How to turn inventory from a cost to a cost-saver

by Matt Fisher 7. February 2013 05:35
For the most part, understanding the business benefits of deploying an inventory solution is not difficult. After all, how can you expect to manage systems, availability, costs and risks if you don’t know what you’re actually supposed to be managing? Suffice to say a good inventory solution will give you a basic understanding of what hardware and software is deployed on the network. Okay; in reality that’s over-simplifying it somewhat, as inventory solutions vary in their ability to deal wit... [More]

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SAM | Software Licence Management

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Dealing with Microsoft CAL pricing changes

by Sean Robinson 29. November 2012 09:03
With Microsoft increasing its client access licence (CAL) pricing by 15% from the 1st December, there has never been a better time to get clarity over your current software licensing position. Why? Because while it may be inevitable that you are going to have to bear the cost of increased licenses, by taking a proactive stance on managing license entitlements, you can at least minimize the scale of this increase while also avoiding falling into non-compliance. The simple fact is that organizati... [More]

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General | SAM | Software Licence Management

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Stark reminder not to ignore software compliance

by Matt Fisher 30. October 2012 05:23
As a vendor of software license management solutions, we prefer to focus on the positives of SAM, helping organizations understand how to make substantial cost savings by optimizing volume licensing agreements, re-harvesting unused applications and more. But news this week that a UK safety firm has been forced to pay the Business Software Alliance (BSA) nearly £100,000 (US $160,550) for using unlicensed copies of software from Adobe, Autodesk, Microsoft and Symantec brings into sharp focus t... [More]

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General | SAM | Software Licence Management

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Buyer Beware: How to select a SAM solution (part 2)

by Matt Fisher 21. September 2012 10:20
In part one of this topic, we looked at how organizations investing in SAM tools could take comfort from independent validations of technologies, such as the new KPMG SAM Tools Assessment. This kind of recognition can be a very effective way to reduce the number of potential solutions down to a manageable short-list. But at some stage in the buying cycle you are going to need to test the solution and see how it matches to your individual requirements. How you construct and the conduct this tes... [More]

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SAM | Software Licence Management

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ROI in a day? Yes, it really can happen

by Matt Fisher 12. September 2012 04:36
One of the differentiators for License Manager when it comes to managing software license entitlements is the ability to import Microsoft License Statements (MLS) in their raw state.  That, in its own right, is a major labor-saver for organizations - eliminating the need to manipulate or transform data before it can be imported into the license management solution. But in the case of License Dashboard, that feature is something of an iceberg - impressive enough above the waterline, but the... [More]

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SAM | Software Licence Management

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License Dashboard receives positive assessment by The ITAM Review

by Matt Fisher 11. September 2012 05:36
As part of the ITAM Review's 2012 SAM Tools Group Test, License Dashboard Enterprise Suite (License Manager, Discovery and SAM Portal) was compared and analyzed against other SAM tools available on the market.The review highlights 3 key strengths which set License Dashboard apart, namely: 1)    The ability to provide a workbench for a number of sources -License Manager can import and aggregate multiple inventory sources. From the other side of the entitlement equation it also pro... [More]

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Buyer Beware: How to select a SAM solution (part 1)

by Matt Fisher 7. September 2012 07:15
For almost any electrical or mechanical device you can buy, there’s some form of appropriate quality assurance scheme – from the British “kite mark” and “CE” stamps for electrical goods through to NCAP ratings for motor vehicle safety. But what about software? And specifically Software Asset Management or License Management applications? Since these tools have been on the market, the companies that develop them have been free to make whatever marketing and sales claims they see fit without mu... [More]

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SAM | Software Licence Management

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SAM becoming a must-have service for resellers

by Matt Fisher 18. July 2012 05:40
Last week saw some 16,000 Microsoft partners descend upon Toronto, Canada for the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. License Dashboard was there, exhibiting in the main arena. And what a busy few days it was. Over the course of four days, we spoke with Microsoft resellers, integrators and ISVs from all four corners of the globe. What became eminently clear through all our conversations was that, while this time last year Software Asset Management was viewed by many LARs and resel... [More]

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SAM | Software Licence Management

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New study shows lack of software management control in UK firms

by Matt Fisher 2. July 2012 07:14
A new research study just published by the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), an independent UK body championing intellectual property rights and software management best practice, suggests that 68% of UK organizations don’t have a policy in place to prevent software piracy on their networks. In itself, this probably isn’t much of a surprise. But what’s perhaps more worrying is what lies behind the figure above. If 68% of firms don’t have policies to prevent piracy (i.e. the over-d... [More]

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SAM | Software Licence Management

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Lies, damned lies and statistics…

by Matt Fisher 27. June 2012 04:38
Those of you with a penchant for English political history will know that it was (supposedly) British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli who described three kinds of lie in the 1800s: “Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics.” In some ways, it seems as if not much has changed in the intervening 200 years. We are still won over by big figures, often if they even contradict our own experiences. Unfortunately, software management is no exception to this rule. Here, statistics often relate to... [More]

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Profile

License Dashboard’s team of licensing experts have, together with our partners, delivered over 800 audits and SAM projects to customers around the world.  This blog is populated by three of the key personalities at License Dashboard:

Sean Robinson is the man behind not only the License Dashboard products but also the ISO 19770-1 international SAM standard.  As a License Dashboard director, he works closely with large customers to ensure their SAM projects deliver significant ROI benefits.

Matt Fisher has over eight years’ experience bringing SAM solutions and services to market and is a well-known commentator on the SAM and licensing market.  Matt heads up business development at License Dashboard.

David Chamberlain is one of License Dashboard’s leading licensing experts, helping customers understand how to maximize their use of License Dashboard technologies to optimize their software usage and license availability.

Together, our three contributors will help you keep up-to-speed with what’s happening in and around the world of Software Asset Management (SAM) and software licensing. 

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