Software Asset Management – A Primer – Part 1

I know why you’re here, you typed into Google “Software Asset Management” expecting hundreds of links to methods, processes and software tools that help manage software in an easy concise and straight forward manner.

You probably then clicked on a few links and had plenty of websites tell you how important Software Asset Management is and that it can save you or your company thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Then they will tell you that its their solution that is the best for you to invest in and that it will end the issues that you are experiencing with your deployed software.

Well, while some of the tools will get you some of the way, you won’t fix your problems.

Its true that you need excellent tools to best capture information about the software in your environment, but its not the only thing you need.

So many business have struggled with Software Asset Management, and even when the combination of good policy, great tools and staff culture change are in place; it can still be a worrying task to complete.

So why is SAM so hard?

The overshadowing concern, before you think about policy, procedure, process and tools, STANDARDS.

Why such a problem?… Because there are no standards.

Firstly there is no standard by which software companies should license themselves. I’m sure we’ve all seen situations where you’ve said ” I wish X Company would license their software like Y Company”, I know I’ve said this more than I’ve liked.

No standards equals the ability for a software manufacturer to choose how they license their software, and traditionally the larger the company and more popular in industry the software the harder it is to control your licensing.

But why make it harder to license and be compliant for software you buy?

It all comes down to the almighty dollar. If its harder to license then you’ll spend money to make it easier, but are you really making it easier or just giving the software manufacturer the keys to a self-operating money making machine?

Here is caveat number two, with harder to license software it inherently becomes harder to ever know your true obligations of the licenses you purchase.

How many people do you know who can speak ‘Legalese’ the language of contracts and licenses? I know very few people who can digest this information an turn it into meaningful statements about licenses, even more so I’m yet to find two people who agree on the exact particulars of a software license.

Most people understand the overall idea of a software product:

1. You purchase a piece of software.
2. You open the box to install.
3. You agree to a page of text that you don’t read or understand.
4. You start to use the software.

This is the single largest mistake people and companies alike make when buying software.

Once you agree to the conditions the software product comes with, then you are legally bound by the End User Licensing Agreement (ELUA).

Do all software companies provide a similar method to producing and enforcing a EULA? Nope, once again it comes down to there being no standards.

A EULA can be as simple as the following:

1. You agree to be bound to this document
2. You agree not to reverse engineer this software
3. You agree not to copy or sell this software

But as most it can be excruciatingly painful in its detail and complexity, only adding to the frustration of any person wishing to know what they may or may not do with their newly purchased software.

Have you read the EULA for each piece of software you’ve deployed? Wait a minute, you just said that you use freeware and open source.

Yep EVERY piece of software has a license and a EULA, even if its freeware or open source, don’t be fooled just because you didn’t need to pay for it.

Here are the short answers:

Do you need to read the EULA? Yes.

Do you need to adhere to the EULA’s terms? Yes.

Can a EULA be written that makes my use of this software difficult? Absolutely.

The 2nd reason is quantity and distribution…

Distribution is your enemy, how many machines do you have that use software you’ve purchased, all of them probably do unless you have made the change to open source or freeware operating systems.

So how many? one machine? one hundred? one thousand or more?

Anything from one to one hundred machines is quite controllable, you’ll probably know the people who use the specific software on the systems and they probably feel a sense of ownership of the software on their machines.

Up to one hundred people also are quite quick to respond to change in processes or procedure.

Anything over one hundred people and you start to run into a few larger issues, who needs the software? how many do you distribute it to? will they understand the limitation of the software use?

Have over one thousand people in your business or company? then the road is hard and fraught with pain, but this also may be to your advantage.

The 3rd reason is discovery…

Ok so you have a network full of software, how do you find out what is on each machine? What quantity do you have out in your network? Can you target a single PC for discovery?

Without spot on discovery, you’ll feel like you are up the proverbial creek without a paddle of any description.

The 4th and final reason is metrics…

Metrics are important, don’t let anyone say otherwise, you need metrics.

Killer metrics will only serve you best when all other things slot into place, know where you’ve come from, where you are and where you are going and metrics will be the proof in the pudding.

There is light at the end of the tunnel…

Its just how long the tunnel is.

The above statements seem quite final, and depending on your distribution you can have a nightmare on your hands, but worry not there is room to breathe.

Where to start, where to start… Locked Environments and Baselining is the key to making sure you are managing your software assets correctly.

Look out for the next part of this primer!

In the next part of this primer I will be discussing further the concepts and methods of Locked Environments, Baselining, SOE (State of Environment) benefits, Bulletproof Distribution and more!

If you have any ideas or further questions so far add it to the comments!