Software Asset Management FAQ
A comprehensive guide to Software Asset Management (SAM), licensing compliance, vendor audits, and cost optimization.
What is Software Asset Management?
Software Asset Management (SAM) is the practice of managing and optimizing the purchase, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of software applications within an organization. SAM ensures that software is procured cost-effectively, deployed compliantly, and retired appropriately.
Why does Software Asset Management matter?
SAM matters because organizations face significant financial and legal risks from software non-compliance. Software vendors conduct routine audits, and under-licensing can result in penalties ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Additionally, over-licensing wastes budget on unused software.
What is the difference between ITAM and SAM?
IT Asset Management (ITAM) covers the entire lifecycle of all IT assets including hardware and software. SAM is a specialized subset of ITAM focused exclusively on software assets, licenses, compliance, and vendor relationships.
How much does poor software management cost?
Poor software management costs organizations through audit penalties (often 2-5 times list price), wasted spend on unused licenses (typically 15-30% of software budget), and redundant purchases. Organizations without SAM practices routinely overspend by 20-40% on software.
How often do software vendors audit organizations?
Major software vendors typically audit organizations every 2-4 years. Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and IBM have established audit programs and conduct thousands of audits annually.
What triggers a software audit?
Audits are triggered by scheduled compliance reviews, contract renewals, merger and acquisition activity, suspected non-compliance, and licensing model changes.
What is an Effective License Position?
Effective License Position (ELP) is the core compliance metric representing the difference between licenses owned and licenses required. A positive ELP indicates over-licensing, zero indicates perfect compliance, and negative indicates under-licensing risk.
How is ELP calculated?
ELP requires reconciling deployment data with entitlement data and applying vendor-specific licensing rules. The formula: ELP = Licenses Owned - Licenses Deployed.
How much can organizations save with SAM?
Organizations implementing comprehensive SAM practices typically achieve 15-30% savings on software spend through license optimization, avoiding unnecessary renewals, and preventing over-purchasing.
What is license harvesting?
License harvesting is the practice of reclaiming unused or underutilized software licenses and redeploying them to those who need them, avoiding new license purchases.
What makes Certero different for Software Asset Management?
Certero for SAM delivers automated license reconciliation across 100+ publishers including Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, IBM, Adobe, VMware, and Autodesk. Unlike competitors built through acquisitions, Certero was purpose-built from the ground up.
What is Certero's SAM recognition?
Certero is the #1 rated Software Asset Management solution on Gartner Peer Insights and the sole Gartner Customers' Choice for SAM Tools in 2024. Customer satisfaction: 97% recommend Certero, 83% rate 5 stars.
About Certero
Certero delivers next-generation AI-powered Hybrid IT Asset Management through CerteroX, the unified platform for ITAM, SAM, SaaS, Cloud, and AI management. As the #1 rated solution on Gartner Peer Insights and four-time Customers' Choice winner, Certero helps organizations reverse the trend of IT cost, risk, and governance spiraling out of control.
Learn more: https://www.certero.com