Business Drivers for SAM Adoption
This is the second article from my SAM research project with Stephen Mann from Forrester Research looking at the partner / supplier element of our research. See also ‘Which services do SAM partners offer?‘.
This time we simply asked suppliers/partners and resellers “In your opinion what is the biggest driver for organizations adopting SAM?”
As you can see the three strongest business drivers were:
- Cost Cutting – “We need to reduce software costs”
- Vendor Audits – “We need to defend against, or clean up the mess after publisher-led audits”
- Governance – “We need to reduce risk, unexpected software costs, adhere to regulations and maintain compliance”
Secondary business drivers were:
- Software ROI – “We need to demonstrate the value of our software investments, return on investment, business value”
- Visibility – “We just need better visibility of what we have so we can manage it more effectively”
- Procurement – “We need to prepare for contract changes or renewals, we need to adhere to ever more complex license terms”
Finally, the last considerations with only minor influence included:
- Operational Efficiency – “We need to reduce complexity on the Service Desk, improve service and manage the whole lifecycle more effectively”
- Migration Planning – “We need to plan transitions to the cloud, new operating systems etc”
- Security – “We need to monitor inappropriate apps, piracy, security risks”
In the next article I’ll dig into what blockers exist for SAM.
Notes
- Survey conducted with ITAM Review newsletter subscribers in October 2012
- Countries participating: 32
- Total participants: 176
As always, I welcome your comments and feedback. Further analysis to follow.
- Tags: business drivers · Cost Cutting · Governance · SAM · Vendor Audits
About Martin Thompson
Martin is owner and founder of The ITAM Review, an online resource for worldwide ITAM professionals. The ITAM Review is best known for its weekly newsletter of all the latest industry updates, LISA training platform, Excellence Awards and conferences in UK, USA and Australia.
Martin is also the founder of ITAM Forum, a not-for-profit trade body for the ITAM industry created to raise the profile of the profession and bring an organisational certification to market. On a voluntary basis Martin is a contributor to ISO WG21 which develops the ITAM International Standard ISO/IEC 19770.
He is also the author of the book "Practical ITAM - The essential guide for IT Asset Managers", a book that describes how to get started and make a difference in the field of IT Asset Management. In addition, Martin developed the PITAM training course and certification.
Prior to founding the ITAM Review in 2008 Martin worked for Centennial Software (Ivanti), Silicon Graphics, CA Technologies and Computer 2000 (Tech Data).
When not working, Martin likes to Ski, Hike, Motorbike and spend time with his young family.
Connect with Martin on LinkedIn.
Martin is also the founder of ITAM Forum, a not-for-profit trade body for the ITAM industry created to raise the profile of the profession and bring an organisational certification to market. On a voluntary basis Martin is a contributor to ISO WG21 which develops the ITAM International Standard ISO/IEC 19770.
He is also the author of the book "Practical ITAM - The essential guide for IT Asset Managers", a book that describes how to get started and make a difference in the field of IT Asset Management. In addition, Martin developed the PITAM training course and certification.
Prior to founding the ITAM Review in 2008 Martin worked for Centennial Software (Ivanti), Silicon Graphics, CA Technologies and Computer 2000 (Tech Data).
When not working, Martin likes to Ski, Hike, Motorbike and spend time with his young family.
Connect with Martin on LinkedIn.
Hello Martin. I don’t know if I am anticipating your next article on the blockers. Anyway, I am curious to know to which extent CIO are reluctant to launch SAM efforts based on the idea of “If I start a SAM projects, it will end-up with true-up costs superior to potential savings” (at least in the short term).
Or, to phrase my comment differently, which is the population talking about the “cost-cutting” driver ? Is it CEO, CIO, SAM people, consultants, etc…
Thanks
The Blockers article will follow soon. We’ll then have the full picture.
Hi Martin,
As the question was to identify the biggest driver for SAM (1) I think the total sum should be 100% right?
Hi Bjorn, answers were free form text and opposed to specific options, so some answers spanned multiple categories.
I am suspecting the top 4 could actually be labelled the same thing, Vendor Audits.