As part of the SAMPanel debate this month, we are very happy to welcome back to the SAMPanel André Rangel, Partner of Hands On Consulting, who we asked, ‘What will be the impact of Cloud migration on SAM?’

Below was his response;

Again, writing from the point of view of the “hot” tropical winter, let’s talk a little about the impact of migration on premise licenses for cloud subscription in Software Asset Management.

In general, when the software vendors began to see the cloud as a possibility for migration of its business model, many customers and analysts argued this change as the ultimate solution to the problems of non-compliance, whether by misuse (for nonpayment ) licenses, either by the end of involuntary piracy.

In fact, the need for a well-managed environment with control of the entire life cycle for software assets has become even greater.

Both the concept of SAM as of cloud computing are complex and still find themselves under development in Brazil, where the market is still crawling compared to markets such as the UK and the US.

One of the points that make the difference when we speak of a SAM program for cloud is that in addition to managing assets, it must also manage the services. The speed with which these services can be configured, reconfigured, provisioned and made available to users within an organization is no longer measured in days, but in minutes.

CIO’s and IT managers should keep in mind a very clear concept that cloud computing does not mean the end of software license compliance problems, rather it brings to the game, new challenges that must be properly planned and addressed by updating SAM plan of the organization.

Traditional software licensing contracts require special attention, when moving to cloud is considered in order to ensure adequate control and compliance. Another point of attention is the BYOD trend, already dominant and often without any control by the organization’s IT security and IT governance teams.

The use of personal devices within organizations enhances the risk exposure to counterfeit or pirated software used by device´s owners, transferring to organizations the primary responsibility for such software if found during a vendor compliance audit, for example.

As we can see, there are many points to consider when talking about the impact of migration of the base software licensing model from on premise to the cloud. The market in general (and software vendors customers in particular ) must be aware of the benefits but also of existing pranks this change, bearing in mind that it is not worth trying to save money taking certain risks.

About the Author

André Rangel | Partner at HSCE Ltda. | Connect with André 

André Rangel is a business consultant and subject matter expert on Software License Optimisation, Software Asset Management (SAM) and Software License Contract Compliance, with remarkable record for continuously exceeding, results, strong compliance mindset with exceptional negotiating and sales skills.

André represents Brazil on the SC7 “Software and Systems Engineering” sub-committee of ISO and is a member of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC7 WG 21, working to develop and improve SAM standards, supporting education and adoption of software asset management around the world.