If you are like many people, we think the answer is no. When we we’re working with a client’s software inventory or licensing information, we often find that there is data missing. Have you ever found yourself trying to determine an accurate accounting of your inventory and had to stitch together multiple excel spreadsheets, create complex pivot tables, or write macros in order to find what seems like a simple answer? Or better yet, have you ever asked yourself if you should become a Database Administrator and learn how to use SQL Server? With our suite of SAM tools, you won’t need to.
We found that when we were working with our various clients, we were solving the same problems over and over – and we were doing it manually. I’m sure you can imagine that realization was painful for us. As such, we invested in developing proprietary toolsets and algorithms that became key in our ability to do more for clients – more effectively and efficiently than ever before. Solving the biggest challenges for our clients are the projects that yield the biggest returns. The most puzzling thing for us is that many of these clients had invested in Inventory and SAM tools that just didn’t give what was needed.
The short answer is no, it doesn’t. Because of the massive differences in licensing agreements between software companies, there is no one-size-fits-all option for SAM tools. As such, we developed each of our tools in-house to better monitor, collect, or optimize data surrounding a specific software publisher.
In every software audit that we defended, whether it was Microsoft, IBM, Micro Focus, or any of the host of others, we also found that certain info was asked for. What we noticed though, was that this info was not found within SAM Tools, and that left the data provided to the auditors open to interpretation. If you allow someone else to make the decisions on your data, or if it’s too complex that you cannot explain how it relates to licensing, you are going to have audit findings against you. Our clients were asking for tools that could validate or audit the auditors.
These tools are not like the commercial software tools that are in market in today. They were developed by our delivery team for our delivery team. We have used our tools in hundreds of software contract renewals or to software audit defenses. Most of them were designed to help us provide our clients with better information than the software companies or the auditors had themselves. These tools were not made to be fancy, they were made to get results.
Our Tools provide you with useful information that you can use to reduce software costs, defend yourself in an audit, or provide self-assessment for yourself. We’ve decided to make these available through our portal at the request of our clients. When we finished our engagements with them, they were asking us for access to the tools to continue to use them, so we’ve decided to make them available via subscriptions to our portal.
Do you have a hard time determining how many users or devices you have in AD? If so, this tool was designed for you. It removes the manual work out of reviewing AD records for active users and devices. It has logic built in to remove things that muddy the data, such as service accounts, group emails, etc.
Frustrated that your Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) says that you license by users, but somehow when you move to Office 365, you seem to be purchasing more licenses than you have users? The Office 365 reporting tool provides visibility into where your licenses are assigned, as well as creates user profiles for you to use to negotiate the costs of your next EA.
As you move to Azure, it is easy to have your licensing costs get out of control. There are a few simple things you can do to avoid spiraling costs (before moving to a cloud monitoring solution). Our Azure Usage Tool was designed to help ensure that you are taking advantage of Azure Hybrid Benefit and to help you understand what categories you are spending money on today.
Have you ever tried to figure out your license position for SQL Server? SQL Server licensing may be one of the most confusing license models that Microsoft has today. Even the biggest SAM tools that are in the market today have a hard time truly optimizing SQL Server licensing. We spent 9 months developing our algorithm that has stood up to some of the most rigorous Microsoft audits to ensure your SQL Licensing is done in the most cost-effective way possible. Regardless if you are on-premise, in the cloud, have Software Assurance, purchasing through an EA or a Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE) we’ve got your back.
Your environment is likely very dynamic and not static. You will have virtual Windows (VMs) servers moving across VMWare hosts or VMs that are moving from on-premise to a public cloud. How do you manage these licenses? Many organizations simple purchase licenses as they needed them and never look to reset and re-optimize those licenses. Truth be told, it’s likely because it’s a very difficult thing to do. Our Windows Server License Optimization Tool has been developed to help clients quickly figure out the best use of their Windows (and System Center) licenses.
Your time is valuable – we respect that. When scheduling a time to talk about how we can help you, we won’t bombard you with hundreds of needless emails and endless phone calls from aggressive sales reps you don’t want to talk to. Instead, Jay Bishop (that’s him in the video below), one of our Client Success Specialists, will listen to you about what challenges you are facing and confirm our understanding of what your goals are. We only move forward if you think we might be a good fit for you – that’s it. Our commitment is to zero high-pressure sales tactics from us – ever. With every client we’ve ever worked with ready and willing to do reference calls for us, we know the value in the results our services bring to our clients. We look forward to you learning and experiencing it for your yourself!
Book a half-hour meeting with us today to find out if MetrixData 360 is right for your organization. We’ve saved millions of dollars for organizations of all types, ranging from Fortune 50 corporations to government offices and utilities.