Vodafone, SAM Tools and the quest for a silver bullet
Stanislav Pavlin, Principal Manager, Vodafone Procurement Company, talks to ITAM Review about his role at Vodafone, SAM tools and the quest for the silver bullet, in advance of his speaking slot at our upcoming ITAM Tools Day event in London on Friday 20th November.
Q1. How did you get started/arrive in the ITAM space? What is your background?
My background is in Procurement and entering ITAM/SAM was a logical next step for me once we had consolidated our key IT Software contracts. In other words – a great job focusing on price needs to be followed by a great job focusing on quantity to keep the costs under control.
Q2. Describe your journey/what is the current maturity of your ITAM function at Vodafone?
Vodafone is traditionally very good at managing our IT assets, however most of the work was done on a local or regional level. For the last two years we’ve been focusing on building a strong central team and equipping all of our markets with a powerful set of tools.
Q3. What have been the biggest challenges in the development of your programme?
General limitations are the great diversity and constant change of licence metrics around the IT Software world. This will not disappear and therefore such programmes need to be ready for continuous change management.
Secondly, realising that ITAM/SAM is a job for people and not just tools. Tools help, but can’t do everything!
Q4. What advice would you share with organisations embarking on a similar journey?
Get strong support in your organisation from your C-level. Be ready for a journey that takes years not months. Don’t expect any “Plug &Play” solutions.
Q5. What is next for the Vodafone ITAM Team?
Our key focus for the next year will be around data quality and improved automation.
Hear more from Stanislav at our popular ITAM Tools Day event in London on Friday 20th November. Click here for more information.
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