Software can represent 25% of an organisation's total IT budget so it makes good sense to keep a close eye on how, where and what licences you buy. This process is Software Asset Management.

Over the last four to five years, the main project drivers for Software Asset Management have been around compliance.  As more and more organisations recognise their legal obligation, or are reminded of it by the software regulators or publishers, many have been driven simply to complete a licence compliance review which has little or no return and in most cases has been seen as a costly exercise.

For those organisations which have engaged with Phoenix Software and adopted our approach, however, it has been a different story.  They have been able to continue managing their license compliance status, which has in turn enabled them to make more informed purchasing decisions - ultimately leading to significant cost savings.

Essentially, what Phoenix Software has been professing and delivering for more than five years, is the core and initial processes required for managing software effectively. Clearly understanding what entitlement you have and what software has been installed, and then being able to continually track that equation, is a key requirement of any Software Asset Management programme.

Recent developments such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the USA, the recommendations made in the Turnbull Report in the UK, the publication of the ‘Best Practice for Software Asset Management’ guideline as part of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and the launch of the ISO/IEC 19770-1 Software Asset Management International have meant that the subject of Software Asset Management has now shot-up the business agenda and its priority has been upgraded.

The primary objective of Software Asset Management, therefore, is to manage, control and protect an organisation’s software assets, minimizing legal risks while maximizing return on investment (ROI).