Featured Article from Software Licensing

A Dilbert strip once noted that the Pointy-Haired Boss, as was his wont, had made a small budgetary typo affecting the company's testing lab. Though this seemed like a problem, everyone's favorite hate target noted that the problem was sufficiently small that there were only two things the testing lab couldn't buy that year: hardware and software. This illustrated the importance of hardware and software working together to yield the best results. A recent report from Flexera Software shows this is a point that software asset management and IT procurement teams shouldn't lose sight of.

Since IT procurement teams are meant to bring in the necessary equipment to help a business achieve its goals, a software asset management team should view its own purpose in a similar fashion. Software asset management teams essentially finds the material that runs on that necessary equipment, and is therefore an important part of the IT procurement process. After all, IT finds the hardware, and software asset management finds the software. One doesn't get very far without the other, so getting the two working together is particularly important.

It's not just a matter of the obvious synergies between hardware and software, though; it's also a matter of the necessary license issues involve. Companies need to be more focused on software licenses, as there are so many potential pitfalls involved in the process. From too many licenses being purchased to address the actual need to too few licenses being purchased resulting in unexpected expenses coming from a true-up, to even the wrong kind of license purchased, cases for waste and unnecessary expenditure are everywhere.

Having IT procurement involved in the process can not only serve as fresh eyes on the project, but also a second line of defense against potential waste. Potential pitfalls in maintenance contracts, in the user's own requirements under said contracts, and other matters may come up; for instance, a license may require a user to be engaging in “peak processor cores monitored in a 12 month period,” though the software itself doesn't do that tracking. Hardware support is therefore needed, and a key point for IT procurement to step in.

It's more a matter of working together than anything else; just as hardware and software work together to produce the best results, so too should those responsible for bringing in hardware and software work together for the same reason. Not only are potential cracks in the system patched up, but there's a better connection between what systems run the software and what software can make the most out of the system.

Software licensing definitely improves from this arrangement, but there are potentially valuable effects for the entire system to consider. That's too much value to pass up lightly, so consider connecting software asset management and IT procurement for the best results.