL. This library details a number of principles and best practices that should be followed for successful management of IT operations. The ITIL can be found online.
This library is a dynamic entity and is often updated with new ideas and policies that reflect the constantly changing IT environment of modern business. A good software asset management 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 utilised. This is an essential requirement of effective software asset management
The International Standard Organisation (ISO) has published a standard that applies directly to software asset management practices. This standard, ISO 19770-1, is an exceptionally comprehensive collection of suggestions that are designed to ensure that SAM is used in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”. Standards of this kind play an essential role in realising standardisation across an industry.
The ISO standard should certainly be followed when designing a SAM strategy for your own business, although the level of detail included within can easily become a daunting challenge. It is vital to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when creating a software asset management strategy, whatever you decide to implement must help your business rather than stifle it.
Creating a complete and comprehensive software asset management strategy for your own business might actually never come to fruition. Your plan must be flexible to adapt and grow as your organisation does, and it must allow for updates to your daily tasks, no matter how small or underlying they might be.
Conclusion
It is easy to see that as the extent and importance of IT systems within your organisation grow, so does the requirement for correct and efficient management of these systems. Gone are the days when an IT department was a bonus that would sometimes progress the business. Computer networks are now critical to the modern company. Crucial systems need to be monitored to an appropriate level.
As with other branches of any company, a number of different plans should be considered and utilised in order to ensure the smooth running of daily activities. software asset management should not be the only tactic used to manage computing assets within your organisation, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary policies used to control the system as a unit. software asset management can go a long way toward helping your company but should be helped by other techniques.
So if you feel that your organisation is really suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the potential benefits outlined in this article could manufacture a crucial market edge over your competitors, then it would be worth investigating how software asset management could be employed within your organisation.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 5:04 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.