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The Many Benefits of Asset Tracking

With a slowing economy, finance departments are already issuing the call for IT executives to reduce spending and develop new programs for cutting costs.

Problem: IT finds itself in a quandary: how will it find innovative ways to respond to this financial challenge without compromising its ability to effectively serve the organization?

Solution: An often overlooked—but highly effective—solution can be found by implementing an IT asset management tool that has both software inventory and software “metering,” or usage tracking technology. Such tools deliver savings on both a tactical and strategic level by ensuring that organizations are neither under- nor over-licensed.

Analyzing software usage can produce a windfall of ongoing savings. In fact, identifying and eliminating unused software is one of the most overlooked strategies for cutting costs. Organizations often purchase far more software than they actually use in efforts to obtain volume licensing discounts and avoid software license compliancy risk. If left unchecked, they may pay for not only superfluous software, but also for unnecessary support and upgrade fees—for years on end.

When a software metering tool identifies licenses that aren’t being used, there are several options: reallocate them to employees that truly need them, terminate maintenance on those licenses, or eliminate the licenses altogether upon renewal. All of this can result in considerable savings for the organization.

Software metering capabilities are usually coupled with IT inventory functionality that enables IT staff to perform automated inventories of all the software assets installed across the desktop environment. The most sophisticated tools also reconcile discovered applications with associated purchasing data, reducing the overhead and improving the accuracy associated with performing manual audits. This allows organizations to conduct periodic internal software compliance audits and take corrective action before a software license audit results in unexpected fines and settlement costs.

IT asset management tools can also enable organizations to maintain compliance with corporate security policies as well as external regulatory mandates, thereby avoiding potential costs associated with the consequences of security breaches. For example, software metering technology offers a measure of security to an enterprise due to its ability to identify the presence and use—and in some cases block the launch—of unauthorized applications such as file-sharing programs, harmful executables, or unmonitored communication channels such as instant messaging.

Results: The IT professional can demonstrate an immediate reduction in spending to the finance department by identifying unused or underutilized software and subsequently reallocating or terminating maintenance on those licenses. Additionally, analyzing software usage patterns can help purchasing agents make better-informed decisions about the software needs of the organization’s employees.

Finally, the IT manager can prove long-term strategic value by maintaining compliance with licensing agreements and prohibiting the use of applications that pose costly risks to security or productivity.

About Kris Barker: Barker is the CEO of Express Metrix, a Seattle-based IT asset management solutions company. Barker is a skilled programmer and business manager with more than 25 years of experience in key development and leadership positions. He co-founded Express Metrix in September 2000, and has led the company to become a leader in the IT asset management market. For more information on Kris Barker and Express Metrix, please visit the company’s Web site at http://www.expressmetrix.com.

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