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Author: Ben Tight

Negotiating a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement: What to Expect

Posted on by Ben Tight

Microsoft is Changing How it Negotiates EA Renewals:
Here’s What You Need to Know to Prepare

If you’re a part of a large company with at least 250 devices, chances are you have some sort of an Enterprise Agreement (EA) in place with Microsoft. The EA offers Microsoft products at reduced prices, gives you the opportunity to add licenses while paying (true up) later, and it allows an easy way to purchase online services such as Microsoft 365.

Given the right circumstances, this can prove exceptionally valuable and highly cost-effective. If you find yourself in the wake of a looming EA renewal, there are some recent changes that you should take into consideration before entering negotiations with Microsoft.

At Metrixdata 360, after over a decade of experience dealing with Microsoft, we have noticed a change in how Microsoft approaches these renewals that may make your renewal more challenging than they have been in the past. We’ve outlined the some of those changes to how Microsoft handles Enterprise Agreement renewals below.

Pressure to Move to the Cloud

While Microsoft’s Azure may not have as many features or as wide availability as Amazon’s Web Service (AWS), Azure popularity is skyrocketing, and its sales organization is highly motivated to push you to the Cloud.

Now, Microsoft has become quite aggressive in moving its business – and subsequently its clients – to the Cloud and away from traditional on-premise licensing. This means you can expect a lot of pressure from Microsoft to get you to sign up for some commitment to Azure and other subscription-based licensing models (Office 365, Security Products, Teams Voice Features, etc.).

The particular complication that Azure presents that we have often seen occurs when companies sign up for Azure services and find out that there are many hidden or unexpected costs that can quickly add up, making it difficult to predict what the total cost will be for your company. Services that are sold for only a few cents per minute could easily cost thousands of dollars when scaled.

A big indicator that points to Microsoft’s desire to move the Cloud comes in the form of traditional on-premise products often being ignored by Microsoft. If you had discounts on these products in the past, Microsoft is removing those discounts and the revenue that is associated with these purchases is no longer of much interest to the Microsoft sales teams.

For more information on moving to the Cloud, check out our article 4 Best Practices For Cloud Optimization.

Microsoft Will Use Tight Timelines

In the past, Microsoft had internal pressure to ensure that Enterprise Agreement contracts were renewed on time.

We have seen a shift where they are now using this deadline against customers. This pressure leaves companies feeling forced to sign a contract that may not be the most beneficial for them.

Running the clock down to make a Microsoft representative sweat may have resulted in a better proposal when the actual expiration date drew near. Now, however, this strategy no longer yields the results customers are looking for as Microsoft has shifted the pressure to the customer and may not make any improvements on their proposals even when the date for renewal approaches.

Since tight deadlines no longer hold much sway, we would suggest giving yourself ample time to prepare. Previously, you may have only needed three to six months to prepare, but now, you may need nine to twelve months. The first six months should be used to ensure you have a complete handle on what you actually require from Microsoft and the remaining three to six months should be used to actually negotiate the renewal.

Microsoft Needs You to Keep Buying and Upgrading in Order to Consider You a Partner

Are you just starting to deploy to Office 365? Perhaps Microsoft will pressure you into buying security products as well. What does it matter to them that you already have a contract with another vendor, or that to make the transition from your current vendor would be a needlessly laborious task? You can expect no concession from Microsoft when it even comes to the time that it would take for you to actually move or justify those purchases.

If you own E3 licenses, you can be expected to be pressured to buy E5s and if you have Office 365, you’ll see pressure to purchase Microsoft 365.

Large commitments to Azure are constantly being pushed on customers, and we have also seen an increased interest in selling LinkedIn Services within the EA, this includes services that revolve around recruiting, sales, and marketing.

This raises a question: if you already have top-level products like E5s and there’s nowhere you can upgrade to or you simply don’t need anything new, how will you be able to get those price concessions from Microsoft that you need if you seemingly have no bargaining chips?

Download our PDF on Software Sales Rep Motivations:

Microsoft Needs You to Keep Buying and Upgrading in Order to Consider You a Partner



Microsoft Needs You to Keep Buying and Upgrading in Order to Consider You a Partner

Are you just starting to deploy to Office 365? Perhaps Microsoft will pressure you into buying security products as well. What does it matter to them that you already have a contract with another vendor, or that to make the transition from your current vendor would be a needlessly laborious task? You can expect no concession from Microsoft when it even comes to the time that it would take for you to actually move or justify those purchases.

If you own E3 licenses, you can be expected to be pressured to buy E5s and if you have Office 365, you’ll see pressure to purchase Microsoft 365.

Large commitments to Azure are constantly being pushed on customers, and we have also seen an increased interest in selling LinkedIn Services within the EA, this includes services that revolve around recruiting, sales, and marketing.

This raises a question: if you already have top-level products like E5s and there’s nowhere you can upgrade to or you simply don’t need anything new, how will you be able to get those price concessions from Microsoft that you need if you seemingly have no bargaining chips?

Our Recommendations for Your Next EA Contract Renewal

At MetrixData360, we recognize that things are not the same with Microsoft as they have been in the past and going into your EA renewal, you’ll be confronted with a new process that is far more frustrating than it used to be, so here are some tips to help you deal with these changes:

Air Your Frustrations – Tactfully

We’re not suggesting you flip a table (despite how satisfying that might be), but be prepared for this situation to be exasperating. Microsoft will use all of the corporate structures as justification for drawing out the process and as a way to avoid legitimate business requests.

Make sure you let Microsoft know how irritated you are with this process and talk to them frequently. It will be helpful to move things along if you set up, early in the process, a weekly meeting with Microsoft and present them with small tasks to do during these meetings. This will allow you to track their progress.

Anticipate That You May Need to Purchase More Licenses Than You Use

It may seem counter-productive if you’re looking to save money and cut spending, but Microsoft is known to reward those who buy into their strategies early. Sometimes, you can get concessions that may be worth the purchase, even if you end up buying things you don’t need, such as E5 licenses and LinkedIn services.

Make sure you have a strong understanding of what a reasonable price would be for the bare minimum you require for your company. This is done through understanding your company’s usage regarding these Microsoft products. A 20% discount will still mean losses if it turns out you’re overspending by 45%, so keep that balancing act in mind if you decide to scale up.

If you’d like to learn more about the value gap in Microsoft Negotiations, check out our Youtube video from the SAM Channel.

Know Your Options and Be Assertive

Microsoft will push you to get things done quickly, and to increase your spending, so you have to be prepared to push back.

You may need to be prepared to move beyond the expiration date in order to see flexibility from Microsoft. We have seen organizations that have gone two months past the expiration date to finally reach agreement with Microsoft.

The only other option available to you to get around this unfortunate situation is to start earlier and get serious about the negotiations as soon as possible. In the past, the intensity of the negotiation came to its peak around one to three months before the renewal but now, in order to reach the most ideal agreement, negotiations should begin in earnest around three to six months before the renewal.

You also need to be prepared to escalate within your organization and with Microsoft’s.

Having a strong understanding of your software usage and current spending will give you the knowledge you need to create two or three pricing options that will allow you to decrease costs or at least to not increase it.

Don’t expect Microsoft to be any help to you in these areas, their goals are very clear, they want you to increase your spending regardless of whether it will provide greater value to you.

Hire a Professional Negotiator

There are many stakeholders involved in a contract renewal, each with different goals that need to be persuaded, what words do you use to convince them all?

You will need an in-depth look into your spending and your software usage. This will empower you to pursue the best deal possible for your company.

Also, if you do manage to lower your spending with Microsoft, it is likely that they will attempt to make up for any shortfalls in their revenue target by sending you some version of an audit, either a friendlier SAM engagement or a straight-up audit.

For this reason, it is important you get a professional to help you prepare for your EA renewal as though it were a software audit because it could very easily turn into one, depending on how things go.

If you want to know about your options for the management of your software, see our article Hire a Software Asset Management Expert or Do it Yourself? The Pros and Cons of Each.

Microsoft Negotiation Services for Your Business

Enterprise Agreements are a vital part of your business, and it’s important you prepare for your EA renewal sooner rather than later, lest you be stuck with an overpriced agreement that fails to deliver on value.

Your best defense is to be prepared and to know your data backwards and forwards.

At MetrixData 360, we pride ourselves in providing our customers with solid data that is easy to understand. If you’d like to know more about how MetrixData360 can provide you with the deals you need and the prices you want, clicking the link below will take you to our Contract Negotiation page.

Download our PDF on Software Sales Rep Motivations:

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Getting Started: Implementing Software Asset Management

Posted on by Ben Tight

Implementing Software Asset Management for Beginners

Implementing a strong software asset management strategy into your company can have massive long-term benefits in savings and overall software visibility.

When you are just beginning your software asset management journey however, all the individual data points can be overwhelming and often discouraging for companies with a large and complicated software profile.

At MetrixData 360, we teach our clients how to implement a strong software asset management program. So at glance, what does it take to get your company on track to an optimized and cost-effective software profile?

Why Implement Software Asset Management?

The first thing you need to do on your journey to a fully realized software profile is convincing your department and possibly your senior management that SAM is a good idea. There are many benefits that can be recognized in a strong software asset management solution, such as:

  • Having a strong software profile in place will mean that you will be better equipped to defend your company from any unwarranted software penalties.
  • Software audits have proven immensely profitable for the software vendors, so there’s nothing stopping them from coming back over and over again for another audit. It’s not a matter of if you’ll be audited, it’s a matter of when and how often.
  • You will be in a position where you can verify the accuracy of your data and you will have better visibility into your spending and your usage, which means you will be able to eliminate waste and deal with potential compliance issues before they are brought up in an audit. Software Asset Management puts you back in the driver’s seat when it comes to your software.
  • With SAM, you can check in on your software health and security. Hackers will often use old and unmonitored software as a means of breaching your security system.

Having an organized software estate and eliminating any redundancies will give your IT security less to manage and more visibility into what has been patched and what hasn’t. If you’d like to know more about the security benefits of SAM, check out our article How SAM can Improve your Cyber Security.

Software Asset Management empowers your IT department, as it gives them the ability to track the value of deployed software. SAM gives them the hard data that they need to advocate for the implementation of much needed software and to retire software that is no longer of value.

Where Do You Start To Implement Software Asset Management?

After you’ve been given the go-ahead to implement SAM, you will find that your software environment is a vast and overwhelming landscape, especially if no form of software asset management has been attempted in the past. How do you even begin to get organized?

  • Determine Your SAM Maturity Levels

Software asset management isn’t a switch you can flick on and off. Although many SAM tools market themselves as offering complete SAM maturity immediately upon installation of their product, this is hardly ever the case.

You gain visibility slowly over an extended period of time. Depending on the size and state of your software profile, reaching full SAM maturity could take anywhere from a few months to a little over a year.

The first step in developing a strong Software Asset Management profile is simply determining where you are in the process. This means that you will be able to map out a plan to get you to where you want to go. There are several stages to SAM maturity (it’s most often presented in five stages but Certero only counts four):

      • Chaotic, which is exactly what it sounds like. There is no semblance of software visibility present. Your only goal at this stage is to figure out what you have.
      • Reactive is where you have a sense of what is in your profile and your goal from here is to determine what licenses you have and compare that against what is in your system.
      • Compliance Plus means that you have reached full compliance; your data is visible, and you can properly defend yourself against any audit should one arise. From here you can work towards automating the process, so that this level of compliance is assured to continue.
      • Optimization means that once you have your licenses in order, and you’ve reached full visibility, you can begin to find ways your company can save money and increase the value of what you have in your network.
      • Amplified Value, now that you’ve been able to save money, you can reinvest that money back into your software environment to help it grow.
  • Determine What Processes You Should Implement

It is important to figure out which of the many processes software asset management implements is right for your business. There are a few core processes that gathers vital information into your SAM visibility. According to ITAM Reviews’ An Introduction to Software Asset Management, these processes include:

      • Determining Software Use – Establish what users are permitted to do with the software they have installed on their machines.
      • Software Procurement – How do you properly purchase a new software instance?
      • Software Authorization and Deployment – How is new software requested and what is the process for approval and deployment?
      • Recycling with Starters, Movers, and Leavers – How is software given to new employees? What happens when an employee moves departments or offices? What happens to an employee’s software when they leave the company? How is it redistributed back into your company’s infrastructure?
      • Disaster Recovery – Should an unexpected incident occur, how will critical IT services be maintained until the incident has passed?
      • License Compliance – How does your company determine that license compliance is met and how do you guarantee that non-compliance issues are addressed?
  • Find the Right Tools and People for the Project

The next thing you need is the right equipment to get the job done. When choosing a SAM tool for your company, according to ITAM Reviews’ article: An Introduction to Software Asset Management; as well as conclusions drawn from our own experience, there are many things to consider, such as:

      • A tool won’t give you complete visibility immediately, software asset management is a process
      • Tools can easily apply duplicates, especially if your network has unique naming conventions
      • Tools struggle to account for Cloud Mobility, different License Metrics, or bundled purchases
      • Tools can accidentally mark your test environments as full production deployments
      • Tools are great for inventory data, but they will often fail to account for circumstantial data such as Edition types
      • Check the compatibility of the SAM tool with your environment or any other SAM tools you already have implemented
      • How will the tool impact the user experience, if at all?
      • Is your infrastructure strong enough to support the tool?
      • How does the tool vendor issue updates or patches? How will those changes affect the tool and its performance in your system?
      • How does the tool gather data? Is there any downtime that is experienced as a result of the tool gathering data?
      • Does the tool vendor offer any support?

Ensure that you keep this in mind when purchasing your tool, as often companies with an insufficient SAM tool will resort to either buying another SAM tool or supplementing any missing information manually and both solutions are far from ideal.

Next, you’ll need to find someone who can own the project. SAM is not something that can be simply thrown at procurement,for example. Software Asset Management is a full-time job. You have a few options at your disposal when it comes to hiring the right people:

Hire a Software Asset Management Team

While hiring a team of full-time software asset managers offers you a team that shares your company values, adding to your company’s headcount is expensive in the long run and offers less expertise and diversity of experience than a software licensing consultant.

Third-Party Software License Consultants

Perhaps their expense can seem more costly upfront, but software license consultants bring instant expertise and the ability to scale their team according to your demands. The savings that they can bring to your company can be huge.

Hybrid Solution

This popular option offers the best of both worlds. Companies who opt into this hybrid solution will have their own tools installed onto their network but will outsource the management of it to a software license consultant. This setup is ideal for companies with highly sensitive data or companies who have their day-to-day management under control but would like assistance with a large project such as an audit or a contract renewal.

For more information on the options available to you, check out our article Hire a Software Asset Management Expert or Do it Yourself? The Pros and Cons of Each.

Want to Get Started?

Software Asset Management is quickly becoming an essential element of any strong business strategy.

There are audits to defend against, software licenses to optimize, money to save, and asset management can give you all of that.

Getting a handle on your software estate means less time scrambling for data, less money being wasted by untracked resources, and less of being at the mercy of your software vendors.

At MetrixData 360, we empower our clients with the tools they need to make smart spending decisions when it comes to their software. We have helped hundreds of clients save millions of dollars in their software estate

If you’d like to learn more about how we can get you started on the path to a fully mature Software Asset Management Strategy, check out our SAM as a Service Page. As you begin this journey please remember, you don’t have to do it alone!

Book a Meeting With Your New SAM Expert

5 Ways to Cut Software Licensing Costs

Posted on by Ben Tight

How to Save Money on Your Software Licensing

Software licensing is ridiculously confusing, and its hyper complexity is not slowing down anytime soon. This confusion can easily lead to overspending, which equates to more money in the software vendor’s pockets, taken at the expense of your company’s software budget. How does overspending on software licensing occur and what steps can you take to cut software licensing costs?

At MetrixData360, we have helped hundreds of companies save millions of dollars, so we will show you the steps you can take to mitigate any potential areas of overspending in your software licensing environment.

Have A Clear Life Cycle for Assets

Not having a clear system that retires old assets is one place that is often a source of overspending for many companies. Employees leave the company, but they still have accounts and their old desktops are put in storage, but those old devices are still showing in certain environments as active. These old assets can become a source of artificial inflation for a company’s license requirements.

These retired assets could easily still be visible in your Active Directory, which is where the software auditors will look in the event of an audit. This will make it appear like you owe far more than you actually do while also being quite a drain on your company’s budget.

One of the reasons for this inflation lies in the lack of systemization in place for tracking assets. Old employees drop off their computers to the IT department but new hires head to procurement to ask for new desktops (and the licenses that go along with them).

A lack of proper organization for this process fails to account for the possibility to redeploy licenses and will leave you ill-prepared for both a software audit and a contract renewal.

Having an inventory tool in place will greatly assist in the monitoring of assets, which brings us to our second point.

Have a SAM Tool in Place – and Someone Who Can Read It

Software Asset Management tools are essential if you have a large software estate and you need to keep track of everything that’s deployed. Software Asset Management tools specialize in inventory and licensing, and are an indispensable means to cut software licensing costs.

Demonstrating to your software vendors the systems you have in place to track your software deployment will give you a greater appearance of control.

However, SAM tools cannot grant you instantaneous and easy, always-available visibility into compliance gaps and overspending. Depending on the SAM tool you’ve installed, your SAM tool might struggle with the following:

  • Multiple licensing metrics
  • Detecting development or test products that are not yet in full production
  • Cloud licensing
  • Failure to account for duplicates (they might accidentally count new software and older version of that software that has not been fully removed from your environment)
  • OEM and Retail Boxes Purchases (SAM tools are often confused by such purchases)

Want to know more about where your SAM tools are leaving you open to compliance risks, check out our article Why Do Software Asset Management Tools Stink at Software Asset Management?

All of these complications can leave your SAM tool lacking in some areas, which may make you resort to buying another SAM tool or it will force you to fill in the missing gaps of information manually.

Both these tactics mean you’re wasting time and money on the SAM tool you purchased. That is why it is important to have someone who can actually manage your SAM tools and analyze the data it produces. This can be done through hiring an in-house software asset manager or hiring an external partner.

Don’t Guess Your Projected Usage in Contract Negotiations

If a company does not have a firm grasp of their software usage when their contract is up for renewal they will inaccurately estimate how much they will need.

Due to lack of visibility into requirements, many companies end up licensing simply what their sales reps suggest in contract negotiations, instead of licensing what they actually need. Sales reps have quotas to meet, they are not in the business of saving you money.

Also, make sure that the value of the software that you’re interested in deploying is not outweighed by the cost of maintenance. We’ve seen companies crippled with the cost of running programs where support and maintenance costs continue to grow year after year. If you have a good handle on the software you use, you can also align the cost of maintenance to match your actual usage.

Move to the Cloud Carefully

The Cloud poses a tempting offer for many businesses thanks to its flexibility, its storage capabilities, and its seeming ability to remove the difficulty of managing both the hardware and software on-premises.

Now you need only pay for what you use like a utility bill. It is often the case, however, that companies begin the transition to the Cloud only to stop halfway through because the costs of moving there was much more than the company anticipated.

Unexpected costs come from the following areas when moving to the Cloud:

  • Your department spins up projects without shutting them down after the project has been completed.
  • Everyone in your company is allowed access to your Cloud estate. We once had a client accidentally pay $80,000 in the span of two months because one of their junior IT had turned on an expensive storage option that was collecting data for the whole company.
  • You assume your licenses can be taken to the Cloud when in reality vendors might allow it, they might not or they might allow for only a partial move.
  • You assume your licenses neatly translate to the Cloud when in reality, license metrics behave differently in the Cloud, often in a way that will leave your servers under-licensed and your company exposed to the heavy penalties of an audit.

Having a process in place that controls who has access to your Cloud estate, understanding your expected usage and having a strong understanding of your licenses along with their potential mobility to the Cloud will help to ensure that your transition is a smooth one!

Perform Internal Audits Constantly

Regular upkeep of your software licensing and usage should occur on a monthly or bi-weekly basis. The two main benefits of performing internal software audits are that it reduces the number of inactive licenses in your environment and it ensures your ability to maximize the efficiency of your current licensing position.

It can also help counter many of the issues that crop up due to Cloud migration and data gaps in your SAM tools.

Getting a handle on your data will also allow you to be ready in the event of an audit. Having quality data to challenge the auditor’s findings will be a massive advantage for your company during the auditing process and the settlement that will occur after.

 

Start Saving on Your Software Licensing

Being able to cut software licensing costs will mean money back into the IT department for smarter and more innovative investments. This can be done by tracking the life cycles of your assets through the successful deployment of an inventory tool (along with someone who can effectively read it), through having a clear understanding of usage during contract negotiations, carefully considering your migration to the Cloud, and by conducting internal audits to ensure compliance.

At Metrixdata360, we can help you cut down your costs to save you from unnecessary drains on your budget and potentially heavy audit penalties. Don’t put off saving money, get your free consultation today!

Software Audit Risk Assessment Checklist

Posted on by Ben Tight

Below is an excerpt from our Software Audit Risk Checklist, which is available as a free download for subscribers to our newsletter. This is the same checklist that we use in our primary assessment of client environments.

Software Audit Risk Checklist

 

Software audits are considered an unpleasant and inevitable factor of business. Once, it may have been possible for a company to remain compliant with their software vendors with only a few spreadsheets managed by someone extremely organized. Now, however, software deployments and contracts have become so complex that this is simply not practical.

As technology has evolved, the way that software is used and deployed has become more complicated. Software publishers themselves have not made it any easier with their perplexing software contracts that are convoluted and difficult to read. The temptation to skip over the entire document, agree to the terms and conditions, and move on with our days can be irresistible.

Despite how the software vendors may be stacking the situation in their favor, preparation is your greatest tool of defense. In this document we’ll discuss how you can prepare for a software audit.

Understanding the Risks of a Software Audit

 

Are You Inviting a Software Audit?

Some software vendors will send audit and Software Asset Management (SAM) review requests at random or on an annual basis; such events are unavoidable. While most software vendors will provide little to no criteria for initiating audits, the fact that there are different kinds of audits should be an indicator that not every audit is born from the same kind of evidence or circumstance.

Vendors have discovered that software audits are an excellent source of revenue, especially if their customer’s compliance gap is large enough to force them to cover the cost of the software audit. Software audits can have a high return on investment, making it well worth the software vendor’s time and money. It is towards these safe ROIs that the software vendors will turn their interest.

Therefore, if there are indicators that a company is out of compliance enough to yield a profit, they can risk their vendor initiating the audit. If you are concerned about your company’s exposure to a software audit, below are the risk factors that increase the likelihood of an audit occurring.


IBM Software Audit: How to Prepare a Defense and Handle it Like a Pro

Posted on by Ben Tight

IBM Software Audit: How to Prepare a Defense and Handle it Like a Pro

An IBM Software Audit can be an utterly grueling experience. While there is no way to completely eliminate your risk of incurring an audit from IBM as long as you have their products, being prepared for an audit, should one occur, is your best means of defense. We at MetrixData360 have helped countless clients prepare for an IBM audit and successfully defend themselves against IBM auditors. Here are our recommendations for making sure you’re properly prepared for your IBM audit.

Our Process and Recommendations:

Have a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) At The Ready

IBM strives to have an audit engagement with their customers at least once a year as outlined in the terms of their contracts. Due to this, it is advisable to put in place a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) or confidentiality agreement for IBM’s auditor to sign so you can protect the data that will be collected from your environment. This step is essential in every audit situation.

Have IBM’s License Metric Tool (ILMT) Properly Deployed

ILMT comes with many benefits, namely providing you with protection when faced with an IBM software audit. To summarize, IBM’s License Metric Tool (ILMT) is a software asset management tool freely available to IBM’s customers that is used to monitor consumption of IBM’s products.

It is compulsory for any customer who wishes to benefit from IBM’s sub-capacity licensing and its primary function is to make sure a customer is within compliance and using the products efficiently.

Most organizations do not adequately configure, manage, or maintain their IBM License Metric Tool (“ILMT”) and are relaxed about Sub-Capacity (“SC”) reporting. The current IBM Passport Advantage Agreement (“IPAA”) relevant language is:

“For Sub-Capacity usage of EPs, Client agrees to install and configure the most current version of IBM’s license metric tool (ILMT) within 90 days of Client’s first Sub-Capacity-based Eligible Sub-Capacity Product deployment, to promptly install any updates to ILMT that are made available, and to collect deployment data for each such EP”

“Reports (generated by ILMT or manual if Client meets manual reporting exemptions) must be prepared at least once per quarter and retained for a period of not less than 2 years. Failure to generate Reports or provide Reports to IBM will cause charging under full capacity for the total number of physical processor cores activated and available for use on the server.”

Not having ILMT puts a huge target on your back for a software audit from IBM as it will make IBM suspect that you have no way of tracking your consumption without it. Unless you meet the criteria that exempts you, you will have to license all IBM products under Full-Capacity terms if you don’t have ILMT.

Organizations that fail to meet their contractual obligations will have an IBM Licensing conundrum. Not meeting these obligations exposes your organization to IBM’s Full-Capacity (“FC”) licensing, which bloats the Processors Value Units (“PVU”) and consequently exposure to financial risk.

If you are found to have IBM’s software that has been deployed for 90 days and it doesn’t have ILMT on the same virtual server, then it is no longer eligible for Sub-Capacity licensing. If it is not licensed at Full-Capacity either, then it can be subject to heavy penalties. This is where many IBM customers find compliance issues during a software audit.

 

IBM Virtual Host Server Core Diagram

Here is what an example of what this would look like:

The Road to IBM Audits are Paved with Good Intentions

It’s our experience that most organizations have intentions to abide by their contractual agreements; however, those intentions rarely manifest into reality. Some notable reasons for this are:

 

    • Shifting Sands: IPAA is ever-changing, and the standard agreement does not need two-party written consent to have the language. Thus, the agreement you reviewed when you entered into the contractual relationship with IBM is not the agreement you have now.
    • Effort vs. Reward: ILMT is only required for IBM’s Processor Value Units (“PVU”) and Resource Value Units (“RVU”) to gain Sub-Capacity rights. IBM has hundreds of other licensing metrics that require manual efforts outside of ILMT. Thus, operationality can at times become perceived as a lower priority or value.
    • Technical Complexity: ILMT was not designed with simplicity as a guiding principle. The installation, configuration, maintenance, and management require technical knowledge as well as dedication. Thus, most organizations may use the initial installation; however, ongoing maintenance and operation are forgotten.

Don’t Expect ILMT to Protect You from Everything

Even if you have ILMT, that doesn’t mean that you are safe from compliance issues during an IBM Software Audit. In fact, many companies experience a lot of technical issues surrounding ILMT’s deployment. For instance, you could be subject to any of the following issues that can result in the loss of your sub-capacity eligibility:

  • Not generating and properly keeping quarterly reports from ILMT
  • Having an outdated version of ILMT
  • ILMT agents can fail when it comes to agent scans and capacity scans because of incompatibility, lack of disc space, or credential issues
  • If you want to selectively deploy ILMT to only servers with IBM products on them, then ILMT might come across issues detecting and identifying which servers to monitor. Anything that is missed will lose its Sub-Capacity eligibility.
  • Having any IBM products deployed on Operating Systems that ILMT doesn’t support
  • ILMT can easily struggle with accurately bundling unique software signatures for reporting. To do this successfully requires knowledge of your specific license restrictions and entitlements.

Failure to remain compliant simply because of technical issues regarding ILMT may open a company up to the possibility of a concession regarding the adverse findings but such a case would be difficult to achieve since it is reliant on a number of factors.

These issues include when you first tried to deploy ILMT, if IBM support was ever contacted, if ILMT was set to deploy over your entire estate or simply over IBM’s products, if problems with ILMT were reported and how much effort you put into solving the issue.

For more information on IBM’s ILMT, you can check out our article: IBM ILMT: Everything You Need to Know.

Expect Either KPMG or Deloitte to be Involved

 

Software vendors each approach software audits a little differently. Some have an internal audit team, but IBM outsources the project to either KPMG or Deloitte. However, simply because the auditors are a third-party does not mean that they are neutral.

IBM hired them to find compliance gaps in your infrastructure, so they will take the worst-case scenario as reality when given the chance to make assumptions. Since they are outsourcing the project, you can (and should) have a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with the auditors so that neither your data, nor the estimated licensing position (ELP) that the auditors come up with can go to IBM without your approval first.

This will play to your advantage because the wide array of confusing and complex IBM products and their licensing will almost ensure that the initial ELP that auditors come up with will be far from an accurate depiction of what you actually owe.

If You’re Found Out of Compliance, Expect to Pay Retroactive Maintenance Fees

IBM sends out their audits roughly every four years. As nice as it may sound not having to worry about having auditors at your door every year, if you are found out of compliance, not only will you have to pay for your missing licenses, you will also have to pay retroactive maintenance fees going back years.

Watch Out for IBM Licenses Changes

You can expect IBM to change up their license metrics when they acquire a new software company or release new versions of their existing products.

IBM will continue to take maintenance fees based on old licensing models, so don’t let the fact that they are still taking your company’s money be any indicator that you are adhering to the correct licensing model. 

If you have an arrangement that allows for licenses to be used on an unlimited basis, you could very easily lose that privilege after IBM acquires the product and releases the first upgrade after the acquisition. So it is important you keep up to date on any industry updates concerning IBM and what that could mean for your company.

Preparing Your IBM Audit Defense

IBM is a massive company with complex products that can prove a challenge to keep track of but that doesn’t mean it is impossible to keep on top of your IBM licensing. Being prepared will keep you from potentially paying out expensive auditing penalties and losing your Sub-Capacity eligibility.

At MetrixData 360, we know how to defend our clients when they are facing off against IBM. They only pay what they actually owe. If you’d like to learn more about how you can get yourself ready for an audit, download our free Audit Risk Checklist today!

 

Take the IBM Licensing Quiz:

If you want IBM licensing professionals handling your IBM assets, take stab at our IBM ILMT Quiz:

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: A Cloud Service Comparison

Posted on by Ben Tight

Azure vs AWS vs Google Cloud:
What’s Right For You?

Deciding to move your company’s digital environment to the Cloud is no small task. When comparing AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud, there are several factors that need to be considered, including your budget and necessary functions for your business. Moving your environment to the Cloud can be a costly experience if done incorrectly, but in this cloud services comparison, we hope to help you avoid common pitfalls. Things like improperly sized instances, different licensing metrics, and unmonitored usage can trip up an otherwise smooth move to the Cloud.

While we most often are asked about Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), we also field enough questions regarding Google Cloud that it would be a disservice to not include it in this comparison.

At MetrixData360, we strive to help our customers find the right software solution for their environment while keeping costs to a minimum. We’ve helped companies make their move to the Cloud that you can find your perfect home in the Clouds.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Starting our comparison of AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud is Amazon’s IaaS offering. Having pioneered the industry 18 years ago, AWS currently dominates the Cloud market. In 2018, AWS generated $7.3 billion, making up more than half of Amazon’s total earnings for the year.

How Much Does AWS Cost?

One of the most appealing features about AWS is its more affordable pricing compared to its competitors. AWS charges a pay-as-you-go styled billing system that requires no upfront payments or long-term commitments, which can make it quite cost-effective for startup businesses on a budget.

Amazon is constantly trying to make AWS cheaper, decreasing their price on fifteen different occasions over the past four years. AWS also has a calculator that can provide a quote for your business.

How Secure is AWS?

AWS has built industry leading security infrastructure for their clients, claiming to possess the largest ecosystem of security partners and solutions. Their system is fine-tuned to prevent attacks, detect any suspicious activities, respond to incidents quickly and effectively and remediate your AWS environment.

AWS also offers courses to promote best security practices. AWS claims that its high quality security is similar to the security that would be available to you on-prem with the advantage that your AWS security can be scaled up to match your company’s growth.

What are the Leading Features of AWS?

Getting to start with AWS can be incredibly easy, barely any more trouble than ordering something from Amazon. You set your features, apply your payments to your credit card and email, and click “start.”

AWS also has a massive computing profile when compared to its competition, with hundreds of thousands of clients around the globe, the sheer scale of it is something to note along with the fact that it is accessible from over 190 countries.

What are the Disadvantages of AWS?

The main disadvantage of AWS is that the price you sign up for doesn’t cover the other services you might eventually need. AWS doesn’t offer customer technical support by default. Instead, it comes with an added fee.

There is also a cap on the resources on their platform. AWS does have resource caps to help avoid system overload, which comes with the added benefit of making sure users don’t tear through their IT budget. The cap is placed at a setting that the average user isn’t expected to exceed, and you are able to request an increase, but you’d have to pay more for the additional space.

Although it is easy to get started with AWS, it’s another thing entirely to actually understand how to run it. There is an expected learning curve while you get a handle on AWS’s platform.

Microsoft Azure

The second contender in our AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud battle of the tech giants is Microsoft’s entry. While Azure might be smaller and newer to the Cloud market than AWS, Azure reports that their Cloud business is growing at a faster rate than AWS did when it was at Azure’s size. However, the umbrella term “Cloud” includes several Microsoft programs like Office 365 and Dynamic 365, which makes it difficult to judge how Azure’s growth actually compares with AWS. This tight integration with other Microsoft products also makes it highly appealing to companies who already have Microsoft deployed in their software estate.

How Much Does Microsoft Azure Cost?

Azure charges based on the minutes of consumption used with the option for lump sum payments for short term commitments offered at a discount. There are many features that can affect your final monthly cost with Azure, including per-gigabyte fees that are applied to both storage and usage. Azure also offers prospecting customers a calculator to estimate your monthly cost.

How Secure is Microsoft Azure?

Microsoft has invested over one billion USD into Azure’s multi-layered security system, proving it to be one of their main priorities. Roughly 6.5 trillion threat signals are analyzed on a daily basis in Azure through AI-driven security signals.

You can opt into certain security features when setting up your Azure account, which will increase the protection of your data. You can encrypt all your data stored on the server-side, which will prevent readable copies from being available if your profile is breached.

There is also an advanced-encryption standard, which is one of the more popular security options on Azure.

What are the Leading Feature of Microsoft Azure?

Azure hybrid benefits are easy to use and its system of high redundancy promises minimal down time. Azure’s storage also provides easy and painless access to files. Reviews also report that it is easier to set up, change and configure VMs to your Cloud estate.

What are the Disadvantages of Microsoft Azure?

While Azure offers many benefits to its users, it doesn’t offer to manage your company’s data. Activities like server monitoring and patching will still have to be done in-house or outsourced to another vendor.

There is also a steep learning curve that comes with the management of this network and compared to other platforms it is more difficult to use.

Google Cloud

Google Cloud is one of the newer players to the cloud platform, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in the sheer volume of investment. For this reason, Google Cloud has massive projections in growth. Google Cloud enters the market with the vast technical expertise of having Google behind it, so how does Google Cloud fare against AWS and ?

How Much Does Google Cloud Cost?

When you sign up for Google’s free trial of Google Cloud, Google will actually provide you $300 worth of credits to spend on their Cloud. Google Cloud also provides their potential clients with a calculator, in order to determine their end price.

Google charges per minute use and offers sustained-use discounts after a certain product is used more than 25% of a month. There are many potential variables to affect the end price with Google Cloud.

How Secure is Google Cloud?

Google Cloud security comes with an edge over its competitors by offering its customers the choice between letting Google Cloud manage your profile keys or letting you manage your own. By managing your own, you can quickly rotate through keys, dispose of old keys, manage key permission, and audit key use.

If you chose to enable two factor authentication (2FA), it will provide you with an additional layer of security so that even if a weak password is cracked, your system will not be exposed to hackers.

What are the Leading Features of Google Cloud?

One feature programming customers will enjoy is the fact that Google’s Cloud functions are written in JavaScript (Node.js), Python, and Go. The platform utilizes some of the most popular languages in use today, giving developers an ease of access that other platforms lack.

You are also allowed to use all your GCP, Firebase, Google Assistant, and 3rd-party Cloud services as building blocks to construct your Cloud empire.

What are the Disadvantages of Google Cloud?

The main disadvantage with Google Cloud comes from the fact it’s newer to the market and therefore lacks many of the advanced features that AWS and Azure have in their tool belts. For this reason, many clients chose to use it as a secondary provider, hosting some of their data on Google Cloud and the rest elsewhere on a more robust platform. As the platform continues to grow, however, there is a good chance that Google will be developing similar features to flesh out their cloud platform.

AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud: Who is Right for You?

Moving to the Cloud should be quick, painless, and cost effective but we all know that life doesn’t always work that way. This is why it is always best to do your research beforehand and make a calculated decision that is best for your company. Ultimately, the best choice for your environment boils down to your needs: budget minded users will likely be drawn to AWS, but those with a Microsoft heavy environment may be drawn to Azure for its integration with other Microsoft programs.

At MetrixData360, our goal is to help you make smarter spending decisions when it comes to your software, so that you are only paying for what you need. If you would like to learn more about how MetrixData360 can help your company make a smooth transition into the Cloud, click the link below to check out our Service Page.

How SAM Can Improve Your Cyber Security

Posted on by Ben Tight

A security breach in your infrastructure doesn’t just mean monetary loss but the tarnished reputation incurred by having your clients’ information exposed. A breach in cyber security could have serious negative effects on the future growth of your business.

It may seem on the surface that IT Security and Software Asset Management (SAM) don’t have that much in common – but they do!

Your company’s IT security team is usually worried about detailed levels of information, such as ensuring all products have necessary security patches and that there are no tampered files that might contain malware. The software asset managers, on the other hand, will not usually be interested in such details and instead will be focused on determining the usage of specific software or software access rights, something that would be considered minute and trivial to someone from security.

For this reason, IT security often overlooks software asset management as a potential resource in eliminating exposure to cyberthreats.

At MetrixData360, we take the security of your data seriously and know that Software Asset Management can not only save you money but help keep your data safe with increased visibility of your software environment.

Software Asset Inventory Means Cyber Security Visibility

Few successful hackers would attempt to butt heads with the firewall of a company’s infrastructure. Their approach is usually more opportunistic, going after weak points in a company’s structure such as unapproved apps, unmanaged devices, and poor password protection, according to Microsoft’s article Minimize Cyber Security risk with Software Asset Management.

Not knowing what is in your software estate (having unaccounted devices whose usage and activities are not being tracked) gives hackers the opening into your infrastructure that they’re waiting for. However, accurate tracking of what you have in your software profile is one of the many services that Software Asset Management brings to the table.

With Software Asset Management inventory tools in place, you will be able to know what you are using and contrast that against what you’re paying for. Traditionally, this has been seen as a way to save money (and it is!). But it also adds visibility into your software estate, including the ability to match machine to user and location, which can prove vital information for the security of your software profile.

Software Updates, Security Patches, and General Software Health

Software Asset Management can help reduce your security vulnerability by making sure that the software you have installed in your estate is healthy and up to date.

According to IDC’s article The Business Value of Software Asset Management, cybercriminals will often take advantage of devices left exposed due to end-of-life IT systems and software that is no longer receiving product updates and security patches from their vendor sources.

Failure to keep software up-to-date can leave your devices exposed to hackers. However not every patch that a software vendor offers is provided as a free add-on to their software, and software asset management can help determine what you are at liberty to install and what you are not.

According to Deloitte’s article Minimizing the Threat Landscape Through Integration of Software Asset Management and Security, having strong software asset management in place will keep rogue malware from worming its way into your system. Formal requests may prevent but not completely eliminate the threat of such an event occurring.

Security tools need to be in place to control access, while SAM discovery tools can provide a deeper look into your software estate by evaluating what is installed in your software environment, including what employees might download from the Internet onto their work computers without the permission of the IT department. Software Asset Management can also give you the data to ensure that if you have deployed an anti-virus software, it has been deployed everywhere.

While both Security tools and SAM tools provide different types of data, each tool can provide valuable information to secure your infrastructure from outside attackers.

Saving Money and Cutting Damages Through Software Asset Management

According to Security’s article, 6 Ways Software Asset Management Can Help Minimize Security Risk, SAM’s main goal is to cut your spending with software, whether that is through knowing where you are liable to receive a software audit, or if it is areas where you are overspending by purchasing too much software compared to what you’re using.

By cutting extra waste, you allow your IT security team to manage a smaller software estate that is devoid of redundancies. Having a more organized software estate will mean that patch management can be conducted quickly and efficiently. According to Microsoft’s article Minimize Cybersecurity Risk with Software Asset Management, even in the event of a security breach, software asset management can help create a quick response to threats and ensure that your security system has an effective defense strategy against an attack by having an accurate picture of what is in your system.

According to Phara McLachlan, the collaboration between the IT security and software asset management teams can greatly improve the speed of your IT network. IT security has information that could help the SAM team do its job, such as standards and data on blacklist, software white lists, and a user’s last login information. Software asset management also has their own information that IT security can make use of, such as information on software installations, versions and editions, ownership, location, entitlement, assets and CIs.

How MetrixData360 Can Help Your Cyber Security

At MetrixData360, we understand the priority of cyber security when it comes to your data. Making sure that your software is clean of all threats could mean the difference between thriving in your industry and going down in history as the unfortunate victim in a hacker scandal.

The SAM Compass package provides you with an accurate licensing position and shows where you are overspending to optimize your software profile. It also gives you the ability to monitor your new applications and detect threats that enter your environment. If you’d like to learn more about whether SAM Compass is right for your company, click the link below to head over to our SAM Compass page.

Should You Move to the Cloud? 4 Myths Debunked

Posted on by Ben Tight

With so many businesses making the move to the Cloud to benefit from its greater mobility, there has been a lot of conversation around such moves in terms of usefulness, cost, and security.

At MetrixData360, we have heard many conversations about the Cloud, some of them containing only half-truths about the Cloud and its benefits. In this post, we will look at four of the most common myths about moving to the cloud and debunk some of the misconceptions about the benefits of making the move.

1. “Moving to the Cloud is Cheaper than Having Everything On-Premises”

This is not entirely false. It can be cheaper to move to the Cloud compared to keeping everything in house. It can also give your IT budget an ulcer if done incorrectly.

Your instances could be sized improperly, your licenses could not permit you to migrate to the Cloud, or your IT department could spin up as many instances as they want without having a real grasp of how billing for their Cloud environment actually works.

In fact, many companies we’ve come across have had to rethink how they are transitioning to the Cloud halfway through the process, simply because they discovered it was far more costly than they anticipated.

For further details into cost issues when moving to the Cloud, visit our article on 5 Problems When Moving to the Cloud.

2. “I Have to Move Everything to the Cloud”

There’s nothing stopping you from doing this. Many businesses (Netflix comes to mind) have chosen to exist solely on the Cloud. Obviously, though, it probably won’t prove ideal for every company.

Some vendors won’t let you take your licenses to the Cloud, while other vendors will permit it. The Cloud also provides a variety of services that can meet your company’s unique needs. The Private Cloud offers three main services:

Iaas: Infrastructure as a Service

This setup allows for a platform virtualization environment, which is then paid for on a usage basis like a utility bill. This service is only suggested for companies with a strong knowledge of IT, since this service allows for the user to maintain the most control over their environment and therefore are responsible for its upkeep.

PaaS: Platform as a Service

This service facilitates deployment of applications while also limiting cost and reducing complexity. It does this while also managing the underlying hardware and software. While it provides structure, it also allows for a greater degree of control for the client.

SaaS: Software as a Service

This offering provides a complete service over the Internet, allowing the client to avoid the need to install or run any applications on their own servers. All maintenance and support is covered by the vendor and therefore it is ideal for a company with little IT knowledge or no technical staff.

After you’ve established what you want, if you’re allowed to do it, and at what cost, you may find that a hybrid deployment where some applications remain on-prem while others are Cloud-based is the right way for your organization to move to the Cloud.

Hybrid profiles are something that many businesses are choosing after they discover a full transition is too costly. A hybrid deployment can offer the business benefits of the Cloud, while providing you with the flexibility required not to blow the IT budget out of the water.

3. “Whether or Not the Cloud is Safer than On-Prem Is a Simple Yes or No Answer”

There has been a heated debate going on for a while now about how safe it is to store your data on the Cloud. Massive breaches in security and outages of power have been known to happen, but these scenarios fail to acknowledge the systems that are set in place to improve security and storage.

It is also important to note that the only real place your data would be 100% safe from malware and hackers would be buried in a tin can in your backyard, like Microsoft did with Github (and even then, I’m sure there’s a hacker somewhere out there with a shovel).

You run the risk of a breach whenever you interact online, regardless of whether you are on-prem or in the Cloud. When you are in the Cloud, the types of security risks you encounter change from the challenges faced when your environment was on-prem. When your environments are on-prem, your biggest threats are:

  • Infected Devices
  • Local Network Backdoors
  • Multiple Layers of Security

Meanwhile, when you are in the Cloud, the biggest threats you have to worry about are:

  • Infected Users
  • Cloud Application
  • Immediate Access to Data

Knowing the type of risks that you are exposed to in the Cloud can make you better prepared to counteract them.

4. “I Have to be Really into Technology to Understand the Cloud”

This may currently be the case, but it doesn’t have to be.

A study conducted by Citrix in 2012 and presented in the Washington Post found that the majority of Americans do not understand what the Cloud is. 51% of participants thought stormy weather could interfere with the Cloud and 54% said they had never used it before, despite the fact that 95% of them had.

The Cloud is the force behind so much of the Internet, from online banking to popular free email services. For something that has been so quietly entrenched in our everyday lives, it’s important to understand at least the basics of how it works.

The quick explanation is that the Cloud is merely a series of large computers, servers, and data centers (the kind that fill massive warehouses) that are set up around the world where anyone can access it and upload data to it. In exchange for hosting data, people can pay rent for the computing space.

Having your IT infrastructure exclusively within your business is like owning your own house in the countryside. You’re in charge of maintenance; it’s more of a chore to get things to and from your property, and you have more space than you probably need, but there is a greater sense of privacy.

Being in the Cloud, on the other hand, is like renting an apartment in the city with albeit limited space, but you have easier access to things and other people. Congratulations, you now have a basic understanding of the Cloud.

More Information on Making the Move to the Cloud

Moving to the Cloud can be a time of uncertainty, especially when you’re not sure if such a massive project will benefit your company. At MetrixData360, we aim to debunk these myths and find a solution that is right for you.

Not being properly aware of the advantages and disadvantages of moving to the Cloud can cost your company huge, unforeseen, and ultimately unnecessary expenses. It is so important that you’re aware of the risks before you migrate to the Cloud.

If you’d like more information about the Cloud and how to best prepare for your Cloud migration, you can click the link below to visit our Cloud Page where, regardless of the platform you choose, MetrixData 360 can help you through this confusing time.

Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and Adobe Software Audits at a Glance

Posted on by Ben Tight

The Top Four Software Vendors Sending Out Software Audits

It is likely that your software budget is shrinking yet your software vendors are looking for you to spend more money with them every year. When software companies can’t get the revenue they expect from you, they will often turn to software audits as a way to make up the difference. Software audits are many things: stressful, frustrating, leave you thinking that living in a cave, herding goats might have been an easier career path. But for the software publishers’ audits are quite profitable, and they have come to exploit this as a way to make their annual revenue growth targets.

Gartner has said that there is a 60% or greater chance that enterprises will be audited by at least one software publisher in any given year. The best way for you to handle the rising tide of software audit requests is by knowing your software environment and performing routine health checks to uncover areas of exposure. We cover the top areas where a company is exposed to in a software audit in our article Software Audit Preparation: What You Need to Know.

The Biggest Companies Performing Software Audits Are:

  • Microsoft
  • IBM
  • Oracle
  • Adobe

At MetrixData360, we have extensive experience working with all of these vendors, and we know how to handle an audit from each. In this post we’ll discuss some of the things you need to know about each of the software vendors and how to handle them during a software audit.

Microsoft Audit

Microsoft often claims that their audits are simple, short, and painless. In our eight years of defending companies during their software audits, we’ve yet to see a Microsoft audit that has matched this description.

Instead, we have seen audits that take almost 18 months to finalize as customers try to dig through rising mountains of data that are required as part of a Microsoft Audit (or SAM Engagement). Here are just a few tips for dealing with a Microsoft software audit:

    • SAM Audit or Review?

From our experience, Microsoft can either offer you SAM reviews or audits. SAM reviews are technically optional but refusing will likely result in getting audited. For a full breakdown of the difference between a Software Audit and a SAM review, visit our post Software Asset Management (SAM) Review vs Audit: What’s the Difference?

    • Respond to Your Vendor

We are often asked if you need to respond to an audit or a SAM letter. The short answer is yes, it is highly advisable that you respond to both. Not responding to a software audit, can find you in breach of your contract and leave you facing potential legal ramifications and hefty fines up to $100,000 USD. Although you could technically refuse a SAM Engagement, you could also find yourself running the risk of being in breach of your contract.

It has been our experience that refusing a SAM review will often result in Microsoft responding by sending you a full audit that you can’t refuse. Therefore, it would be more beneficial for you and your company to negotiate with Microsoft to perform a self-assessment as opposed to having a Microsoft partner perform the audit. A SAM engagement will be nearly identical to an audit after the data collection stage has begun and you will struggle to see the difference between the two processes until the negotiation stage has been reached.

    • Software Reviews vs Software Audits

The real difference between a SAM review and an audit can be seen when examining the penalties of each and how they are resolved. In a SAM review, you will be allowed to purchase your missing licenses at your contracted prices or at your historically discounted rate. In an audit, on the other hand, Microsoft has the right to charge any shortfalls at List Price in addition to a 5% penalty, although this may vary depending on your contract.

    • Paying For An Audit

Another difference between a SAM review and full audit appears when asking who will pay for the whole process. Microsoft will pay for the cost of the SAM engagement themselves whereas in an audit if you are found to be greater than 5% out of compliance you will be responsible for paying for the audit yourself in addition to any penalties you are incurred during the audit.

IBM Audit

IBM audits can be especially tough, since many of their license metrics require you to accurately have installed their ILMT tool in order to effectively capture your estimated license position (we have found that the majority of IBM’s customers have not done this correctly). Here are some things to consider that can help in the case of an IBM audit:

    • True Up Costs

Once your software audit has concluded, IBM will often let you settle at your discounted price with an additional fee for the maintenance that was used for the upkeep of the product when it was unlicensed.

    • Watch For Licensing Changes

IBM is also prone to make licensing changes which can apply to a wide range of their products in the wake of acquiring a new software company to their profile or releasing new versions of their software. When these events occur, be sure to look at your licenses with IBM to check for relevant updates.

    • Properly Set Up and Use ILMT

Our CEO Mike Austin says that you need to understand ILMT and how it works to effectively manage most IBM Software Audits.
According to Mike, “IBM isn’t typically auditing their Passport Advantage program, they are going after the complexity of sub-capacity and PVU based licensing. In order to pass an audit if you are licensing at sub-capacity, you need to have ILMT up and running. You will also need a have a history of reports. Installing and configuring ILMT is tricky and not many companies have done it correctly. In a lot of our work around IBM Audits, we are fixing ILMT reporting before we even start the work of defending an audit.”

    • ILMT Does Not Hold All The Answers

However, installing ILMT doesn’t mean you are 100% safe from IBM’s audits, you can still be found out of compliance.

    • Avoid Scope Creep

Our IBM Audit teams says to make sure you define the audit scope, as IBM is quite notorious for scope creep. You will want to ensure you know which products and contracts are included (and excluded) from the audit.

    • Put The Onus On IBM

You need to get an agreement with IBM (not the reseller- they can’t promise this) stating that IBM will take on the responsibilities to ensure that the product being deployed is correctly licensed. If they fail to then deploy ILMT after such a deal has been reached, then it might be possible to get a concession during an audit.

    • Defend Yourself With Data

Even if IBM doesn’t take responsibility for the licensing of deployed software, you might have a case to circumnavigate adverse findings that can come up due to ILMT’s failures, if you can collect historical system-generated reports that demonstrate the following things:

1) the processor resources that were allotted to the VMs running the PVU-licensed products have been or are capped and are not subject to any automated augmentations-based on system demands and

2) the historical usage of these products never exceeded licensed levels. However, this data has proved difficult for companies to obtain in the past.

Oracle Audit

From our observations, Oracle Audits incur the largest compliance findings typically. We’ve dealt with Oracle many times in the past, and here are some things you should know about how Oracle conducts their audit.

    • Only Pay For What You Use

According to the ITAM Review’s article Oracle Audit: Top 20 Frequently Asked Questions, for Oracle, the installation of software and the licensing of that software are two different events, with the exception of Database Enterprise Editions, so be careful when initially deploying software as it will likely be the cause of issue during an audit. For example, Oracle optional features, such as RAC, get turned on by default when installing databases, these options may only be licensable if you actually use them, not if you have them installed. This is a subtle difference, but it can have a profound impact and it is an area that is often found as being licensable by LMS. However, we have often found that it can be negotiated out with usage data.

    • Oracle Software Review vs Oracle Software Audit

Oracle has Oracle License reviews and Oracle License audits. These are the exact same thing – “review” just sounds friendlier. Both should be treated with the same level of severity.

    • Understand Your Contract

According to Scott & Scott, LLP’s article, Seven Lessons I Learned Representing Clients in Oracle Audits, take extra care to understand Oracle’s policies around usage. Since many of Oracle’s policies will not be included in the license’s documents, there tends to be a lot of confusion generated around this topic. Some areas that produce the largest findings in an Oracle Audit are VMWare and Oracle’s policy stating that all Processors in a cluster must be licensed. This policy has caught many organizations off guard and is the crux of the major lawsuit between Oracle and Mars Corporation.

    • More Gaps Cost More Money

As with Microsoft, if you are found out of compliance on a Oracle Audit you will have to cover the expense for the audit.

    • Use Your Own Tools

Our Oracle Audit Experts state that you are not required to use Oracle’s scripts to collect your data, especially if you have your own methods in place for gathering your data. LMS will try very hard to get you to use their scripts. We recommend, however, that you use your own processes first, if possible.

    • Tools Are Only As Good As The People Using Them

ITAM Review’s article Oracle Audit: Top 20 Frequently Asked Questions, states that Oracle has several approved SAM tools like Lime Software, Easyteam, BDNA, Hewlett-Packard, Flexera Software, Nova Ratio, and iQuate. However, these tools only collect raw data and won’t provide you with the interpretation of that data which will tell you what you need to license. Therefore, just because you have Oracle-approved tools, it doesn’t mean you’re completely safe in an Oracle audit.

    • Get A Paper Trail

In all audits, but especially ones with Oracle, it is highly recommended that you get a closing statement to close out the audit (indemnification is the most ideal). This is especially important with Oracle, as they are a very litigious vendor. You will be happy that you have a closing statement in case the audit ever goes to court and your company’s reputation is suddenly on the line.

Adobe Audit

Compared to the other heavy hitters, Adobe’s software audits can seem like little more than a friendly reminder. However, Adobe’s products can be quite expensive, so it’s important not to let this vendor slip from your mind. Here are some tips about Adobe licensing:

    • Friendlier, But Not Friendly

According to a study released by Gartner in 2016 and presented in their article What Does an End to Adobe Auditing and License Compliance Activity Really Mean?, Adobe has steadily moved away from auditing their customers, focusing instead on their Software as a Service platform and subscription-based licensing. That does not mean your company no longer has to deal with compliancy risks from Adobe, as Adobe still maintains the right to verify compliancy, giving their customers 30 days to provide data to ensure proper usage.

    • Buy What You Need, Not What You Want

The Gartner article also states that with a focus on SaaS and the subscription-based nature of Adobe, along with the lack of an “off-switch” for Adobe products, the main focus of Software Asset Management when it comes to Adobe should be proper sizing and monitoring usage.

    • For Adobe, It’s The Little Things That Count

According to TechRepublic’s article How to Prevent or Navigate an Audit by Adobe, Adobe monitors their customers differently from other vendors. Where Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM are interested in unlicensed software, Adobe is more interested in the protection of their intellectual property and making sure their product is used correctly. Are you correctly licensing any fonts with Adobe? These small questions can accumulate if they are not properly answered.

    • Adobe Does It Themselves

TechRepublic’s article also states that Adobe performs their own compliance verification review as opposed to hiring a third-party auditor, which can either be good or bad depending how far out of compliance you are.

    • Watch For Creative Suite License Changes

One best practice we advise our client’s to adhere to when dealing with Adobe says that you will have to pay particular attention to Creative Suite, as it is prone to change almost every year and these constant updates make it difficult to keep track of products. It will often leave programs as obsolete and the licensing for it makes it difficult to understand what is truly needed.

    • Upgrade Licenses Can Downgrade Your Compliance

Finally, according to TechRepublic’s article How to Prevent or Navigate an Audit by Adobe, Adobe also has no program in place to account for upgrades. Upgrade licenses, therefore, can sometimes stretch back several years – so, keep track of how far back these licenses go and be sure not to leave yourself over-confident (don’t forget that sometimes you can only go back three versions – so tracking that can also be very difficult).

How MetrixData360 Can Help

Software audits have been known to put a strain on any company’s software budget, so knowing about the software vendors that tend to resort to such methods will leave you with a better knowledge of what to expect. At MetrixData360, we believe that you should not have to pay the software vendors more than what you owe them, so it’s important to invest in software asset management long before you’re confronted with a software audit. By clicking the button below, you will be taken to our audit services page, where you can learn more about how we can help you survive a software audit.

5 Factors to Consider When Buying a Software Asset Management Tool

Posted on by Ben Tight

Things You Should Consider Before You Buy A Software Asset Management Tool

Software Asset Management (SAM) tools offer tremendous value. According to BCS the Chartered Institute of IT, 20 to 30% of an overall IT budget goes to software licenses and maintenance fees that can be minimized with the use of an effective SAM tool. Before you buy a SAM tool, however, there are a few questions you should ask yourself.

The first question you need to ask is do you even need a SAM tool? While at MetrixData360, we advise companies to have some sort of SAM tool in their environment, we understand that it might not be the best financial move for everyone.

Here are five key factors to consider before you purchase your Software Asset Management tool.

1. The Size Of Your Company

According to OMTCO’s Six Questions that Managers Should Ask About Software Asset Management, if you are a small company with only a few servers to keep in check, then you’re already at fairly low risk of receiving a software audit. Vendors use software audits as a means of inflating their revenue, so they only have eyes for the big fish from whom they can squeeze a profit from.

If you have a small software estate, your licensing will also be small and easily manageable, and you can keep things organized with just a couple of spreadsheets in case that you do receive a software audit. If that is the case, then a SAM tool probably won’t provide that much assistance.

2. How Complex Is Your Infrastructure?

Complexity is a breeding ground for human error. If your company has any of the following attributes then it might be time to consider whether or not you buy a software asset management tool:

  • If your company has undergone a merger or acquisition
  • If it has multiple locations that reaches an international scale
  • If parts of your infrastructure has been outsourced
  • If other parts have undergone virtualization or migration to the Cloud

3. What Will the Function of Your Software Asset Management Tool Be? Inventory or Software License Management?

SAMsource Library’s article Do You Need SAM Tools talks about how in the SAM tools market, you’ll probably come across SAM tools with a primary focus in one of the two following areas:

  • Inventory
  • License Management

With inventory tools, your SAM tool will track what you have installed on your system. It might sound unnecessary, but there are many software estates out there that have old accounts from past employees or old servers locked away in storage that are still licensed and considered active in the eyes of your software vendor. Inventory tools can also be an excellent way to monitor your security, which can prevent viruses or malware to name a few benefits.

While there are many tools that offer inventory data, it is not the only important data point as license management is equally important, so you need SAM tool that can do both. If you buy a software asset management tool that lacks the ability to manage licenses, it will be harder to configure the tool to meet your needs.

Inventory tools will usually come with an add-on feature that offers license management, but their effectiveness might be lacking since license management is more of an afterthought behind inventory collection. What is worse, some of the older SAM tool models were not equipped to the ability to track multiple forms of licensing metrics effectively and struggle with Cloud-based systems, which is something you should be aware of while purchasing your tool.

4. Will the SAM Tool Easily Fit Into Your Existing System?

Before you contact any SAM tool vendors to talk about a purchase, BCS points out in their Guide to Selecting a SAM Tool that it is important to consider if the process is worth the effort or if the only thing you’ll get out of the deal is a migraine. It’s important to establish if the SAM tool in question can even be integrated into your system easily.

Consider your IT asset inventory tools, your procurement systems, your HR, and all the other systems that interconnect with one another throughout your business and ask if the SAM tool in question can be effectively incorporated. Take time to consider if the SAM tool that is being installed is also compatible with any other SAM tools in your system.

You also need to establish that the tools that you are thinking of purchasing meet the demands presented by your software’s unique environment. This requires that they communicate with IT landscapes and offer information on features and pricing as well.

5. Will You Also Need to Put Someone in Charge of Your SAM?

Merely purchasing the tool might not be enough if you want to obtain full control over your software estate. Making sure that everything is organized in the case of a software audit might mean hiring someone who can own your SAM tools. Software asset managers will ensure the tools are running properly and gathering the data you need to create an accurate Estimated License Position.

Software Asset Managers, or third-party software consultants like MetrixData360, have quite the versatile role, according to the Vector Network’s article Back to the Basics: Roles of The Software Asset Manager. The job entails managing the SAM tool, handling software requests, purchasing and deploying new software, ensuring that the company is ready for an audit, and utilizing reporting and documentation tactics. If you feel like your company can offer enough of these types of tasks to fill a workday, consider if a SAM manager would be a useful addition to your workforce.

Along with a Software Asset Manager or Software Consultants, you will also need to consider what sort of systems and procedures will be set in place that will determine how data will be collected, analyzed, and verified.

If your company is large enough, hiring a whole team might be in order to help you remain within compliance and to maximize efficiency with your software licensing, as EY says in their article Software Asset Management: 3 basics all companies should get right.

How to Verify if the SAM Data is Accurate

If you do end up purchasing SAM tools, they will do you little good if you cannot prove that they are accurate. According to the ITAM review’s Verifying Asset Accuracy, the best way to validate the data your SAM tools collect is by doing the following:

  1. Perform a physical spot-check of a small sample of your larger system
  2. Perform a lifecycle check by asking members of the IT team to incorporate data verification into their daily schedule
  3. Perform a comparison of data sets on a large scale to verify which data is represented in which databank (Active Directory, Inventory etc.) to detect blind spots in your system

For More Information

SAM tools are so important to making sure you are within compliance with your software vendor and to make sure that any software audits are conducted as painlessly as possible. For that reason, you’ll need to make an informed decision about your purchase. All that matters is that you have a strategy in place before the next auditor darkens your doorway. At MetrixData360, our goal is to save you money and to make sure you make the smartest spending decision for your company.

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