Software may not only be obsolete or lacking the right protection, it could also be lying dormant or installed in duplicate. In addition, licences may be missing or have expired, making the software a legal liability. All this impacts on the business, whether through high costs, penalties of non-compliance, legal proceedings or, simply, lower productivity.

Organisations need to create a sound IT plan that caters for the varied software products, vendors, licences and agreements that they are committed to. They must be able to identify when and where to upgrade, and know when software asset reorganisation will be most effective. All this is possible with Software Asset Management (SAM).

The purpose of SAM is to comprehensively map a company's IT infrastructure.

This ensures that every element of hardware and software being used is correctly licensed and that the costs involved are an accurate reflection of the company's actual requirements. In short, SAM involves the analysis, clarification and organisation of all software, thereby creating the ideal foundation for cost-efficient decision-making.

Once a SAM project is initiated, all of the processes used for software requirements analysis, procurement and installation are scrutinised.

Licence agreements and their terms and duration are verified, and a complete inventory of all software used on all computers across an enterprise is completed. From here a report containing all instances of over- and under-licensing, sorted by vendor and product or based on computers and infrastructure, as well as a licence status, can be produced, and the best way forward determined.

Effective SAM solutions are in line with the internationally recognised IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL), which draws on best practices to ensure that IT is tailored as closely as possible to the needs and objectives of an enterprise, and are designed to ensure that the organisation achieves ongoing success with software development and utilisation.

The benefits of this approach are numerous. Companies can avoid using obsolete systems, target their investments where they are really needed and make the best use of existing technology. A well-defined software management strategy achieves this by clearly mapping the entire IT infrastructure and redeploying assets to maximise Return on Investment (ROI).

Properly structured software assets help an organisation to deploy software efficiently, exploit resources profitably, streamline workflows and alleviate administrative and potential legal headaches. Yes, software is expensive, but it is more so when the assets are not properly maintained.