Some companies are combining asset-management technology with programs to educate employees about software usage. Marriott International Inc. has been using Tangram Enterprise Solutions Inc.'s Asset Insight since 1998 to track all its software and hardware and to determine how the products are being used and when they should be replaced. The Bethesda, Maryland, lodging company is concerned enough about licensing issues that it launched an aggressive campaign — including the distribution of posters and flyers at all its properties in the United States and Canada — to make sure that employees understand the importance of compliance.
Sharon Dorsey, director of Marriott's technology-management center, says the company also insists that all its properties buy software via a centralized purchasing process to ensure better control of software assets and take advantage of volume discounts. Accounting for software assets becomes more vital as the use of technology at Marriott increases, adds Susan Zankman, the company's senior vice president of finance and management services, who says the multiple benefits of the software more than justify its cost.
The advantages may be clear, but asset-management deployment is not without challenges and management issues. Depending on the size of the organization and how much software and hardware it owns, implementation can take several months. Furthermore, managers must decide how asset data will most effectively be collected, and ensure that asset-management administrators work closely with the people responsible for purchasing software. And for the programs to be useful, they must be maintained and analyzed frequently — or the information will be collected for naught.
Makers of asset-management software generally aim their products at IT executives, but Brent Carlson, LogicLibrary co-founder and vice president of technology, says the company is seeing a sharp increase in demand for products from the financial side of its client base as well. "They are beginning to see that it's the asset they have the least control over in the entire organization," says Carlson.
Survey Says...
Investment bank Sanders Morris Harris in Houston felt it was losing control of a specific — and expensive — software investment: a real-time stock-quote system that provides information on companies and markets. The bank pays about $450 per user each month to subscribe to the highest service level of the application, and managers wanted to ensure that the program was being used properly.
The bank installed a product called Survey IT Portfolio Manager from Scalable Software Inc., which analyzes software and hardware usage statistics for all employees. The application, which runs on Windows NT servers, showed that many employees who were subscribing to the stock-quote system didn't need it at all, while others were using it for as little as 10 minutes a day. As a result, the company moved the more-casual users to a less-costly service level and slashed the number of licenses for the quote system.
Managing director Chip Davis estimates that the bank is saving $15,000 a month on the reduced number of licenses for the quote system. Sanders Morris Harris plans to use the asset-management application to track other IT investments — hardware as well as software — to determine just how necessary they really are.
Whereas in the past the bank would almost automatically increase computing horsepower as part of periodic system replenishments and dole out software with few restrictions, it now takes a much more prudent approach to IT deployment. Given the do-more-with-less philosophy that currently pervades many organizations, asset-management software may provide the answers many managers are looking for.
Bob Violino is a freelance writer based in Massapequa, New York.
Tips for Managing Software Assets
Prepare for a fairly complex implementation, particularly in larger organizations with many computing devices and software applications. Work out in advance such issues as whether to run asset-management tools on servers or workstations and how best to communicate (and act on) reports.
Dedicate a trained employee to implementing and maintaining an asset-management tool and process. Ideally someone should also maintain the program on a regular basis, and ensure that all software licenses are up-to-date.
Develop a process by which all people who buy licenses and negotiate with vendors have access to accurate, up-to-date information about what software is installed and what is being used.
Rapid Return
These days every CFO wants to see a quick return on IT investments, but some of the experiences of companies deploying IT asset-management software nearly defy belief. Peter Theis, director of IT at architectural firm Roger Ferris & Partners in Westport, Connecticut, says that software purchased from Express Metrix LLC paid for itself in just a week. True, the software cost just a fraction of what Theis estimates it would have cost to conduct an audit manually, not to mention potential fines it helped prevent. But a week? Quan Ha, manager of desktop support at Sony Pictures Digital, also lends his voice to the chorus, saying that his $12,000 investment provided near-instant payback by revealing that an anticipated $10,000 software purchase was unnecessary because the company already owned more licenses than it needed.
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