Managing software assets effectively is not to be taken lightly.
Typically, many people in an organisation are involved in the maintenance and disposal of software assets, but there's often a lack of overall knowledge about the extent of the software being used.
According to the ITAM Review, an online community for IT asset management professionals, Software Asset Management (SAM) relates to all the processes, procedures and people that are responsible for the management of software assets, including licensing.
So how well are South African organisations managing their software?
ITWeb, Deloitte and Snow Software are running an online survey to examine the state of SAM in local business.
"The main objectives of this survey is to identify the maturity of SAM in South Africa as well as the areas where there's scope for optimising software environments and increasing SAM maturity levels," says Yasteel Ragubeer, assistant manager at Deloitte.
Avoid buying unnecessary licences
Ragubeer adds that the key challenges are achieving visibility of the software environment and optimising and controlling the software spend. A SAM strategy will allow you to have a greater understanding of what licences are owned.
"The aim is to reduce spending on software licences that you do not need, which often happens due to lack of visibility into what is owned vs what is deployed and actively used."
Not having an effective SAM can result in a higher liability with vendor software licensing compliance, warns Ragubeer, adding that a dedicated SAM team that fully understands the risks and benefits of having an efficient SAM system in place is essential.
Click here to complete the survey and you'll stand chance to win a Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
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