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Office 365 vs Microsoft 365

Posted on by Ben Tight

It doesn’t matter if you’re working from your office or at home or up a tree, it seems that companies are rushing to take their business to the Cloud, and that includes where employees are expected to do their work. Microsoft has been quite aggressive in their focus to move their industry (and their customers) to their Cloud platforms, including their two most popular Cloud productivity services. Today we’re breaking those services down in a head-to-head comparison. It’s Microsoft Office 365 vs Microsoft 365.

While they may seem similar in name, they both offer unique levels of functionality and cost. So, which one is best suited to your needs?

At MetrixData360, although we are unaffiliated with Microsoft, we pride ourselves in educating our clients, so that businesses everywhere can make informed spending decisions regarding their software.

Office 365

To put it succinctly, Office 365 offers a variety of the most popular Microsoft products like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneDrive, all of these offered programs are geared towards business productivity such as Skype for Business, SharePoint, Teams, Yammer, and Planner.

These services can be found either online or on-premise through a subscription-based payment plan. Plans with Office 365 offers to host Microsoft Exchange mailboxes. There are also additional add-ons that you can pay for, this includes additional security.

This is the main argument Microsoft will use to get you to switch to Microsoft 365, since with Microsoft 365, these add-on features are included in the package, as opposed to having to pay for additional fees. However, that doesn’t always mean the transition is worth it, especially if you are not expecting to use every feature in Microsoft 365.

To give you a taste of all the plans that are available to you, here are two different versions of Office 365:

Office 365 Business

This plan is an excellent, low-cost way for getting key components of Office 365 to your company with either the Essential, Business, or Business Premium plans. However, this skin-and-bones plan comes with a few drawbacks:

  1. It doesn’t allow for remote desktops to have access to Office 365.
  2. Office 365 Business is not compatible with Nerdio for Azure (NFA) environment, for instance.

If you’d like to compare Office 365 Business package pricing, you can find a basic outline of the plans here.

Office 365 Enterprise

ProPlus, E1, E3, and E5 all offer varying levels of Office 365 Enterprise, which is aimed primarily towards providing Enterprise productivity.

Excluding the E1 license (which actually doesn’t include any application offered with it, only the services), all of these plans come with Office ProPlus and are suitable for Remote Desktop Service (RDS) environments. If you want to maintain any Nerdio environments, at minimum you’ll need an E3.

Changes to Office 365 ProPlus Licensing

Microsoft announced that beginning in the summer of 2020, Office 365 ProPlus plans would allow licenses to be assigned to Windows 10 devices as opposed to it being assigned to the user.

The same can be applied to Office 365 ProPlus for education. This can prove highly beneficial if multiple users are sharing one device. However, there are some catches when it comes to the device-based licensing. For instance, commercial customers can only use Office ProPlus through their EAs, and for education customers, they will only be able to access Device-based licensing for Office 365 ProPlus through their Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES).

In order to use this device-based licensing, customers must meet certain requirements:

  • They must have Version 1907 or later for Office 365 Plus or Version 1803 or later if they have a Windows 10
  • All Window 10 devices must be joined to Azure Active Directory or joined to hybrid Azure AD.

If you’d like a full examination of the different Office 365 Enterprise Plans, you can find the outline here.

Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 can basically be thought of as Office 365 with added bonuses. It’s a bundled offer of existing products, including Office 365, along with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise Mobility + Security.

Windows 10 serves as Microsoft’s safest and latest operating system, complete with BitLocker and Windows Defender Anti-Virus. Mobility + Security is an extra layer of security for your data, including mobile device and identity management.

Microsoft 365 is the response for small- to medium-sized businesses who were going to purchase Microsoft 365’s three major components (Office 365, Windows 10, and Mobility + Security) separately on three different platforms. So, Microsoft 365 is marketed towards businesses who want to have a single, secure platform that can be shared across the company.

If you are negotiating any sort of contract renewal with Microsoft and you already have Office 365, you can expect pressure from Microsoft to scale up to Microsoft 365 from Office 365.

There are some obvious benefits to getting Microsoft 365; the fact that it is an all-inclusive package that provides a single platform for everything, creating an easier end-user experience, makes a compelling case. If you choose Microsoft 365, there are a few choices that are available to you.

Microsoft 365 Business

Centered around SMB deployment and designed for 300 users or less, this plan includes Office 365 Business and some of the most basic device management, although it is considered the next step up from Office 365 Premium plans.

It should be noted that this plan doesn’t use Office ProPlus in its package, which has significantly more features than Office Business. It’s really a win-some and lose-some situation.

Here’s a link for more information on the Microsoft 365 Business Plans.

Microsoft 365 Enterprise

This plan is marketed heavily towards larger businesses with an emphasis around strong security and device management functionality.

It bears a lot of resemblance to Office 365’s E3 and E5 plans with a bonus of Windows 10 Enterprise, EMS features, Azure Information Protection, Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, and Microsoft Intune with availability on-prem and on the Cloud.

Microsoft Enterprise is broken down into three plan options: F1, E3, and E5.

Click here if you’d like more information on the Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans.

Microsoft 365 Education

Microsoft 365 Education is another exclusive offer that is given to schools that can be used by both teachers and students. There are three plans that are offered with Microsoft 365 Education:

  • A1 – The basic package which includes the lowest tier information protection, and a free, although limited, version of Office for students and teachers.
  • A2 – The standard suite, which includes everything in A1 with the addition of all the Office desktop apps and strong information protection and security.
  • A3 – The premium tier includes everything from A3, plus advanced security and compliance tools, along with top analytic systems.

Click here for more information on Microsoft 365 Education plans.

Office 365 Reporting Tool: Why is it Important?

Regardless of which plan you pick, it’s important that while you are using Office 365, you have a means to effectively monitor your usage. This will allow you to predict and potentially eliminate any consumption issues before they arise in an audit.

To address this issue, at MetrixData360, we have our exclusive Office 365 Consumption Reporting Tool available for installation. There are a few main benefits that come from having Office 365 Consumption reporting on your side, including but not limited to:

  • Detecting Multiple Subscriptions

    MetrixData360 have often seen that our clients will have multiple subscriptions for Office 365 that they have accidentally repurchased over time. These redundancies often make for a quiet drain on the IT budget.

  • Tracking Consumption of Subscriptions Over Time

    Being able to track your use of subscriptions will allow you to track not just how much you owe, but also what sort of value these subscriptions are bringing to your company.

  • Detecting Blocked Users

    How do you know you have a subscription when you don’t have access to an application or program?

    It may seem as though those two situations are polar opposite of each other, but we have often seen that case appear unknowingly in the software profiles of the clients that we have examined.

    Sometimes this blockage is intentional, but other times the customer is unaware of these users and by removing their subscriptions they can save a lot of money.

  • Detecting Last Usage

    MetrixData 360’s Office 365 Consumption Reporting tool can pick up if an account hasn’t been active in 90 days or longer.

    Such inactivity usually means that the account has been retired (or at least attempted to be) or it simply belongs to a user who doesn’t need the subscription.

    Either situations can easily remain a drain on your budget and presents the potential to reclaim licenses.

For more information on how MetrixData360’s Office Consumption Reporting Tool can give you control over your software spending and usage, check out our tools page for more information!

To Summarize

With so many different plans and packages to pick from, the Office 365 vs Microsoft 365 debate comes down to what is right for you.

So long as you have a means of keeping track of that consumption, you can certainly find a package that fits your interests without proving a drain to your software budget.

At MetrixData360, we have often seen companies either underestimate their usage, leaving them at risk for compliance issues; or we have seen them overspend eroding their IT budget.

We know how to navigate our customers around such pitfalls when it comes to their software. If you’d like to learn more about how MetrixData360 can give you the visibility you need, contact us and we’d be happy to answer any of your software licensing related questions.

Rebounding from 2019 May Mean More Micro Focus Audit Requests

Posted on by Ben Tight

Micro Focus did not have a good 2019 and customers should expect to see more Micro Focus audit notices this year because of it. On Valentine’s Day of 2020, Micro Focus’s Executive Chairman Kevin Loosemore has stepped down from his role as a leader after fifteen years on the job and a 6-8% dip in sales with a staggering 30% revenue drop.

Those are some harsh numbers to work with and it would probably be a bit nerve-racking for Micro Focus’ customers or prospecting customers? Is now the time to buy or is it better to jump ship now? At MetrixData 360, we have gone toe-to-toe with Micro Focus on many different occasions and we have gotten to know their business strategies quite well. With these tough times ahead for Micro Focus, here are a few things that you can expect as a Micro Focus customer.

1. Expect More Micro Focus Audits in the Future

Micro Focus is already known to be an audit-heavy software vendor, but this extra pressure to drive revenue back up in the wake of such a challenging year could mean that if you have Micro Focus software, a software audit might be around the corner.

Being prepared is the best thing you can do. To get ahead of your Micro Focus Audit, here are some tips specifically geared towards Micro Focus’ tactics of auditing, according to ITAM’s Review, along with some of our own findings:

  • Pay close attention to Micro Focus contracts, make sure that terms like “authorized user” are clearly defined, since Micro Focus has the tendency to put vague terms in their EULA that can create confusion that is exploited later in an audit.
  • Ensure the licensing metric as outlined in your contract is also clearly understood to everyone internally. A lack of understanding will make it unclear what you’re supposed to count to remain in compliance or how they will collect or count usage data in an audit.
  • If your Micro Focus products are accessed through servers like Citrix or through VDI’s, make sure that you are licensed according to Micro Focus’ metric. Micro Focus will want to see that you have control overs in place to ensure who has access to their products. Otherwise, they will require that everyone with access to the products is licensed (access rights), as opposed to simply licensing those who use the product (use rights).

2. HP Products Might Be the Target for Audits

Micro Focus purchased many software products from HP Enterprise back in late 2016 for $8.8 billion, and since then we haven’t seen them target HP users in any of their audits. Up until now, they have mostly been auditing for products such as Rumba, Attachmate Extra, and their Resource Access Control Facility (RACF).

With their recent revenue challenges, we may begin to see audits expanded to include legacy HP Products since it is a viable area for software audits that they have not exploited as of yet.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can get ahead of the auditors and be prepared for your next software audit, check out our article, 5 Secrets to Prepare for a Software Audit (And Save Money).

3. Now Is the Time to Negotiate

If you’re expecting a contract renewal with Micro Focus soon or if you want to get a contract in place with Micro Focus, this might be your time to push for the deals you want.

Micro Focus is not in a place where they can risk losing deals to competitors, so this situation might give you the foothold you need to start maximizing the value of your software with Micro Focus.

Here are some tips to help you prepare as you enter negotiations with Micro Focus:

  • Consider the stakeholders. The people involved in carving out this deal for you may have different goals within their ranks. Some may be paid based on the revenue they can generate, some on your satisfaction as a client. Make sure you phrase your arguments in a way that appeals to each.
  • Prepare for a contract renewal like you would for an audit – because one might be coming soon afterwards. If you walk away from a contract negotiation having managed to cut your spending, chances are Micro Focus will compensate for the losses by sending you an audit. It would be a smart move to perform an internal audit; you should know your usage and your license requirements. This will not only get you ready for any potential audit, but it will also allow you to make better spending decisions during the negotiations.
  • Be Ready to Apply Leverage when needed. A well-timed call to the right person can be very effective to unblock a stalemate in the process.

If you’d like to learn more about how to strike up a deal that serves your company’s software needs, check out our article, Guide to Negotiating Software Contracts.

Going Forward With Micro Focus

The software industry is a fast paced one and it’s important to keep ahead of the curve. It’s unlikely that Micro Focus will find themselves out of the game just yet, they have enough revenue to pool from their contract renewals but this heavy hit could mean you’ll start to see some changes in the company if you are a customer of Micro Focus or are considering signing a deal with them.

At MetrixData360, we like to keep you informed to make sure that you can make educated decisions regarding your software spending. If you want to know more about the latest news in the software industry, you can sign up for our Newsletter by clicking the link below! It’s completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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:

The Best Software Asset Management Tools

Posted on by Mike Austin

Best SAM Tools: Reviews, Pros, and Cons

Software Asset Management tools are great for tracking your software installations and making sure that you are within compliance with your software contracts. If you have a larger infrastructure, with thousands of devices to manage, then having an accurate depiction of your software environment without a SAM tool of some kind simply isn’t doable.

When used correctly, SAM tools are your best defense in any software audit that comes your way.

Picking a SAM tool that is right for you is critical to both ensuring that your Software Asset Management program is a success and avoiding wasting money on a tool that can’t deliver on its investment. There is nothing worse than purchasing licenses and paying consultants to implement the solution only to have untracked data crop up during a software audit.

At MetrixData360, we have worked with many software asset management tools that are in the market today, since our tool set, the SAM Compass, is capable of both acting as your only SAM tool and working in tandem with any SAM tool that is already implementing into your software estate. Having worked with so many different SAM tools, we want to help you make the right decision on which tool is best for you, so here is a review of some of the best SAM tools that are currently available.

Snow Software: Snow License Manager

About Snow Software

Snow is an international consulting firm that offers many different services, their diversity can’t be overstated as they are involved with software asset management, audit defense, licensing and risk management. They also have developed their own SAM tools that you can purchase, their main product being their License Manager.

Benefits of Snow Software

The Snow License Manager provides a singular view of your data. It can track the lifecycle of your applications and has a built-in calculator that can effectively capture your licensing position, even across different licensing metrics. The program is fast and can automatically identify more than 95,000 software publishers and over 550,000 applications. It also comes with flexible deployment options and can access your data from multiple points.

Drawbacks of Snow License Manager

According to reviews in Gartner, the downside with Snow’s environment is that it has been noted to struggle with accurately linking with the Archive Directory.

 

Who Snow Would Be Perfect For

  • Users of IBM, Oracle, and SAP
  • New users
  • Smaller companies with fewer than 500 employees</li

Certero Tools

 

About Certero

Certero is an international corporation with locations in North America, Europe and Australia. They value a more personalized approach, aiming for integrity, trust, innovation and tenacity. They are best known for their Cloud, Oracle and IBM software products.

Benefits of Certero

This product might not be as well-known, but it is very sleek and compact. Their SAM tool is easy to deploy, run and update with areas of expertise that goes beyond SAM. Certero offers full platform and full vendor coverage with license management optimization, and a maximum-security access control.

Drawbacks of Certero

One unfortunate flaw in Certero’s program that comes up in Gartner review are issues around sub-capacity counts within IBM’s ILMT. Also, according to The ITAM’s review, Certero AssetStudio Review, the self-help written content could be improved, meaning that you will have to rely heavily on the customer support team at Certero while you move up the learning curve.

Who Certero Would Be Perfect For

  • Cloud users
  • Oracle and IBM users
  • New Users
  • Companies on a budget

Flexera SAM Tools

About Flexera

Flexera has been in the business for thirty years, having managed over 30 million servers and devices throughout their history. They don’t just offer consultation and training but also their top-class SAM tool FlexNet Manager.

Benefits of Flexera

FlexNet offers an interesting ‘what-if’ analysis capability, so you can see how the changes to your hardware or software will impact your future licensing requirements. FlexNet has also been reported to be quite comprehensive in its data gathering so you will have detailed information on your software deployments.

Disadvantages of Flexera

The downside with FlexNet, according to Gartner Reviews, is that it is a complex software estate that might be difficult for new users and require significant investment in consulting and time to set up. FlexNet has also been reported to have some issues working with SQL servers, giving you less-than-accurate license reports.

 

Who Flexera Would Be Perfect For

  • Large organizations of more than 1,000 employees
  • Advanced users
  • CFO-friendly for projected return and costs

ServiceNow

About ServiceNow

is a global company that was placed as third on Fortune Magazine’s Future 50 List in 2019, which ranks companies on their position for long-term growth. ServiceNow aims to create a smoother digital workflow and prides itself in a high renewal rates and a history of creating strong business relationships with enterprise customers.

Benefits of ServiceNow

ServiceNow is an extremely popular product that has swept across North America, as seen in Gartner reviews. They have a strong foothold in IT Service Management and are excellent at ticketing. They are also looking to leverage this into the SAM space. ServiceNow offers training to their customers, so that you can be effective at using the product. Since it is a broad platform, it is also effective at tracking the life cycle and usability of software and hardware assets.

Drawbacks of ServiceNow

According to ITAM’s Review, ServiceNow (ITAM) Review, with a larger organization, ServiceNow can become complicated and difficult to manage due to the multiple layers of configuration. They also only offer a free Developer instance as a demo, which will expire after seven days of inactivity, and has limited data to test with.

Who ServiceNow Would Be Perfect For

  • Smaller businesses of fewer than 500 employees
  • Current ServiceNow customers
  • ITSM users

Aspera SmartTrack

About Aspera

This friendly consultant firm has been going strong for twenty years and maintains an excellent customer service reputation where their business resides, in Europe and North America. They aim to take SAM and turn it into something that is easily approachable and customer-oriented.

Benefits of Aspera

Aspera’s SmartTrack Manages offers a wide variety of vendors including Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Adobe, Citrix, HP, CA, Autodesk, Symantec, Attachmate and Red Hat just to name a few. SmartTrack also has software normalization, filtering out the noise of your software inventory. The program has automated license re-harvesting and cloud management services to save you money. They are known to be quite user-friendly, with a free demo offered for potential buyers and information that is easily digestible.

Drawbacks of Aspera

Unfortunately, according to Gartner Reviews, Aspera’s unique compliance reporting takes some getting used to and full deployment into your environment takes time. Comments in ITAM’s review, Aspera SmartTrack review, states that Aspera would be better suited for a larger company with a complex infrastructure, which means if you are a smaller company with a more basic architecture, you might find that Aspera will be too complicated to implement.

Who Aspera SmartTrack Would Be Perfect For

  • New users
  • Environments with multiple licenses
  • Larger companies of over 1,000 employees

Xensam Xupervisor

About Xensam

Xensam has stretched across the globe in the small time it’s been active. The fairly new player only kicked things off in 2016. They focus on putting their customers first, offering to candidly compare themselves with their competitors.

Benefits of Xensam

Comments from Gartner Reviews have called the program very simple, polished and easy to use. One lovely feature Xensam has at their disposal is the ability to show actual active usage, while other SAM tools just track when the application is open, according to their Xupervisor page on their website. You can try them out for free, as a demo is offered.

Drawbacks of Xensam

As seen in reviews from Gartner and Capterra’s Xensam Xupervisor Reviews, Xensam only offers hardware information for certain devices, which might prove a troublesome gap of information in the case of a software audit. It also offers very few connectors to the Cloud vendors.

Who Xensam Xupervisor Would Be Perfect For

  • New users
  • On-prem environments

AssetLabs Prelude

About AssetLabs

AssetLabs comes with a very personal touch, taking great care to let you get to know their customers and their valued partners. They offer a variety of services including but not limited to audit defense, true up preparation, server optimization, and, software inventory normalization.

Benefits of AssetLabs Prelude

The benefits of Prelude are found in its wide array of services. Utilizing Prelude will get you customer support and free training. AssetLabs are certified by CSAM as experts to help manage your own SAM portfolio, tailored to your specific use. Their data connectors are free of charge, and the environment can provide quarterly or bi-annual ELP updates. Prelude is also great for categorizing and normalizing your software titles to match ISO specifications.

Drawbacks of AssetLabs’ Prelude

Some limitation of Prelude is in the fact that Prelude doesn’t do well with more complex license models like IBM, Oracle, and SAP. It also has no discovery model and therefore would need to rely on other tools to compensate. It’s last struggling point is that Prelude doesn’t have a SaaS application.

Who Is AssetLabs’ Prelude Perfect For?

  • Learners in the Licensing Industry
  • New users
  • Companies who do not want the large costs that come with implementing a complex SAM solution.

For More Information About SAM Tools

Whatever SAM product you choose for your company, make sure that your product can suit your needs when it comes to your company’s size and your software vendors. Finding a SAM tool that can meet your short-term and long-term goals is important in ensuring your satisfaction with the product. For more information on how to purchase your SAM tool carefully, check out our article Things You Should Consider Before You Buy A Software Asset Management Tool.

Be sure that you ask questions and properly weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each SAM tool so that you are confident your license information is accurate and reliable.

At MetrixData360, we utilize our in-house tools to supplement any missing data your SAM tools may have failed to detect. If you’d like to find out how our tools can provide you any missing data points or if you’d like a chance to validate the accuracy of the SAM tool you have in place, clicking the link below will take you to Our Tools 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.

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