A.) If your company is involved, or may become involved, in a merger, acquisition, or even a simple name change, you need to become very aware of the licensing non compliance gotcha's. It's incredibly easy to breach a software license or support / maintenance agreement--even a hardware systems management agreement.
When it comes to managing your technology assets or software assets, you have to keep in mind that the copyright holders or suppliers of tech goods and services are great folks--up front, before you hand over the cash. But, when it comes to ANY breach of the detailed terms and conditions of their licenses or agreements--the letter of the law will come into play and the legal confrontation fangs will rapidly emerge.
If you even dream of a change in your organizational status, you need to read this Knowledge Briefing to discover the top methods technology suppliers use to blind-side you with crippling fines and penalties. Sign in and read on. You may not be able to stop the sharp practices or stiffing activities, but this information can certainly help you reduce the financial impact.
A.) Genuinely effective IT asset managers (ITAM) agree that the most important tool in their kit is the Systems Configuration Discovery Tool. When it comes to technology asset management (TAM) or software asset management (SAM) one of your most critical responsibilities is to constantly know precisely what is in place on every computing device. The discovery tool gives you an automated method of tracking approved configurations as well as flagging non standard changes to systems.
Important key: The asset management definition of configuration management is different than the technician definition. Technology asset managers use this tool to monitor the existance, content, and precise status of valuable business assets.
In the real world we constantly encounter technology asset managers who are not permitted to gain access to the configuration discovery tool data because it is confidential "property" of the technical personnel. Big hint: If this is your company, you are literally wasting a major percentage of the potential this tool is capable of delivering.
Want more? Let us know and we'll follow up. By the way--inside the member section of the site is a Knowledge Briefing describing the acquisition criteria you will find important in purchasing one of these tools.
