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Speaker Spotlight for the ITAM Review US Annual Conference 2019

We pride ourselves on finding engaging, inspirational speakers for all of our events and this year’s US conference is no different. Meet some of our esteemed speakers in our first in the series Speaker Spotlight.

The ITAM Review will be hosting our US annual conference on March 13th & 14th 2019 at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg (USFSP) with a focus on enabling the next generation of ITAM departments.

Rory Canavan, SAM Charter 

Your speaking session focuses on the changes made to the ISO standard, why do you think ISO have implemented these changes and do you think they have made things easier for organisations as a result?

A couple of reasons:  The Service Management lifecycle wasn’t working for ITAM, and so needed revising in closer alignment to the entitlement that is so important to ITAM.  This is the other primary change:  The new standard is targeting ITAM – not just SAM.  Finally, it has been re-written as a Management Systems Standard – please come to the presentation to see why this is a major step forward!

What impact will these changes have with organisations who have already implemented the ISO standard throughout their SAM process? 

I suspect organisations that have followed former iterations of 19770-1, will be able to take an objective look at what they have created and ask:  what business value does that deliver?  Could we add something else?  Could we remove certain aspects?  Management System Standards put the company goals and objectives at the heart of what they seek to achieve.

What challenges are end users currently facing and how will your session help overcome these? 

Where to get started with ITAM, and how to plot a maturity curve worth their time and effort.

Why do you think end users should attend this event? 

Because I will be there – That should be reason enough!  

Meet Rory at the US Annual Conference

Barry Pilling, Cortex Consulting

One concern you have mentioned in your session description is that many organisations are still relatively immature when it comes to data centre processes, why do you think that is and what risks does this present? 

Every client I’ve worked with over the years has the same problem with regards to the datacentre.  They all have quite mature processes around service introduction and change management but they rarely consider the impacts on IT asset management and, notably, software licensing within these processes.  There are a number of factors in play here – a lack of recognition of the value of SAM across a business, insufficient resources in a SAM team to engage effectively, limited knowledge of datacentre licensing and technologies within the SAM team and a lack of understanding within the business on what the SAM team should actually do.

Of the five main key topics covered in your session, which would you say was the most important? 

Implementing effective SAM in the project space is key.  Probably 80% of new software is introduced through the project route, so it’s vital that teams are able to get ahead of that and ensure cost-optimal solutions and procurement for their business.

Why should attendees come to your session?

The session is very much attendee focused. It will give them the opportunity to work with people they may never have met before and think about how they currently deal with datacentre change within their SAM teams. Getting the delegates to shine a light on their own process frameworks and contrasting them with my view of the world will, hopefully, give them some food for thought to takeaway with them.

What challenges are end users currently facing and how will your session help overcome these? 

There are massive changes afoot in the industry at the moment.  There is a wholesale shift to cloud and there’s talk of changing the industry name to reflect some of the activities that ITAM and SAM teams now undertake.  I think there’s a real risk that we can lose sight of the basics in the noise of buzzwords.  Managing change to assets and licensing in the datacentre is always going to be important; after all, it doesn’t matter if it’s your own or someone else’s datacentre in the cloud, if you are hosting your own licences there, you have to be ready for any changes to preventrisk and reduce costs.  And that’s what the session is all about.

Meet Barry at the US Annual Conference

Scott Bickley,Info-Tech Research Group

In your session you will be focussing on Salesforce, why is this?

Salesforce has become the #1 or #2 vendor in market share across almost all product verticals in which they have chosen to operate.  Most organizations are currently consuming some type of Salesforce product or is considering it for the future so it is quite relevant from a broad perspective.

Why is having the correct contract in place so important when it comes to Salesforce agreements?

The contract package establishes the baseline terms for pricing, license entitlement and the rights and restrictions for the customer.  Generally, customers have one chance to set the T&C’s that will govern the commercial aspects with Salesforce for many years, so it is critical to negotiate from a position of strength early on in the procurement process.  Customers must also dig deeper and understand the myriad array of “hidden charges” that should be negotiated in the agreement up front, but are often not discovered until post signing.

In general, how would you advise our delegates approach the relationship with their software vendors?

Build a team approach with a designated team leader that can be the single point of contact with your vendors. 

Why should attendees come to your session?

Attendees will learn how Salesforce.com operates and why, providing insight and actionable steps to streamline the commercial dealings with Salesforce and to also understand how to negotiate the best possible deal.

Meet Matt at the US Annual Conference

Join us on March 13th & 14th 2019 at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg (USFSP) for the US Annual Conference

 

 

About Libby Phillipps

Libby has worked for the ITAM Review for a year now and has over six years experience in marketing, and five within the IT Asset Management industry. Libby has recently taken on the additional role of Community Manager - if you are looking to discuss ideas and content for The ITAM Review, please get in touch .

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