Several months ago when we rang in the New Year, little did we know that 2020 would present the unforeseen challenges of a worldwide pandemic. First and foremost, we dealt with the challenge of navigating all the precautions necessary to keep our families, friends and ourselves healthy. Secondly, we were faced with an economy forced to shut down to stop the spread of the virus.
The pandemic has negatively impacted many businesses while benefiting others. Businesses in industries such as transportation and hospitality have truly suffered while online superstores, food markets, home entertainment, cleaning product and pharmaceutical companies have flourished. This is evidenced by the stock price of American Airlines dropping by two-thirds within one year while Amazon has more than doubled. Companies that have experienced a significant slow-down in revenue have had to lay off or furlough employees and find ways to cut expenses quickly.
How can your IT and Software Asset Management program help? Managing and optimizing your hardware and software assets is a great way to avoid unnecessary expenses. Whether or not your company has been negatively impacted by Covid-19, it’s important to get a handle on your hardware and software estate, the actual need for and usage of your IT assets, and where money is being spent. The temporary or permanent transition to a remote workforce as well as any reductions in staff amplify why this is so important.
Often times it’s the path of least resistance to pay a software maintenance bill, renew a contract or purchase new hardware and software without the due diligence of detailed analysis beforehand. However, with reliable IT and Software Asset Management processes in place, companies can cut significant costs. Here are some examples of ways to do this:
- Software license harvesting or re-use
- Software license and subscription analysis for high-value suppliers (Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Adobe, SAP, etc.)
- Automating discovery, workflows and reconciliation
- Contract analysis
- Hardware asset re-use
- Hardware asset disposition and resale
A reliable IT and Software Asset Management solution provides the foundation for managing and analyzing data, and enables your organization to make important decisions that will impact the financial bottom line. Your solution should provide complete visibility into all of your hardware and software assets and enable you to proactively govern and manage devices, licenses, contracts and agreements, optimize licensing costs and gain maximum value from hardware assets, avoid or reduce the impact of software publisher audits, and minimize network and endpoint security risks. Eracent’s ITMC™ (IT Management Center) offers a complete IT and Software Asset Management suite which includes Discovery, Lifecycle Management, Continuous License Reconciliation (CLR) modules, the IT-Pedia® Product Data Library, and the App Store Plus™ self-service portal.
If you are already using ITMC™, your IT Asset Management (ITAM) program should be producing lots of data and reports that provide the foundation for further analysis. Eracent partners with leading SAM services firms that provide advisory services to augment the work that your organization is already doing. The SAM services providers offer audit defense, contract analysis and negotiation, and ITAM/SAM process improvement. The deliverables associated with these services will likely identify significant cost savings opportunities that will help you reduce expenses and manage the financial impact of Covid-19.
If you are struggling with managing, optimizing your IT assets and identifying ways to cut expenses, please reach out to Eracent and we will be happy to help!
– by William Choppa
William Choppa is the President of Eracent. He has almost twenty years’ experience helping clients meet their ITAM and SAM challenges with his knowledge of technical solutions and business process best practices.
