Wisdom USA 2020 Speaker Spotlight: Data Governance & Open Source

This is the fifth “speaker spotlight” article for Wisdom USA 2020 – a chance for you to see some of the fantastic speakers and sessions we’ve got in store for you this next month in St Petersburg, Florida.

Joining me is Rebecca Horton, ITAM Manager at Ceridian.

What is your Wisdom USA 2020 session called?

Driving Data Governance Through ITAM.

What is your session about?

When looking to implement a SAM or ITAM technology, good, clean, quality, and timely data is vital to the project. But what about after the project? How do you ensure that data standards and governance requirements are met – and how do you get data owners to buy in to the value of improving the state of their data – for their benefit and the benefit of ITAM.

How did you get started in ITAM?

15 Years ago I was hired as an inside sales account manager for a regional reseller in Canada. Very quickly I realized that not only was I fascinated by licensing, loved learning about it, but was also good at explaining it!? Over the years, and with the help and guidance of so many amazing peers, I developed my specialties and continue to be an advocate for ITAM as a way for any organization, of any maturity, to improve operations through ITAM.

If you could change 1 thing in the ITAM industry, what would it be?

Somehow, even after so many years of saying it, and other people saying it – many organizations think that buying a SAM technology will solve all their problems. ITAM is like a house, and technology is just one of the layers of the foundation – Policy, Process, People and Data are just as important – and MUST be planned for and implemented along with the Technology.

What’s your favourite part of the job?

The people! I love working with so many parts of the business and helping in so many ways. Whether it’s a massive move to the cloud, a hardware/software refresh, providing support to meet ISO or GDPR standards, or an audit. I get to work with so many parts of the business, and so many amazing partners. I feel so lucky to learn something from every one of them, every single day.

What should people talk to you about?

Anything! From licensing and procurement, to implementing an ITAM practice, to SAM technology and everything in between. I also believe that Open Source Asset Management is the next big thing for us… so i’m always ready to talk about that.

What’s your favourite book?

Too many! I’m a bibliophile.

If you had your own chat show – who would be the first guest?

Martin Thompson of course!

If you’ve not yet registered for Wisdom USA 2020, don’t miss out – follow this link!