ServiceNow released the release Pomegranate with great focus on the SAM module. After our review, we understand that this new release came to transform the operation and create better experiences for clients with Software Asset Management. In this article, we'll talk about how ServiceNow worked on the Software Asset Management (SAM) module, better known as SAM Pro.
Key improvements found in ServiceNow Rome Release to SAM:
Amazingly, with the release of the Roma release, ServiceNow introduces a completely new look to its SAM graphical user interface. This new user-friendly software asset workspace looks more intuitive and allows for efficient work, something not yet seen on the market.
The new even easier to use SAM workspace (Software Asset Workspace)
This new, more intuitive user interface comes with some functionality that will quickly support customers in better governance of software assets.
The Software Asset Workspace is the starting point where SAM indicators such as compliance trends, True-Up costs, potential savings and normalization rates can be visualized. In addition, you can perform routine tasks such as running a reconciliation or creating entitlements from this dashboard without having to navigate to these application menus first.
Finally, the page features alerts and notifications with insights. In short, this page presents all the main aspects of SAM for everyday use in an environment.
SaaS Analysis and Reconciliation based on subscription and consumption
As part of the new ServiceNow reconciliation framework, customers will now be able to view reconciliation results for their SaaS applications in a single Dashboard (license workbench). Customers can now determine their license and subscription compliance by automatically reconciling subscription-based and/or consumption-based SaaS applications.
The License Workbench, where compliance information could be viewed in previous versions of ServiceNow, has also seen an improvement in the Software Asset Workspace. It's now called the License Usage View, and it shows more detailed license compliance information in an easier-to-use way.
You can pin the top software manufacturers on the screen so that they are at the top of the page.
For each manufacturer, a compliance percentage is shown so that you can assess how close you are to compliance for that specific manufacturer.
So compliance is no longer just a yes or no. To top it off, the view also appears when the last reconciliation was run, or you can run a reconciliation and see its results, all on the same page.
BYOL (Bring Your Own License) for Oracle Database Servers
ServiceNow has extended its BYOL license support to Oracle Database servers on AWS and Microsoft Azure. It is now possible to determine the license compliance position for the following Oracle Database versions that are deployed on various hybrid infrastructures, including IaaS and PaaS:
Oracle Database Standard Edition
Oracle Database Standard Edition One
Oracle Database Standard Edition 2
Oracle Database Enterprise Edition
SAP S/4HANA publisher pack
Manage SAP S/4HANA named user and licenses industry solutions (engine) with this new module for SAP. This package includes support for creating entitlements, software templates, tracking license usage, and determining license compliance for SAP S/4HANA.
Office 365 license optimization
ServiceNow has added several recommendations and support for optimizing Office 365 licenses, making it possible to choose lower cost licenses (for example from E3 to E1) and also to remove seats that are not being used, based on direct connection to data from use of Office 365.
How valuable is the ServiceNow SAM Pro module to the company?
Effective IT asset management enables IT leaders to optimize contracts and reduce contract risk by better managing software licenses (on premises or SaaS-based) and hardware assets with intuitive workflows and better lifecycle visibility to make IT environments more secure and operationally efficient.
With many companies having a predominantly Home Office-based workforce, it's even more important to understand where hardware assets are located and by whom. IT leaders also need to know that assets are being used remotely and are properly allocated. Providing better visibility into hardware assets and software licenses enabled ServiceNow to make better decisions about usage and new investments.
Software cost optimization with ServiceNow
ServiceNow was able to recoup approximately US$ 1 million of the internal software budget by implementing ServiceNow® Software Asset Management (SAM), according to Poonam Kripalani, Senior Governance Manager of IT Asset Management at ServiceNow.
“Currently, we are focused on several different activities of ServiceNow® ITAM (IT Asset Management), said Kripalani. For example, automate our software requests, automate our software recovery requests, and drive the efficiency of the ITAM process.”
Recently, the company wanted to gain better visibility into the usage of its Microsoft products to ensure contract and license compliance. “Being in compliance reduces our brand reputation risk and any monetary results of unplanned compliance audits,” noted Kripalani. The company also wanted to streamline software spend and automate software order fulfillment to make it faster and easier for end users.
However, ServiceNow has faced challenges, especially when it comes to desktop and SaaS products (SaaS license), which make up 26% of global software spending. These challenges included:
- Lack of visibility into our software spending > Objective: Establish reliable data;
- 14 different groups that have software licenses > Objective: Operational Integration
- SaaS software (SaaS License) was not being tracked > Objective: Define roles and responsibilities
A cross-functional SAM team was created with clear roles and responsibilities to focus on establishing reliable data to operationalize the SAM. “Reliable data is a prerequisite for good software asset management,” said Kripalani.
The results
Today, Saas subscription data is automatically captured from the Microsoft portal and validated. This provides a complete picture of allocation and compliance. ServiceNow also has insight into all purchase requisition data to better manage costs.
All data is tracked and reviewed from the Microsoft dashboard for a complete view of Servicenow Software Asset Management SAM Pro's compliance position.
“We have been successful in reducing our software spend by US$ 1 million over the past two years. By having automated processes, we have reliable software license data and better visibility into license allocation, cost and compliance status through ServiceNow SAM Pro dashboards,” revealed Kripalani.
ServiceNow now has reliable software license data and better visibility into license allocation, costs and compliance status through its SAM DASHBOARD. By automating software requests, the company saved 3,260 hours (or nearly US$ 300,000) and improved the user experience.
Software data quality and compliance visibility is now 100% across the enterprise. IT teams also benefit because they can focus on high-value work rather than spending their time on administrative tasks.
Kripalani and his team are also focusing on software spend detection with a software spend detection feature, part of the ServiceNow New York release. The company previously tracked 250 software products.
Over the past three years, however, ServiceNow has doubled in size, and many other software purchases were being made on corporate credit cards. In fact, an analysis of more than a million credit card transactions revealed that 700 additional software products were being used internally.
“Manually, it would take weeks or months to analyze this data, but using software spend detection, this analysis was completed in just a few hours,” said Kripalani. Moving forward, she and her team will focus on taking a deeper look at these additional software products discovered.
Many organizations are looking for ways to reduce costs. Depending on who you ask within an organization, different cost savings potentials will be mentioned. With the annual increase in the cost for software (licenses), this is one of the first areas for possible savings.
Gartner has published a report on potential software savings that can be realized by implementing proper software asset management. The report describes seven categories that make up up to 30% of the combined potential savings.
Categories of potential savings:
- Controlled requisition, purchases and renegotiations with suppliers such as Microsoft, SAP, IBM and Oracle;
- Controlled software deployment;
- Applying full product use rights;
- Uninstalling applications with unused or underused licenses;
- Recycling of licenses;
- Effective governance for the Software Asset Management SAM program;
- Software standardization and rationalization.
To learn more about ServiceNow SAM Pro, check out these features:
Software Asset Management (SAM)
Software Asset Management (SAM) is a set of business practices and strategies to optimally manage the acquisition, use, and maintenance of the software lifecycle that enables organizations to create an accurate system of record for all of their assets. software.
As Software Asset Management is our life, our specialty, we decided to further detail the features of Service Now SAM Pro.
- Software reconciliation for compliance
Automated license reconciliation keeps license positions accurate and up-to-date without manual calculations. Reconciliation can be weekly, monthly or on demand.
- Optimization and removal of software installation
You can optimize your environment by recovering unused software as well as removing software unauthorized.
- Analysis and reporting solutions for software asset management professionals
Analytics and reporting solutions contain pre-configured dashboards. These dashboards contain management data views that help improve your business processes and practices.
- SaaS License Management
Use the ServiceNow SaaS License Management app to view saas license usage data and immediately recover underutilized licenses
- Software overspend detection
Use the ServiceNow Software Spend Detection application to track, analyze and optimize software spend from imported financial data.
- Software Asset Management Administration
Software asset management administration tasks include adding desktop access remotely, custom product registrations, normalization, and standards maintenance.
- Domain Separation and Software Asset Management
This is an overview of domain separation in Software Asset Management. With domain separation, you can separate data, costs, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can then control various aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.
ServiceNow can integrate with other tools easily. For example, users can perform tasks VMware within the interface and easily integrate with other software asset management tools. ServiceNow also provides a marketplace for third-party tool offerings.
Did you know that 4Matt Tecnologia is a ServiceNow partner specialized in ITAM and ITOM? Contact us
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