You know how frustrating it is to get ready to go somewhere in your car only to discover that you can’t remember where you put your car keys? Are they on the table, by the TV, underneath a pile of magazines, or in your jacket? If you could just remember to keep them in the same place all the time – at least when you are at home – you’d eliminate a lot of last-minute searching and aggravation. If you are not someone who loses keys, I’m pretty sure that you know people who do and can relate to this experience. And even if you know where your car keys are, is it also easy to find the keys to your desk, safe, bike lock, and so on? How many keys do you have that you can’t even remember what they are used for? And what does this have to do with software asset management, anyway?
Tracking down software assets follows the same principles. Information about the assets (configuration items) should be stored in a central place – i.e., the configuration management database – so that you know what you have, how they are used, where the software assets are located, and who is using them. This information should be available to you so that you can manage and track each asset through its entire lifecycle — from procurement through asset retirement. Otherwise, you may be paying software licenses for assets you no longer need and should retire. When you track your assets effectively, you can free up licenses from people who aren’t using them and put the costs of those licenses toward a new service. Effective asset management also helps you to stay in compliance with regulations.
There are a variety of other reasons why it’s so important to get better control over your software assets. Get the details in this thought leadership article, Four Best Practices for Software Asset Management. It focuses on some important practices and what they require. These practices include:
• Know what you have
• Understand how configuration, deployment, monitoring, and measurement are done
• Get control over compliance
• Look to the future
When you’re done reading that article you should also be inspired to ask yourself this question: “Where did I put my car keys?” Hmmm….I think the dog must have moved them.
By Linda Donovan
BMC