How to control Data Transfer across a Corporate Network

Introduction

The extent to which computing has become a part of everyday life and day-to-day commerce has prompted a change in the way management approaches how they manage the money, the tasks and the assets within a business.

As computing becomes more widespread within a business and takes a more prominent role within the vital functions of that business, it is necessary to make sure that an appropriate amount of attention is given to this technology. Technological assets that may have once been ignored are now important factors in the decision making process.

IT capabilities have come a long way over the past few years and are now seen as vital elements of any company. As such, they are allocated greater budgets but must also be able to manage a greater amount of responsibility. There is an eternal race between business needs and computing capabilities.

But once you have spent a substantial amount of your budget on developing an IT infrastructure and seen the requirements of your organisation change, how do you ensure that the IT 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 needs and will offer different issues. To satisfy these requirements there are a number of different solutions and approaches that can be implemented to help control the IT assets of your business.

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 suites within your company. It is a business process rather than a distinct discipline and is becoming a more essential part of the modern business environment, particularly for corporations 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 technicians rolling out software across a large corporate network, but can be a critical tool to help improve performance at all levels of a company. The aims of SAM include monitoring costs of the IT infrastructure within a business, negating legal risks associated with incorrect software license usage and preserving high levels of productivity by making sure software is up to date and fit for its purpose.

The practice of software asset management is often thought of as an unnecessary evil due to the abstract nature of what it is designed to deal with, and the business 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 driving commercial factor when deciding to employ SAM software within a company. Every corporation needs to make profit after all and expenditure is a very measurable metric. The financial benefits of SAM do certainly exist however.

An increasingly large proportion of a company’s IT bank roll is spent on software licensing so there is a real need to invest to correctly handle this spending. As companies expand and diversify, their software needs can change radically and equipment and software can quickly become out of date. There is no need to spend money to maintain the licenses on this outdated software, which is where software asset management really delivers an advantage.

software asset management 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 organisation, including Finance Human Resources, to ensure that it runs as cost-effectively as possible. It is a process that does not need to follow regular.

Anybody who was going to question Centennial resellers what kind of package stands out would get the simple answer SAM.

Why follow a SAM Strategy?

Having seen the multiple benefits of employing a software asset management solution, how do you know that it would be correct for your business? Each business is different and has its own unique set of problems and benefits, so any strategy you will undertake needs to be catered to these specific characteristics.

There are more than simply cost advantages that can be made through the control of licensing and maintenance agreements across an organisations IT system. Productivity can be greatly by ensuring that employees have the newest editions of software permitted under current licenses held, and communication within the company is helped when support staff know exactly what is deployed on every computer under their control.

Financial Savings

As discussed before, perhaps the most convincing reason to utilise software asset management within your business is the potential cost savings that can be made. 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 SAM can help to reduce costs is by targeting any software running on your corporate IT system that is no longer necessary. 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 clearing these items of software that are no longer a benefit to the operation of your business you are streamlining a large chunk of your IT infrastructure. Paying for unnecessary software licenses and maintenance agreements means that more finance can be spent on the vital parts of your IT system.

Mitigate Risk

A surprising percentage of software that is currently used in the corporate environment is either licensed incorrectly or not licensed at all. Running any amount of uncontrolled software on your IT system is ill advised, because when left unchecked it can become incredibly unpredictable. This is becoming an increasingly annoying factor for IT managers.

Unlicensed software applications can be introduced into an uncontrolled IT environment in a number of ways. Software may have been bundled when your IT hardware was first purchased although the initial software licenses may have expired. Without the correct security policies in place, users may also be able to install their own software onto the system. Operating a corporate IT system in this unmanaged way will almost certainly lead to trouble.

The danger of running unlicensed software on your system is clear. When anything 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 seriously limit your responsiveness to unforeseen events. The cost of recovery will forever outweigh the cost of mitigation when it comes to data systems.

If your business undertakes an IT system overhaul, a certified Centennial distributor should be top of the first ports of call.

Implementing Software Asset Management in your Organisation

As previously mentioned, there are many potential benefits to using a good SAM strategy within your organisation, both financial and otherwise. It is vitally important to determine which branches of SAM you should deploy first since certain benefits will be achieved more speedily than others.

The discovery process can be viewed as three primary areas that have to be performed to truly build an accurate picture of the deployment of IT assets within your organisation.

Inventory

Inventory is the most basic stage of the discovery cycle. It is vital that an accurate audit of IT assets within your organisation is created to aid your IT managers to maintain baselines regarding your IT network. This inventory process must be performed before continuing with discovery.
Thankfully, this process can now be made automatic and even the largest of networks can be investigated and analysed in a reasonably short period of time. Inventory should be able to identify your IT assets regardless of their geographical location or technological characteristics. Modern inventory processes are capable of this.

Capture

The second step in the discovery cycle involves the capture of the software license entitlements that manage the software assets discovered in the inventory. The capture process should collect entitlements for all of the software that exists on your system, even when the software is not currently used. Without this information the inventory would be nearly useless.

The risk of human error can be avoided by using automated tools that are specifically designed to create a library of license entitlements. Tools that are currently employed are incredibly efficient at capturing accurate information.

Identification & Validation

The next step is to match up your software audit to the repository of licensing data that were created in the last two stages. Errors may have been made anywhere from the original paperwork for software to the latest audits undertaken on your IT network.

One critical factor in the validation step is the ability to combine the license entitlements on your system to your company’s proof of entitlement. This will be vital if any disputes with software resellers 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 delivering software packages to its users. It will be much simpler to identify any trouble spots on your network, or areas of software usage that are no longer of any practical benefit to your activites. This detailed map can be used for future reference as well.

You can now begin a period of reconciliation upon your system. You should 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 in your network may include many hundreds or perhaps thousands of individual instances, and there may be any number of restrictions that may be associated with the licensing contracts you have in place. It is therefore essential to automate the reconciliation stage, using one or more programs to apply intelligent rules to the process. These rules can be catered to the specific needs of your business

The IT industry is in vital need for more Centennial vendors who can supply the right IT monitoring services.

Compliancy and Flexibility with SAM

Many of the basic practices of a successful software asset management strategy are based upon the principles set 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 functions. The ITIL can be found online.

This library is a changing entity and is often updated with new ideas and policies that cater to the ever changing IT environment of modern business. A good SAM strategy should be fluid enough to follow the guidelines set out in the ITIL whilst matching the changing needs of the business 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 collection of guidelines that are designed to ensure that SAM is utilised in such a way as to “satisfy corporate governance requirements”.

The ISO standard should certainly be adhered to when designing a SAM strategy for your own organisation, although the level of detail included within can easily become a daunting prospect. It is important to remember that no matter what guidelines you follow when creating a SAM strategy, whatever you decide to implement needs to help your business rather than hinder it.

Designing a full and comprehensive SAM strategy for your own business may actually never come to fruition. Your strategy must be flexible to adapt and grow as your business does, and it should allow for modifications to your daily activities, no matter how trivial or fundamental they might be. This really is the key to a worthwhile SAM plan.

Conclusion

It is clear 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 luxury that would occasionally forward the business. Computer networks are now vital to the modern business. Crucial systems need to be controlled to an appropriate level.

As with other parts of any company, a number of different strategies should be considered and utilised in order to ensure the efficient running of daily tasks. SAM should not be the only tool used to manage computing resources within your organisation, but rather one of a multitude of complimentary techniques used to control the system as a unit.

So if you think that your business is currently suffering from a lack of structured monitoring and management over its IT infrastructure, or that the possible advantages outlined in this article could provide a critical market edge over your competitors, then it would be worth researching how software asset management could be used within your organisation.

February 9, 2010 Posted in: Daily Updates