Due to the ever-changing business environment, South African companies are expected to be flexible and more importantly, competitive. Inevitably this means that IT systems have to adapt to these changes, which results in further capital outlay, specifically when acquiring the latest business and other software.
So, over time companies accumulate a number of software licences as they deploy new products. However, utilising and managing software is a different challenge altogether, specifically when IT budgets are limited.
South African IT governance company, Info Sec Africa, believes that by implementing an optimised software licensing model - driven by IT governance - companies can reduce software licensing costs by as much as 30%.
Says Peter Hill, managing director of Info Sec Africa: "Better governance will enable companies to establish an inventory of all software products, identify unlicensed software, but most importantly determine whether the business requirement for the software is indeed valid."
Info Sec Africa`s optimised software licensing model is based on CobiT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technologies), which was released in 1998 by the IT Governance Institute, and presents IT activities in a manageable and logical structure.
According to Hill, one of the first steps to implementing appropriate software optimisation - maintaining an accurate inventory of licensed software - is also one of the greatest and most time-consuming challenges.
"This is a time-consuming if not impossible task if a suitably designed tool is not deployed," he says.
Info Sec Africa`s software inventory management (SIM) tool automates software licence management, thus enabling companies to keep track of their software usage more effectively.
SIM is an intranet-based Web application, installed on Windows-based servers and connected to companies` LANs, WANs or intranets. The tool, for example, enables companies to control the use of software and minimise the associated billing by vendors.
"SIM identifies software that is under-utilised and eliminates costly vendor initiated audits. It also overcomes security concerns as communication between IT administrators and servers is enabled via HTTP (through port 80)."
Info Sec Africa also offers various services for implementing an optimised software licensing strategy. These include:
* Assisting with the development of the right policies and procedures for software licence management;
* Matching software usage to installed software and purchased licences;
* Assisting with the selection of key goal and performance indicators;
* Identifying performance metrics; and
* Enabling self-assessment.
Concludes Hill: "By implementing an optimised software licensing model, companies can maximise and future-proof software investment, while minimising costs down the road."
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