SAM as a Service, everything simple or what?
In a perfect world, your company has a vision, derives a mission from it, and all employees and their goals pay tribute to this vision and mission.This is also true for Software Asset Management. The vendor scope is defined, your vendor license balances in scope stand up to external audit scrutiny. Your audit defense strategy ensures a fear-free life. Your SAM tool is integrated into the IT landscape and delivers all data in the required timeframe with excellent quality. Your reports from the SAM tool provide meaningful information and should you ever need an ad hoc report, Excel or better PowerBI helps you conjure up the data quickly and prettily on PowerPoint slides.
You deliver quarterly reports on the "success" of your SAM to management and identify budget-relevant/non-budget-relevant savings potentials and risks. Your SAM moves in an agreed process framework which you have based on ISO 19770-x and an improvement process has been established. Your organization and management value your expertise and your ability to think outside the box. You are in demand as an "internal" consultant and sit on various governance, compliance, IT security and architecture boards and provide your input.
Sounds familiar? Congratulations, you can take it to the next level. Why bother with the "count, measure, weigh" anymore? Outsource these topics to leverage your expertise and add even more value to your business. Focus entirely on strategic license management. You are "ready" for Software Asset Management as a Service (SAMaaS) and your maturity level would even stand up to an offshore service provider.
Except, unfortunately, we haven't just known since Trump, Corona and Putin that our world isn't perfect. And that's where the real problem starts, or do you still believe in "transparency at the push of a button"? Some issues are not right in your "perfect SAM world" and this fact will make your 40 hours week grow.
So if you are thinking about the topic of SAMaaS, you should first ask yourself two questions:
1. what is the state of SAM in the company?
2. what is the goal that you associate with SAMaaS?
Once you have answered these questions, various questions follow directly:
- What is the future degree of in-house service depth?
- Which tool solution will be used?
- Who will operate the solution?
- How is data quality ensured?
- How will know-how transfer be ensured?
- How will the software lifecycle process be kept alive?
- Who are the stakeholders?
- Who is considered in a RACI matrix?
- How and which SLA`s are defined?
- And much more
But maybe you have the situation that SAMaaS cannot be initiated as an exciting project at all, but the entire IT operation of the company is outsourced to a service provider and nobody has talked to you about the SAM requirements.
This is where it gets particularly challenging or exciting. Because now you have to try to get the round through the square. Since SAM is basically a very individual solution in the corporate environment, there is no "standard solution" for SAM, even if some marketing slides want to tell you that. However, the business model of large outsourcers is based on standardization and scalability. This tension must now be resolved. To do this, you need resources, the backing of your management and a really good plan.
Regardless of whether you outtask, outsource or completely hand over your IT operations... you are well advised to keep governance and quality management in one role within the company (see figure).
Only then will SAM deliver its benefits and achieve the actual goal of deploying software in a contract-compliant, economical, and demand-driven manner.
Are you facing such a challenge? Then please feel free to contact us. We have excellent expertise in this environment and can advise and support you in all matters relating to the topic.
Author: Frank Salz