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Why CIOs consider Software Audits as a Distraction

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Prerna Sharma
New Update
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Today managing software has become nightmare for many CIOs as implementing an effective SAM program is very tactical in nature. It not only help them in balancing the number of software licenses purchased with the number of actual licenses consumed or used but also enables them to achieve maximum value from their IT investment.

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Apart from this, SAM program make sure that the all installed software is keeping pace with the terms and conditions of the specific vendor license agreement.

Therefore it becomes very important to understand the various benefits and problems attached to it. To know more about the issues that CIOs are facing, BSA conducted a survey with 300 CIOs from across industries and cities in India.

The respondents were CIOs / Heads of IT of organizations from diverse industries including, manufacturing, banking and financial services, information technology (IT), IT enabled businesses (ITeS), FMCG and healthcare, among others. Excerpts.....

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Top concerns with management of software among CIOs

  1. Overspending on software because of excess buying
  2. Non-compliance with software license conditions
  3. Loss of business opportunity because of lack of timely availability of software
  4. Lack of control over buying and usage of software
  5. Inability to charge different business units for their use of software assets

The major cause of overspending on software is the inability to identify and redistribute unused software. Very often organizations buy and allocate software to users, but fail to redistribute it when employees leave or their roles change. This is because they lack the tools to track the allocation and usage of software.

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Nearly 60% CIOs find it extremely or somewhat difficult to be sure of the status of compliance. They are opening themselves to unintended compliance risk, only because they do not know whether they are in compliance at any time. Seventeen percent respondents ranked ‘loss of business opportunity because of a lack of timely availability of relevant software’ and 15 percent ranked ‘overspending on software because of excess buying’ as the highest areas of concern.

To bridge this gap, vendors are auditing a large number of organizations every year to tackle the above stated issues but very few organizations are sure if they are compliant with the terms of software licenses, because of a lack of visibility and controls. Thus, these organizations run the risk of being found non-compliant when they get audited by software vendors.

Around 58% CIOs seem to consider software audits as a distraction and an activity that consumes a lot of resources and management attention. A number of them wish they did not have to go through them (38 percent). Even though they worry that the audits may result in unfavorable outcome for them (55 percent), a large number say they are well prepared to handle audit requests (69 percent).Interestingly, even though more than half agree that vendors have a right to audit them, only nine percent agree strongly with this statement. Thus, their acceptance of the right of vendors to conduct software audits seems a little grudging.

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To understand if SAM is an important initiative for organizations, the CIOs were asked them if they had allocated budget for it. Exactly half of them replied in affirmative. This corroborates the finding that nearly half the respondents have either implemented or are implementing SAM.

Thus, CIOs fund their SAM initiatives with budgets to invest in tools, consulting and human resources.When it comes to implementing SAM, most organizations rely on their own resources. Only 13 percent of respondents said they would like engage with professional firms offering consultancy in this domain. More than half were categorical that they do not need professional advice, while the rest (30 percent) were not sure.

As rightly said prevention is better than cure same hold true in case of SAM program. Though CIOs have lot of concerns related to effective SAM programs, SAM audits but if it is implemented successfully it will help in managing license compliance throughout organization and can effectively track software licenses which in turn lower the risk of noncompliance and create better working environment for employees and partners.

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