A. You asked about the software asset management (SAM) tool that provides the best bang for your IT buck.
Most of the software asset managers that I encounter will recommend the configuration discovery tool. This product is designed to automatically conduct a review of your precise hardware and software configurations. The goal of the more effective tools is to conduct a rapid and highly accurate audit of your systems, scrub the resulting reams of information, and insert those results into pre-planned reports that provide your software asset managers and technology asset managers with an accurate snapshot of your technology environment.
Be careful, however, with the definition of "configuration." Technicians have an entirely different meaning for this concept than software asset managers or technology asset managers. Unfortunately, companies VERY frequently purchase this incredibly useful tool without conducting effective due diligence on its potentials beforehand. Read on for more details.
