Sep
22
2009

The Business Case for Software Asset Management

IT professionals know the value that a software asset management (SAM) system can provide – increased visibility into software applications and related activities can result in accelerated return on software investment, reduced total cost of ownership, and minimized risk. But, in today’s tough economy, where IT budgets are shrinking fast, convincing senior executives of the need for software asset management may not be so easy. That’s why IT teams must build a compelling business case for software asset management.

According to Christopher Germann of Gartner Group, “organizations can realize cost savings of between 5 percent and 35 percent by implementing focused software asset management practices.”

However, analyst research and other third-party validation may not be enough. Benefits in the form of tangible and quantifiable cost savings must be presented to upper level management in order to successfully make the business case for a software asset management system.

Software asset management can deliver significant savings in a variety of forms, including:

Increased IT efficiency. Some companies have saved as much as $16,000 annually by reducing the length of support calls. SAM enables this by making it faster and easier for help desk staff to determine a PCs configuration.
Accelerated IT audits. By eliminating manual processes, firms can conduct software audits more rapidly and more precisely, cutting costs through improved utilization of IT staff resources.
Improved end user productivity. The ability to better detect and prevent the use of IM, games, and other unauthorized programs can spare businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars in employee waste and downtime each year.
Enhanced software license management. Vendor license audits are on the rise, and companies must protect themselves. With software asset management, license compliance is made easy, as firms can more effectively track contract terms and software license allocation. This can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential fines, as well as immeasurable damage to corporate reputation.

While these benefits are substantial, organizations can realize even greater monetary advantages by choosing a software-as-a-service (SaaS) based software asset management system over an on-premise one.

The specific savings that can be achieved with software asset management will vary greatly from one company to the next, based on a variety of factors such as the number of end users, the number of PCs, and the average salary of IT staff members. Unique information about your business will need to be applied, to ensure the accuracy of your estimated ROI when building your business case for software asset management.