Software Asset Management
Too many licenses and you pay too much. Not enough licenses and you’ll pay a fine. By combining details about exactly what software is in use from Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager with license and contract information you maintain in the Provance IT Asset Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Service Manager, you’ll avoid costly non-compliance fines and prevent overspending on licenses, maintenance and support. You’ll gain further cost efficiencies and control by fully automating your workflows for software requests, approval and fulfillment.
License Compliance
The “what” and the “why” of license compliance is simple: The software in use must match the quantity and conditions of the license; otherwise, additional licenses are required to avoid a penalty or fine. It’s the “how” that’s hard. How do you know exactly what software is in use? How do you keep track of multiple versions of software under a range of licenses from various publishers and vendors deployed across the numerous individuals and locations in your organization? How do you match the software to the licenses?
Provance IT Asset Management Pack works with Microsoft System Center Service Manager and Configuration Manager to provide a complete and powerful license compliance solution. Using a knowledge base of nearly half a million applications, Configuration Manager performs identification and categorization of software installed across both physical and virtual environments to give you a clear, complete and accurate view of software in use. The Provance IT Asset Management Pack runs within the Service Manager console to track license and contract details and manage the proper allocation of software. Combining the capabilities of Configuration Manager and Provance lets you compare actual software deployment with licenses and entitlement. At a glance compliance and exception reports let you quickly identify and reconcile discrepancies and respond to vendor audits.
Together, Provance IT Asset Management, Microsoft System Center Service Manager and Microsoft Configuration Manager combine to deliver a complete license solution that ensures you’ll avoid costly non-compliance fines.
Software Asset Management
While software license compliance lets you avoid the probable cost of under licensing, software asset management lets you eliminate bona fide costs incurred through overspending on licenses, maintenance and support. Provance IT Asset Management lets you proactively control and manage software expenditure by optimizing the use of your licenses, eliminating unnecessary non-license expenditures and increasing your purchasing power.
When reports comparing software discovered by Configuration Manager with available licenses tracked in the Provance IT Asset Management Pack show a license surplus, this represents an opportunity for you to recover costs by terminating or reallocating unused licenses. When a deficit of licenses occurs, software asset management gives you alternatives to an outlay for more licenses. In addition to the active assets that Configuration Manager inventories, Provance IT Asset Management provides visibility into inactive assets, such as those in procurement, repair, storage or retirement. Where no licenses are available for allocation but there exist licenses assigned to inactive assets, Provance IT Asset Management lets you identify opportunities to recover, or “harvest” licenses for reallocation. Similarly, software usage information from Configuration Manager can identify additional candidates for harvesting that have installed software that is seldom, if ever used.
In addition to the cost of software, non-license costs for maintenance and support can be substantial. Because Provance IT Asset Management tracks maintenance and support costs associated with your software, you can optimize your agreements to accurately reflect your actual requirements. It is particularly expensive to pay maintenance and support on surplus, inactive or underused software as these costs typically recur on an annual basis.
Even when the optimal mix of software in use, licenses, and maintenance and support is achieved, there are still opportunities to further lessen software costs. Provance IT Asset Management provides you with the information you need to effectively plan and forecast your future requirements and consolidate your purchasing. With significantly increased buying power, Provance IT Asset Management lets you take full advantage of volume discounts and reduce the costs of managing multiple vendor relationships and contracts.