Be in control of your SAM Tool selection!
Whenever an organisation tells us they have a SAM tool, our immediate reaction is ‘great, you are clearly trying to do SAM’. However, our hearts sink when they say that they were not involved in the decision making process when picking the SAM tool. In most cases, it is senior management making a decision based on existing systems, warm relationships with certain vendors, or simply finding the cheapest solution on the market.
Having a senior management team, who are not SAM experts, could spell disaster. All SAM Tool sales people will say that their solution is the best; it has all the bells and whistles that can help you manage your SAM estate. To a non-SAM professional, being told that you can save X amount on software per year, and you can manage everything really easily, it sounds like a no brainer. What about the SAM professionals, the people using the solution all day, everyday?
SAM professionals can see through the glossy brochures provided by the SAM tool vendors. They know and understand what they are looking for, they know what features they require to successfully manage their SAM estate, and they know which vendors are the biggest risks to their organisations.
The SAM team need to be the ones that make the decision on which SAM tool to pick, based on data and evidence from their own estate, not from a vendor demo. The SAM team need to be assigned the responsibility of conducting the relevant research so they can make an informed decision. If a SAM tool is picked for them, and they don’t agree with the decision or don’t like using the solution, then they will not use it effectively.
So, common senior management! Leave SAM tool picks to the experts! At the end of the day, you want bang for your buck, and you will only get that with the experts and daily users making the decision on what SAM tool to use!
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9 年From a vendor's perspective, I can say that it is absolutely necessary (and smart) to leave the technical pros and cons of product selection to the experts and those who will use it. My one caution (or two) is to make sure the purchase is in line with the business goals (including financial) and how upper management, who will not be part of the selection committee, know how the decision will affect them and their responsibilities.
Senior Enterprise Account Executive
9 年Everybody who deals with SAM should be an expert and they should be using expert tools - like craftsmen: good tools, good work :-) Well, if it was that easy… But one, yet simple thing, should not be forgotten in the tool procurement process – if the expert knows what “his” tool should do for him, write it down, send it to the vendor and do a proof of concept.
ITAM Subject Matter Expert, IAITAM Fellow, Board Trustee/ITAM Forum, CSAM, CHAMP, CSM, ASM, CTPS
9 年Not all SAM and SAM-supportive technologies are ‘tools’, an important distinction that is often not made, with negative results in comparison, selection and implementation. Generally, tools provide automation, as with inventory discovery, usage metering and software distribution; and, involve mostly technical data. In contrast, the asset/license repository, is a business application in which business data is captured and used for analysis, reporting and decision support; it is not a tool, although may be integrated with certain tools for data population/exchange and some automation such as workflow.
IT Asset Management Practitioner/Consultant, MBA Student
9 年Here's my recent experience- in the capacity of SAM consultant, I was directly involved in the decision making process based on a robust selection process. The company seems to be making a classic SAM mistake in thinking that the tool will replace the people and processes involved in ITAM- "the tool will show is what needs to be licensed, right? Then we can just buy licenses!" Wrong. Tools can be incredible valuable in potentially enabling rationalization and optimization, but unless there is a clear understanding of how to apply the information presented in an optimal, consistent way, governed by unwavering policies and streamlined by pre-agreed processes, a tool is a voiceless expert with limited influence.