Creating a Healthier Vendor Relationship with SAM

How Software Asset Management Can Help Your Vendor Relationship

There are many advantages to software asset management; it can provide you with valuable cost-saving opportunities, and it can make sure that your software environment is both legally sound and safe from security threats. However, many companies hesitate to adopt software asset management solutions because they are afraid it will create tension in their software vendor relationship. They would rather nod their way through a software audit than challenge any of the software vendor’s findings, and they’d rather sign any deal that is offered to them as opposed to going toe-to-toe in negotiations.

The last thing you want to do is make your software vendor angry with you, especially when their software critical to your business. However, software asset management can easily provide benefits to the software vendor as well and can improve your relationship with them. At MetrixData 360, we know all about the relationship between vendor and client and how delicate that relationship can be. We have successfully navigated these treacherous waters for many years, and we have seen companies who implement software asset management and achieve a mutually beneficial relationship with their vendor along the way.

Software Audit Prevention

While software audits are performed by software companies, this doesn’t mean that it is necessarily something they want to undertake. Software audits are an investment for the software vendor, they must hire an auditing firm, or they get their own people to manage the project. The whole reason why they tolerate and perform software audits is because they feel cheated, they suspect you are using software you are not paying for and they want to be justly compensated. It may be an honest mistake on your part but to the software vendor, there is always that tiny doubt in the back of their minds that asks what if it’s not?

We have come across businesses who knew that they had software they didn’t have the licenses for and their strategy to address that issue was ‘we’ll pay when we get caught in the next audit’.

Imagine if you had a roommate who would only clean up their mess if you screamed, threatened to throw them out, and otherwise made a beast of yourself. It would obviously be an unpleasant experience for the roommate, but it would also be an unpleasant experience for you as you fight an uphill battle, straining your relationship beyond repair, just to get them to do what you both had originally agreed to. Software audits are an excellent source of revenue for software vendors, but you know what is better? Not having a compliance issue in the first place by simply following the rules and making the correct payments on time. The vendor gets exactly what they are owed, and you gain the reputation of being an ideal customer. You need software asset management to achieve such results with your software vendor.

Provide Them with Useful Feedback

The software vendors want to serve you better, they want to be able to provide you with the software that matches your business needs. However, if you have ever been in a position where you are looking for constructive feedback, one of the most frustrating type to get is just a simple nod and ‘everything’s great!’ While it might make you feel good, there’s nowhere you can really go from there. Being able to have an open dialogue with your vendor concerning the software you need and having that conversation backed by strong data, will give the vendors valuable feedback on how to better provide you with quality customer service. Instead of your conversations with the vendor solely focused on whether you’re in compliance, you can move your relationship forward with control and precision.

SAM Allows You to Frame Win-Win Scenarios

If you don’t know the first thing about your software environment, then the only real strategy you can implement during any upcoming software contract negotiations is how to get a discount. These savings may serve your company well for the short-term, but it may cut down on the quality of the product and it is an arrangement the software vendor would obviously be opposed to. Instead of resorting to strong-arm tactics and tense drawn-out stand offs, knowing what you have in your software environment will allow you to understand the whole picture of your company’s needs. You can then structure your partnership with the vendor over the long-term to ensure equal opportunities for growth and profit. Software asset management gives you the visibility into your data that you need to track the value of the software vendor’s products.