Software Asset Management (SAM) Blog

Gartner has identified Software Asset Management (SAM) as critical to helping IT organizations survive the current economic troubles. Alongside VOIP, virtualization, security managed services and data center hosting, the analyst firm highlighed SAM as critical to getting IT leaders to think more like CFOs, looking to address areas of inefficiency as well as investing in new technologies to drive savings.

It certainly seems that SAM fits the bill: aiding organizations to realize savings through better use of existing assets, preventing uneccessary spending on duplicate software, reducing the cost of support and maintenance agreements and avoiding the risk of costly compliance fines.

But to be truly effective, SAM requires IT and finance teams to collaborate closely. And this will be the subject of a more ind-depth post shortly.

The BBC has reportedly made savings of over £100,000 (US $150,000) by removing 780 unused copies of its electronic purchasing system, each costing around £150. The National Audit Office in the UK had previously criticized the broadcaster for spending money on software it wasn’t actively using. A report found that 2,126 staff with a license for the purchasing system had not used it for six months or more.

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has launched a new Software Asset Management(SAM) programme will give Partners the skills to deliver
SAM services to their customers.

the programme will start as a pilot shortly and will be followed soon after with a full roll out taking place over the course of next year.

The SAM Advantage is a world wide SAM programme built on standards issued by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).

The programme, which is customisable to cater for differing levels of comprehension, benefits from the support of a number of the world’s
leading software vendors. The programme was developed in response to the ISO/IEC 19770-1 SAM standard published two years ago by the ISO.
It will be conducted by a mixture of resellers and SAM practitioners.

BSA chief executive Robert Holleyman said: “BSA SAM Advantage is being designed to provide all parties with the knowledge and support they
need to adopt world-class practices in software asset management through a flexible, step-by-step process.”

The programme contains four tiers which vary in the level of detail covered. The first tier aims to provide a basic framework for implementing
SAM and covers license compliance requirements while the second covers effective management. The third looks at integrating SAM into key operational processes while the fourth tier covers complete systems integration and full compliance with ISO/IEC 19770-1. Advantage is targeted at software users and publishers, as well as IT managers and resellers.

Peter Beruk, the BSA’s senior director of compliance marketing, claimed SAM adoption has been hamstrung by a lack of ubiquitous standards.
“SAM practitioners have made great strides in recent years. But, until now, there has not been a consistent, authoritative approach that is
easy to implement. BSA SAM Advantage fills that need,” he said.

The Final Committee Draft (FCD) of ISO/IEC 19770-2 Software Identification Tag is now available in the following ways:

- As document number 07N4168 via the normal channels of distribution for individuals involved in the formal ISO/IEC standards-development process.

- As document number 08/30128080 available for public purchase and PDF download from the BSI (www.bsigroup.com/shop).  Cost is £42.30 or approximately $67.00.

We have also cleared with ISO legal how we can make it available via WG21’s Liaison Organizations (essentially, to named members only, requiring login and password) and I will be making these details available separately.

Please note that the FCD is under ISO/IEC copyright, and may NOT be freely distributed.  In particular, it is not available for public distribution except as officially authorized such as through the BSI above.

Please note that the FCD is now out for comments and a vote through the official ISO/IEC SC7 channels.  The deadline date for any comments from the public to be submitted through the BSI is 28 February 2009.  The deadline date for comments from National Bodies and Liaison Organizations to be submitted to the SC7 Secretariat is 6 March 2009.