Software License Optimization

Flexera Software Announces FlexNet Manager for Desktops

By: Alan Swahn

Flexera Software is pleased to announce the immediate availability of its Software License Optimization solution FlexNet Manager for Desktops.  FlexNet Manager for Desktops provides next generation software asset management for Microsoft and Adobe, allowing organizations to more effectively use the software they already have and purchase only what they need. FlexNet Manager for Desktops is the newest addition to the FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises. It optimizes Microsoft and Adobe software license consumption by applying the associated product use rights for each application.

We are also announcing the general availability of FlexNet Manager for SAP Business Suite version 5.6. This release provides new features for SAP license management and optimization including the new Duplicates Finder that identifies duplicate named users in the system. New license rules enable administrators to determine the SAP license type based on characteristics such as number of transactions, jobs and reports per user.

To learn more about these offerings, as well as the entire FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises please register for the upcoming webinar “FlexNet Manager for Desktops Introduction & Demo.” The online presentation will demonstrate how enterprises can optimize license consumption for Microsoft and Adobe software products.  We will also show the FlexNet Manager for SAP Business Suite integration with the FlexNet Manager Platform.

• September 15th at 11am EDT (GMT -5)—North America/Europe-Middle East-Africa
• September 16th at 8am AEST (GMT +10)—Asia-Pacific
   Please register here

 

Best Practice Approaches for Gaining Control of SAP Licensing & Spend

by: Tom Canning

 

David Blake, founder and CEO of UpperEdge Solutions recently presented best practice approaches for gaining control of SAP licensing and spend across the full sourcing lifecycle.  During this webinar David discussed:

• The importance of understanding the most critical aspects of SAP software licensing, packaging, and pricing
• The impact of not having control over SAP licensing, spend, and relationship during different states of the sourcing lifecycle
• How Software License Optimization solutions optimize software usage, enhance negotiation effectiveness, and reduce overall software costs
• Capturing best practice approaches for navigating SAP's standard business practices to get the most of your SAP relationship

View the entire webinar to learn more about gaining insight into SAP licensing and spend.

Knowledge + Approach = Power: Gain Control of SAP® Licensing and Spending to Maximize Your Return

Flexera Software welcomes David Blake, President and CEO of UpperEdge, a leading IT Commercial Advisory firm, as he presents best practice approaches for gaining control of SAP licensing and spending across the full sourcing lifecycle. Learn how you can maximize the return on your SAP investment in a highly sustainable manner.

Register for this webinar to:

• Understand the most critical aspects of SAP’s software licensing, packaging, and pricing
• Appreciate the magnitude of not having control over your SAP licensing, spend, and relationship during the different stages of the sourcing lifecycle
• Learn how Enterprise License Optimization solutions optimize software usage, enhance negotiation effectiveness, and reduce overall software costs
• Capture best practice approaches for navigating SAP’s standard business practices to get the most of your SAP relationship
  

Webinar Details
Thursday, 07/22/2010
9:00 PT / 11:00 CT / 12:00 ET

The Software Audit Balancing Act

by: Brent Pietrzak

I have recently been working with a number of clients and prospects who are struggling to balance how much they should prepare for software vendor audits when the likelihood of being audited seems low, until they are hit with a large unplanned software compliance invoice.  The challenge facing most large organizations is identifying which software assets amongst the hundreds to thousands within their organization might be creating exposure for the organization.  Balanced against other priorities, the task of identifying these assets and developing a strategy for managing them can seem daunting and unrewarding.  Being overly prepared certainly doesn’t give an asset manager any credibility with the business when other priorities are pressing and being audited seems like a remote possibility.
The reality is that audits are increasing and many well known vendors are becoming increasingly aggressive in this space. 

I was recently educated on a practical approach to balancing the need for preparedness against the likelihood of audit in working with Accenture’s software asset management team.  Accenture advocates creating a managed software list that is composed of software vendors and titles that are either high value, represent an audit risk, or are both high value and an audit risk.  This practical approach can often get the list of hundreds of applications and vendors down to 25-50, representing a solid scope of work for a phase I solution.  Asset management and software license optimization consultants can assist in identifying the top vendors, key practices and pitfalls, and readily help large enterprises pragmatically prepare for audits. 

Effectively preparing for an audit takes a lot more than just coming up with a count of assets.  Software entitlements must be understood, available software license terms well known, and internal resources aligned to respond.  Solution providers such as Accenture can quickly help organizations get the right processes and perspective in place using the managed software list concept and can help enterprises choose the right mix of technology and process to make take the burden away from software license compliance.
If you are interested in this approach, I recommend you contact Dale Carson at Accenture, dale.b.carson@accenture.com.

Can you be out of compliance with an Unlimited License Agreement?

by: Randy Littleson

Is it possible to be out of compliance with an all-you-can-eat software license agreement?
The answer to this question is a definitive “yes”, but I don’t think most people realize this.  Depending on which vendor you’re working with, such agreements are referred to as Enterprise License Agreements (ELA), Unlimited License Agreements (ULA) or any other number of terms.  They essentially work the same way, it’s a form of “all-you-can-eat” license for an enterprise.  So, if that’s the goal, how is it possible to be out of compliance if you have such an agreement with SAP, Oracle or your vendor of choice?

In many cases there are variants to these agreements.  For example, some have no cap (you specify which products are covered and then you can use them with no limit) and some are capped (you agree on the number of servers you will install, for example).  If you have a no cap agreement you can run afoul when the organization assumes that all products are covered under the agreement and starts to deploy broadly a product not included in the agreement.  If you have a capped agreement, it’s quite common for an organization to over-deploy beyond their agreed upon cap.

I’ve heard/seen statistics predicting that as many as 90% of all customers have software compliance issues (and the bigger you are, the more likely you have software compliance issues).  While the number of customers with enterprise or unlimited license agreements is a relative small percentage of the total market, my experience indicates that they too are in this 90% category.

Time is of the Essence for Current SAP Customers

by:  Tom Canning

By March 15, current SAP customers will need to decide whether or not to stay on SAP Standard Support or move to SAP Enterprise Support.  What’s the difference?   At 18% SAP Standard Support provides basic support features including legal updates, problem resolution, knowledge transfer and quality management to keep SAP systems running; for 22% SAP Enterprise Support includes all of the Standard Support but also focuses on business continuity, business process improvement, protection of investment and accelerated innovation, and reducing total cost of operations of a customer’s IT landscape.  Simply put, with SAP Enterprise Support, you will receive the SAP upgrades at no cost.  If you elect SAP Standard Support, any future upgrades will cost you.

Before making this decision, it’s important to ask the following:
1. Do I really know what I own today and who is using what?
2. Do I have the proper mix of licenses?
3. What are the licenses that I actually need based on real consumption and real value?
  

Without having the answers above, you may find yourself saying 22% or 18% of “what”?   If you can get the insights into what you own and what you are using, you may find yourself reducing your overall SAP investments.  And if that is the case, it may change how you evaluate the two support options.

To determine whether to go with the SAP Standard vs SAP Enterprise support, you need to gain comprehensible and reliable insight into your SAP license usage and compare it with the terms of your organizations’ SAP contract.  Knowing this will provide you with greater control over your software license management and spending by creating a foundation for understanding your software license compliance, accurately planning for future purchases, and opening the door for fact-based discussions with SAP. 

Ray Wang recently raised some compelling questions in reference to what “level” of support an enterprise organization should consider:

1. Are you expanding your use of SAP in the next 3 to 5 years?
2. Do you have a CPI increase in your contract?
3. What’s your overall SAP apps strategy?
4. Can you make a decision on Enterprise Support by March 15, 2010?

Points #1 & 4 are tricky.  How can you truly look at expansion of SAP licenses unless you understand the historical trend of usage?  Are you tracking software license usage today?  Will you be able to make a confident decision based on what you really own?  Take this pending support decision as an opportunity to gain insights into your SAP implementation and to find out “what” you truly need first – and then the decision for 22% or 18% of “what” becomes clearer. 

SAP Offers its Customers a Choice, Challenging Companies to Gain a Greater Understanding of their SAP License Usage

By Jeff Greenwald:

The blogosphere is buzzing over SAP’s announcement to reintroduce its Standard Support model and offer its customers a choice between two tiers of support service.

Amy Konary, Research Director for Software Pricing and Licensing at IDC, and Ray Wang, a Partner for Enterprise Strategy at Altimeter Group and the author of the enterprise software blog A Software Insider’s Point of View, recently posted interesting analyses of these changes. 

Both applaud SAP for listening to their customers and recognize that this announcement represents a decisive shift of power in the software industry from vendors to customers.

Ray provides SAP customers a helpful decision matrix and points out that if an organization anticipates expanding their use of SAP, now is the time to renegotiate their contract and address shelfware issues. 

But in my experience, many organizations don’t really understand how their SAP applications are actually being used. Without insight into SAP license usage, how can anyone accurately identify shelfware or compliance risks?

I encourage those that are turning their attention to their SAP investments to take a closer look at how their organization is actually using their licenses and take that information into account when considering their support options.  Only by asking this question on a more ongoing basis can organizations guarantee that they’re only buying the software they really need and using all the applications they already have in 2010 and beyond.

What do you think of SAP’s support announcement?  How does this impact your software budget plans in the future?  How do you measure your SAP license usage today?

A Software Insider's Take on SAP License Management and Optimization

By Jeff Greenwald:

Ray Wang has a good post today on his blog "A Software Insider's Point of View" regarding SAP license optimization.  He says that in 2010, “users must continue to reduce their cost of ownership and complexity.  In addition, rapidly changing business requirements require some users to seek SaaS alternatives, additional point solutions, and extensions.”

We’ve seen this growing trend as well, especially given the state of the economy. It ties back to Randy's recent blog post about software license management. (see Randy's post)