Know All About SAM

Why is SAM required for an organization?

The rapid increase of Software as a Service and increasingly complex software licensing

environments have highlighted the crucial need for software asset management (SAM)

software, especially in companies that are heavily reliant on IT.

Companies need robust SAM software to actively track software assets, license entitlements,

software utilization to avoid overspending.

What is SAM or Definition of SAM?

Software asset management (SAM) is a business practice that involves managing and

optimizing the purchase, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of software

applications within an organization. According to ITIL, SAM is defined as all the infrastructure

and processes necessary for the effective management, control, and protection of the

software assets…throughout all stages of their lifecycle.

SAM challenges

Managing software assets can be challenging for any organization. Multiple stakeholders are

involved in the purchase, installation, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of

software. The technologies involved are complex and constantly changing and license

agreements are increasingly complicated and multi-layered. A tailored and sustainable SAM

the program addresses the three main challenges:

• Ensuring compliance

• Reducing software and licensing costs

• Reducing complexity

In many cases, an organization’s lack of skilled personnel, resources, and budget to implement a complex SAM program, may lead to companies relying solely on a SAM tool. But technology solutions alone are incomplete, falling short of sustainable management and leaving the organization open to operational, financial, and security risks.

A Platform-Thinking Approach to solve challenges in Software

Asset Management

ServiceNow release has the brand-new Software Asset Management product which

systematically tracks, evaluates, and manage software licenses and calculate compliance

position. SAM in Jakarta will also help customers to implement software optimization,

where they can reclaim unused software rights, purchase new software rights, and manage

allocations for entitlements in an automated fashion.

key benefits of using ServiceNow Software Asset Management

Increases software asset visibility:

ServiceNow (SAM) helps to increase the visibility of software assets and improves software spend management. It tracks, evaluates, and manages all the software licenses, compliance

requirements, optimize and reclaims unused software rights, purchases new licenses, and

allocates them effectively.

ServiceNow SAM architecture:

It brings together all processes and automates the entire IT asset lifecycle into a single system

of record. With SAM, enterprises will get a single authoritative source of information that will

help them make smarter decisions. It uses workflows to manage asset requests for approvals,

validate entitlements, chargebacks, and provisioning services. ServiceNow software asset

management is capable of managing, controlling, and protecting software assets regardless

of their location; whether on-premises or cloud, it can seamlessly track them through their

entire lifecycle.

Software spends detection:

The software spends detection module helps track, evaluate, analyze and regulate software

to eliminate any risk. Only when you know what you own, you will be able to protect it. Get a

holistic view of software spending by importing your enterprise’s financial data. The

application will then automatically identify transactions, which are software purchases, and

help the organization track software spending over time and view all transactions of a

particular product or a publisher. It streamlines the process and reduces expenditure by

organizing software products based on functionality.

Dedicated Dashboards:

Software asset management dashboards can quickly and accurately create reports on the

software usage of any organization. By leveraging publisher packs, enterprises can view and

track complex publisher-specific licensing and consumption with dedicated dashboards.

License Optimization:

ServiceNow (SAM) gives clear, real-time insights to mitigate potential compliance issues. With

License optimization techniques, enterprises can easily view their compliance status of

licenses. If any licenses are found to be non-compliant, License Workbench offers

remediation suggestions, which can be followed to maintain compliance status. With efficient

software reconciliation, enterprises can improve the accuracy of software entitlements.

Automated license reconciliation keeps license positions up to date without manual

calculations. With SAM you will always be audit-ready.

ServiceNow’s software asset management is a robust tool that can help enterprises reduce

software complexities, improve compliance, cut costs, and simplify processes for operational

efficiency. Overall, it will help to optimize software assets to realize a higher ROI.