Sharing SAM know-how
Software Asset Management is a practical discipline encompassing a range of business and technical skills and requiring a high degree of business judgment. Talking with other software asset managers is a great way of getting the practical know-how of the discipline. Conferences and local events give a forum for software asset managers to present case studies and to pass on their tips for success. I encourage all software asset managers to attend conferences and local events wherever possible.
SAM encompasses a wide range of skills including license management, contract management, configuration optimization, technology awareness and vendor management. Applying these skills requires a high degree of business judgment. Although the basics of these skills can be learned through training, doing courses, reading books, listening to analysts, etc, the more advanced aspects are obtained through personal experience and learning from the experience of others. SAM conferences and local events are a great way to hear case studies of successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) SAM projects and to learn about tips for success or things to avoid based on these experiences.
On the conference front the two main professional associations IAITAM andIBSMA hold annual conferences where practitioners provide a great deal of insight into their SAM projects, key success factors and problems to be avoided. In Europe the main event is the Strategic Software Asset and License Management conference hosted by Marcus Evans.
I have attended both the IAITAM and Marcus Evans conferences over the past six months. One of the best pieces of advice I heard at these conference, mentioned by a number of speakers, was the need to apply common sense to your SAM projects. With the amount of information being handled by SAM it is easy fall into the trap of focusing too much on the details that do not have an impact on either delivering cost savings or reducing risk for the business. The good news is that successful SAM projects seem to be following this advice. As a result, although all businesses face the same fundamental SAM issues, it is the differences between the businesses that lead to different business value and as a result to different successful SAM strategies.
Conferences typically happen only once a year. A great way of sharing SAM know-how on a regular basis is to have a local SAM group that meets regularly. In Melbourne there is a SAM group that meets monthly to discuss common SAM issues. Members include people from different companies in the same industry, but there is enough common ground for discussion that it is not competitive to make the sessions valuable to all attendees. I would be very pleased to hear if there are other local SAM groups sharing information.
The call to action is to keep sharing the SAM information with your peers, attend conferences when you can (the IBSMA conference is in June and I will be there), attend local SAM group meetings, and set up a SAM group if there is none in your area.
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