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There is no substitute for experience to becoming an expert in anything you do. Like most skills the road to Software Asset Management expertise can be paved with some solid fundamentals that will make the journey more productive. To quote a familiar metaphor, “How do...
Software licence audits are inevitable. Software vendors are very active in auditing enterprises over the entitlements of the software they have whether or not it is being used. Despite Adobe’s recent announcement that they are ceasing audits in order to focus on...
Who says feeling warm and fuzzy doesn’t count? We live in the age of the customer and the name of the game is customer satisfaction. Corporate service management organizations, like IT, know the importance of making customers feel good, and satisfying their product or...
We’ve highlighted the importance of the CSAT metric. But that isn’t the only metric in town — there are many. How do you go about choosing which ones to use and which to ignore? This is the question to solve for many service organizations, in particular, their service...
Although, in many organisations, the IT function will ultimately report into the CFO, this does not mean that many CFOs are required to be aware of the detail of what IT actually does. It may be traditionally acceptable for a CFO to ensure that expenditure is on...
The mustaches of Movember may be growing, but it’s also the time of year to look ahead and into the digital transformation of 2017. More specifically, how will big data continue to make waves? 2016 has shown a surge of companies adopting big data and IoT, and then...
Snow Software, the leading developer of Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions, today announced the release of version 3.0 of Snow Automation Platform. The new platform automates key software and systems management tasks such as provisioning self-service portals...
Veritas Technologies, a leader in information management, today announced Backup Exec 16, a significant update to its unified backup and recovery solution for mid-market organizations. Data in this market segment is expected to rise by 33 per cent in the next three...
When you ask CIOs to rank their key areas of focus and investment, it is unlikely they’ll prioritize improving the IT help desk. You are much more likely to see things like big data analytics, security, cloud computing, and digitization. While IT help desk improvement...
Under pressure to keep costs down, it’s tempting for IT leaders to maintain legacy solutions, upgrading when possible to add functionality. Staying the course with a legacy solution may seem like a smart, sensible sacrifice, but it can easily become a form of...
A local council has unveiled a £50m software and hosting framework opportunity. According to a recent contract notice, Essex County Council is seeking to establish a framework agreement to provide it and other public bodies with access to a sole supplier which would...
The evolution to Cloud is changing, or I would even go as far to say that it has changed the way vendors deliver software and services. The model has shifted the cost of software from the balance sheet to profit and loss. And users are getting accustomed to the...
One of the biggest challenges IT organizations have faced over the last decade has been establishing a Configuration Management Database (CMDB). This certainly hasn’t been from lack of effort, as many authors, analysts, consultants, and vendors can easily put their...
In part one we focused on the initial steps required when responding to a software audit demand. In part two we explain how you can effectively manage a vendor review and what you should do at the conclusion of a vendor audit. STEP FOUR: MANAGING THE AUDIT By...
The European Court has restated the legality of the resale of software in the EU in its latest judgment but confirmed that the principle does not extend to software transferred on back-up discs. The case follows 12 years of investigation and criminal proceedings in...
Many enterprises and businesses manage their own software assets with the help of one or even more than one Software Asset Management (SAM) tool (s). Although assistance from a tool can be of value, there are three consistent mistakes we often see when taking...
In 2013 Adobe released a statement indicating that they will no longer be selling perpetual software. Instead, it was to release something called Creative Cloud and move the license model from device to subscription user with regular updates and storage from the...
Use Enterprise Mobility Management to control users mobile access to corporate information How do you relate to your mobile phone? Greg Baylis, Snow’s Mobility Expert and I were discussing this just the other day and acknowledged that users have a completely different...
As of October 1st, Microsoft has updated the pricing structure of its enterprise cloud platform – Microsoft Azure. As Azure continues to gain share in the market, Microsoft is looking to simplify and streamline the pricing of Azure for customers in order to create...
You may have noted the coverage our Software Usage and Waste Report has been getting across the media this month. “A shocking number of the software applications acquired by companies are considered ‘waste’,” wrote Dennis McCafferty in Baseline. “The current tally of...
The good news? People are keeping Windows up to date and patched. The bad news? They are a lot sloppier about the apps they use on their Windows PCs. According to a new report from Secunia Research in its Country Reports, covering Q2 2016 for 12 countries, the number...
If you’re a CIO or an Infrastructure & Operations (I&O) professional, you don’t need me to tell you how complex and dynamic your network is. And even though you probably don’t know where they are, you’ll be aware that you have blind spots on the network. Can...
Just because a solution is deemed ITSM, doesn’t mean that they are an enterprise service management (ESM) solution. Looking into ITSM solutions, you must bring out your inner Jedi and get on a level playing field with business stakeholders to discuss their...
As organizations move to a hybrid cloud approach, IT decision makers are looking for solutions to help them manage their on-premise software assets alongside their cloud deployments. Recognizing this gap, we at SoftwareONE are further investing in our proprietary...
Snow Software AB, the recognized global leader in on-premise and cloud-based Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions that cover all platforms, today announced the appointment of John Clark as President, Snow Software Inc., its affiliate for North, South and Central...
I was recently contacted by a frustrated Software Asset Manager on social media who found out that their Senior Management team has selected a new Software Asset Management Technology without his consultation. The SAM Manager tells me that the reason they have...
Lurking in every data center is an unseen enemy: dark data. This unstructured data causes surging storage costs and exposes organizations to a variety of risks. Win the fight against dark data by developing an information governance program. This plan identifies what...
Organizations are constantly going through change. Whether that’s a change in personnel, office location or company structure, change is a daily occurrence. Obviously, some changes impact users more than others. For example, the recent change in how to deliver and...
When it comes to open-source licenses, developers have their fair share of choices (GPL, BSD, MIT, Apache, etc.), all of them with their own pros and cons. The same goes for commercial licenses. MySQL founder Michael “Monty” Widenius and his co-founder David Axmark,...
What is the difference between a review and an audit? There are two letters that you might receive from Microsoft that will likely make you sit-up and take notice. The first is a request for a ‘Software Asset Management Review’. The second is a notice of an audit....
The Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) offers partner organizations various benefits and resources, including the right to use Oracle programs to develop and demonstrate their applications. When used within the restrictions of OPN, these development and demonstration...
By David Foxen of Snow Software Microsoft recently announced that it is introducing a new licensing program called Enterprise Advantage. The new program will be introduced in early 2017. Many IT media outlets suggest that this could signal the end for the existing...
As part of our ongoing series of pieces on ITAMChannel, we will be speaking with a range of professionals from across the ITAM spectrum and asking them questions on a range of subjects. For our latest interview, we had had the opportunity to sit down with John Lunt,...
With software audits becoming commonplace, Stuart Robertson explains what to do if you get the dreaded email entitled 'Microsoft Software Asset Management Review'. Is this really happening? Microsoft has recently been sending an increasing number of audit requests in...
Savings Too Large to Ignore as Global Software Spending Forecast to Hit $332 Billion in 2016 Many organizations can cut spending on software by as much as 30 percent by implementing three software license optimization best practices, according to research from...
If IT has found a critical foothold any field, it is especially important in healthcare. Tablet computers and other mobile devices are used to access electronic medical records (EMR) systems, medical imaging systems, and many other components of today’s medical...
Reported misunderstandings of IBM licensing rules and problems with visibility of software usage across its 6,800 employees has cost Fresno County in California US $2.3 million in a settlement with IBM. Although the final settlement figure was reduced from an original...
In today’s “Back to Basics” blog post, we’re going to look at something that every organization, big or small, goes through: change. More importantly, we’re going to discuss the impact of change, and how to manage it in a way that creates a smooth transition. IT...
With public-sector budgets being notoriously tight, it is more important than ever for IT departments to make every dollar count. An effective method for organizations to stretch their IT budget is to look for ways to eliminate waste. Tracking down unused software...
Livingstone the leading independent Software Asset Management (SAM) managed service provider is delighted to announce they have appointed Derek Morrison as head of Sales Europe. Derek said: "This is a great time to be joining Livingstone. SAM is a growth sector and is...
Microsoft has overhauled its enterprise software licensing programme, claiming the changes will make it easier for businesses to buy software packages in 2017. The Enterprise Advantage programme gives commercial customers the chance to buy organisation-wide product...
The exact order of CIO priorities for 2016 and 2017 may differ slightly, depending on which report you choose to read. But there is a general consistency and the Top Ten CIO priorities usually look something like this: BI & Analytics Cloud Mobile Security ERP CRM...
ITIL and its various incarnations has served IT well for decades. But the last major revision in 2007 came before the rapid developments in big data, cloud computing, and mobile technologies. Have these innovations made ITIL obsolete? Absolutely not. Many successful...
Software publishers are earning millions of dollars in license revenue annually by targeting organizations for audits. With complex IT environments and intricate license metrics, the risk of mis-licensing and subsequently failing an audit grows every day. Receiving an...
Snow Software, the leading developer of Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the June 2016 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Mobility Management Suites. Snow Software is a new entrant in the Magic Quadrant...
A recent court decision shows that software vendors can face legal challenges when undertaking software audits. Challenges may form part of a customer’s strategy for handling a request to audit or undertake some other software asset management exercise. Vendors such...
Do the words, “software upgrade,” cause you to tremble with terror? Do you shake as you weigh the risks of new features and functions against the potential productivity loss associated with the software change, configuration, and release management processes? And, if...
As part of a new series of pieces on ITAMChannel, we will be speaking with a range of professionals from across the ITAM spectrum and asking them questions on a range of subjects. For our first interview I had the opportunity to speak to Ed Rossi of Flexera Software...
A Software Asset Management strategy is not something that can be taken lightly. It must be considered a part of the vital path to achieving a critical business goal, like reducing audit risk or lowering costs. With this in mind, strategic Software Asset Management...
How can you get the best possible return on your software investment? The answer may lie in abandoning traditional on-premise solutions and migrating your software to the cloud. There are many ways in which your business can benefit from adopting a cloud...
With the introduction of online retailers like eBay and Amazon, it is almost second nature for any money-conscious individual or business owner to compare pricing in search of a good deal. Unfortunately, when it comes to computer software, many business owners are...
With only two months left in Microsoft’s Fiscal Year ending June 30, you’re probably wondering why I’m writing a blog post now on Microsoft’s Volume Licensing (VL) transformation. Change is constant in Microsoft licensing, so a firm understanding of Microsoft’s plans...
One of the most common misunderstandings about Office 365 is the belief that it provides the traditional Microsoft Office suite via a web browser as a “lite” version, but with some added functionality like Skype and OneDrive. Most who think this also believe that...
From humble beginnings… I implemented our company’s first Self-Service portal about 10 years ago. It was a primitive offering that enabled a particular set of people within the business to log specific IT Service Requests on behalf of members of their team. This...
An interesting aspect of what 1E does is that it works, as it were, ‘behind the scenes’, helping hundreds of the world’s leading brands meet their IT aims, and boosting the performance of world-famous software. As such, sometimes even we can overlook how far and wide...
Ipswitch, the leader in easy to try, buy and use IT management software, today announced the findings of recently completed research into how IT teams are managing the increasing complexity of their applications and infrastructure. Respondents overwhelmingly feel that...
The next BriefingsDirect IT support thought leadership discussion highlights how automation, self-service and big data analytics are combining to allow IT help desks to do more for less. We'll learn how automation and ITSM-driven insights endow help desk personnel...
The International Standards Organization (ISO) has published the ISO/IEC 19770-3:2016 as the (new) part of the ISO/IEC 19770 set of terms and definitions. Part three establishes a set of terms and definitions which may be used when discussing software entitlements. As...
Centrify, the leader in securing enterprise identities against cyber threats, today announced the Centrify Channel Partner Network (CCPN) Annual Award Winners, with SoftwareONE winning Global Partner of the Year, Latin American Partner of the Year, Identity Service...
Enterprise software licensing has had to evolve as datacenter solutions have matured. The technologies available to run and manage datacenters are extremely advanced, enabling resources to be adapted rapidly to suit business needs. However, with this amount of...
Like most large software publishers, Oracle routinely audits its customers to ensure compliance and to generate incremental revenue. While Oracle auditors may characterize the customer under audit as having been randomly selected, the reality is that most audits come...
Cloud computing creates licensing nightmares for compliance managers and their customers. With widely varying metrics, legacy contracts, and evolving policies, cloud-based apps seem impossible to audit. Still, license managers need to find ways to enfold cloud...
All things considered, it’s not really ITIL’s, the popular IT service management (ITSM) best practice framework’s, fault that it has been proclaimed the queen of all that’s authoritative in the ITSM world. Somewhere along the way, many of us have slipped up multiple...
Oracle’s cloud business has entered what CEO Safra Catz called a “hypergrowth phase,” as the company’s combined software-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service revenue grew faster in Q3 FY2016 than even Oracle had projected. Oracle’s transition to the cloud is paying...
For years now I’ve been writing and telling people to be very careful when asking Oracle for help with your license compliance position or cost reduction plans. When I founded Palisade, I never thought I would be in the business of helping companies defend themselves...
How to accurately measure the savings and IT Value of an IT Asset Management program is among the most common challenges reported by ITAM professionals. Implicitly, anyone who has seen a mature organization that has control of its assets and knows how to optimize them...
The term “visibility” calls to mind traditional asset management (being able to see where all your assets are at any given time), but it’s much more than that. It’s empowering, it’s educational, and it will ultimately make your business stronger. As we’ve shown over...
The only truly dedicated conference for the service desk industry, #SDI16 brings you a brilliant line-up of top class inspirational speakers. The two day conference takes place on 12 & 13 April 2016 at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham. For every service desk...
On March 3, I posted an article on what SAM managers need to know about Oracle licensing. In that article, I spoke about a licensing dispute between Oracle and candy manufacturer Mars from alleged nonpayment of licensing fees by Mars. Perhaps more interestingly, the...
Redeploying old IT equipment in today’s tough economic conditions could easily result in higher profits. There is no sense in retiring old devices when they are still working and other employees might get some use out of them. This is according to local IT Asset...
We’ve all heard of car leases, but you might not know about IT hardware leases. But you should. Especially if your employees are stuck with Model T hardware you bought outright when they could be using a leased Tesla. Few organizations take advantage of leases for...
Microsoft has provided more details about its SQL-Server-on-Linux strategy, a previously unimaginable new coupling that will see Microsoft’s popular database software, SQL Server, appear on Linux operating systems for the first time. As my SiliconANGLE colleague James...
Historically, many SAM projects have failed to deliver value, in large part because the tooling does not stand-alone. Also there are very few, if any, touch points into the stakeholders of solving, administering and extracting the value from a SAM program. But the...
A plethora of online information is available to help companies prepare for a formal software audit. Of course, the best approach is to have a proactive Software Asset Management (SAM) program in place prior to an audit starting, but what if you don’t? Even with a...
A common error that Microsoft customers make is negotiating concessions or accepting promotions from the company without recognizing that, in the long run, the customer will still pay for them When a "Discount" Becomes "Hand Cuffs" One customer negotiated super...
Having already reached 200 million devices, Windows 10 adoption has become quite widespread. With such a large user-base it is unsurprising that businesses will also look to make the switch. 1E recently conducted a survey into Windows 10 migration amongst 204 IT...
Are you thinking about adopting the bimodal approach to your IT service desk? You’re not alone. While Gartner has pioneered the term, the concept has been growing for a while. Despite its recent popularity, however, Gartner says that only half of the teams that...
With the upcoming Windows Server 2016 release (Aug/Sept 2016) Microsoft is removing processor licenses and adding core licenses to the SPUR. Previously, SPLA partners had to report each physical processor on each host. With the new licensing change, you must license...
It is fitting that the most powerful piece of advice to keep in mind when preparing to negotiate your new license agreement with Oracle is itself most commonly associated with ancient Greece’s Socrates. It is the aphorism “know thyself.” I would also add an additional...
On March 5, Adobe issued changes to the VIP subscription and tier licensing of Creative Cloud and Acrobat DC products for commercial and government customers (including the GSA). Generally speaking, customers are likely to see a shift of their VIP Tier stacking, which...
In the wake of the glitz and glam of the Oscars last weekend, all attention was turned to stars of the latest Star Wars offering, ‘The Force Awakens’. And while most were concerned with the fashion, the accolades, and subsequent winners of this pivotal event in the...
Snow Software Launches Global Partner Program to Reflect International Growth Snow Software has launched a new global partner program to help scale customer relationships and support its rapidly growing partner base around the world. In doing so, the company aims to...
Snow Software Appoints Microsoft Veteran Barry Friedman to Drive ITSM & ITAM Vendor Alliances Snow Software, the leading developer of on-premise and hosted Software Asset Management (SAM) technologies, today announced that Barry Friedman has joined the company in...
Oracle Database users running applications in a virtualised environment using third-party virtualisation software could be in "serious breach" of Oracle's software licensing rules and potentially on the hook for millions in fines and extra software licences. This is...
Server virtualisation is a mature technology that can help you save money, time, and carbon emissions. Consequently, just about every major organisation has adopted it in one form or another, somewhere on their IT estate. But there is a major issue with virtualisation...
As Valentine’s Day approached, thoughts turned to cupid. So in this age of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and high-tech dating, CIO’s must consider a novel question: do the dating apps employees might be using on their corporate-issued or BYOD phones present a potential...
B/E Aerospace is the world’s leading manufacturer of aircraft cabin interior products. As Director of Global Support Services, one of my main objectives is to ensure our end users – Engineers, Accountants, Sales Representatives, Executives and Operations Staff – are...
A new Flexera Software report reveals that most organizations are unnecessarily wasting significant portions of their enterprise software budget. Consider these statistics: 75 percent of enterprises are out of compliance with regards to at least some percentage of...
A new bill in the Senate would solidify moves made by the Obama administration to centralize software licensing and eliminate duplicate spending. The bipartisan Making Electronic Government Accountable By Yielding Tangible Efficiencies Act of 2015, dubbed the MEGABYTE...
If your company runs on Oracle, then there is a good chance you either have a ULA contract or your Oracle sales rep has proposed a ULA for your company. A ULA contract is an ‘Unlimited License Agreement’ that basically gives you the right to use an unlimited number of...
Managing a modern data center is a daunting -- and expensive -- task if you go it alone. But partnering with Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) providers can help. Here are seven ways IaaS can pay off for your organization. Navigating the various types of cloud...
Vendors in the cloud computing market hype up the revenues they earn from this emerging technology, making it difficult for customers to truly judge the strength of a vendor’s financial health and difficult to make comparisons between vendors, a report from Gartner...
Many organizations have processes and tools in place to keep track of their IT hardware assets with the goal to have visibility and control of those assets throughout the product lifecycle— from acquisition to retirement. The important thing is to make sure that the...
Like most software publishers, Oracle routinely audits their customers to ensure license compliance. Regardless of whether or not any compliance violations were identified, customers often move on from an audit with the feeling of a “clean bill of health” in terms of...
One of the most persistent questions I hear about Windows 10 involves what happens when the free upgrade offer ends. Is Microsoft going to start charging subscription fees? After a close look at the company's financials, I'm convinced the answer is an emphatic no....
ServiceNow® (NYSE: NOW), the enterprise cloud company, today announced the financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2015. Fourth Quarter 2015 Results: Total revenues of $285.7 million, an increase of 44% year-over-year and 51% in constant currency....
More than ever, effective IT Asset Management makes a decisive impact on bottom lines by increasing efficiency, reducing redundancy and minimizing risk. Nowhere is this more validated than in the combined savings conservatively estimated in the billions won by our...
Join us for "Pink16" – AN EPIC CELEBRATION! The industry's #1 event, our annual conference is widely recognized as the world's most respected IT Service Management event. Business is changing fast; but nothing changes faster than IT. How is the speed of change in IT...
Livingstone, the leading provider of SAM managed services today officially launched a new IAITAM accredited Software Asset Management (SAM) training capability. The first in the series, which is taking place on 11th February 2016, is the Certified Software Asset...
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