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Cover Story
Licensing Liabilities - Why the IT Department Needs to Know About Licensing
By: Paul DeGroot, Research VP, Channel & Licensing Strategies for Directions on Microsoft
While few IT personnel are ever asked during job interviews how familiar they are with software vendor licensing, licensing ignorance is a substantial liability not just for an IT department, but for an organization as a whole. Failure to honor vendor licensing terms can lead to significant unbudgeted expenses, hefty fines from vendors, loss of negotiating power, and even Sarbanes-Oxley violations. Read More...
Feature Article
In a Virtual World - Real Inventory Issues in a Virtual World: Are Discovery Tools Keeping Up with the Challenges of Virtualization?
By: Jenny Schuchert, Educational Expert for IAITAM
As technological change presents new opportunities for organizations, IT Asset Managers are tasked with evaluating those changes from a business perspective. To bridge the gap between technology and the business management of assets, the IT Asset Manager must first understand the new technology well enough to identify the asset elements, the impact on services delivered and the logistical issues involved. With that baseline of information, the IT Asset Manager interviews vendors, colleagues and other resources to understand any implications to contractual and financial management. Fifteen years ago, the technology pushing ITAM practices was mobile phones and PDAs, moving ITAM out of the comfort zone of traditional assets and the data center. Ten years ago, leaps in server capacity and speed were challenging financial management such as departmental “ownership” and chargeback. Today, IT Asset Managers are faced with new complexities from a variety of virtualization technologies and as well as internet-style options aptly labeled cloud computing. Read More...
Becoming an ITAD Hero - Are you Getting Measurable Payback and True Value From You Disposal Process
By: Paul Baum, CEO of PlanITROI Inc.
It’s a fact – being an IT Asset Manager rarely gets the recognition it deserves. The rewards may be limited, the risks of the position may be greater than other IT positions, and when there is recognition, it generally only comes after something goes wrong. With “job security” being at the forefront of everyone’s mind, maintaining the status quo may seem like a smart strategy.
But, what if you could find a way to be recognized for your efforts and do so without jeopardizing your position? What if you had detailed IT asset disposition reports that supported your organization’s “green” initiatives and proved that a financial return could be realized from your retired IT assets? Could you actually make your IT department feel proud to be greener, and also be financially independent? Read More...
Putting the Puzzle Together - IBM’s Answer to Managing Server Virtualization
By: Mike Huthwaite, Senior ITAM Consultant for Siwel Consulting, Inc.
Virtualization has taken a strong hold in the modern IT infrastructure. Today, we see virtual solutions in the server farm, at the desktop, in centralized storage and streaming application delivery. The ability to deliver more IT services with the same (or fewer) resources is the new paradigm in IT. However, the rapid adoption of virtualization has left software companies with a dilemma in licensing products and, more importantly, governing license compliance. The historic licensing models and compliance mechanisms are no longer valid. In response to the growing adoption of virtualization, IBM has changed how it monitors and governs the use of sub-capacity licensing. While changes to licensing agreements and metrics aren’t a surprise to seasoned IT Managers, the changes include a new twist—a contract addendum which requires customers to implement an IBM tool set to monitor contract compliance. Utilizing sub-capacity licensing structures to create cost benefits is a wise choice, as is implementing the required tools, but IT Managers must be aware of the challenges . Read More...
The HITECH Act - Recent Changes to HIPAA Data Privacy and Its Impact on You
By: Brooks Hoffman, CFOof Life Span Technology Recycling, Inc.
Introduction:
Among tax cuts and credits, more bailout fund requirements, and restrictions on executive pay packages, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) also includes a section that expands the reach of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and introduces the first federally mandated data breach notification requirement.
Title XIII of ARRA, also known as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act), reserves $22 billion to "advance the use of health information technology" -- in large part so the U.S. will be able to move to e-health records by President Obama's 2014 deadline. It also expands the reach of HIPAA data privacy and security requirements to include the "business associates" of those entities (health care providers, pharmacies, and the like) that are subject to HIPAA. Business associates are companies like accounting firms, billing agencies, law firms or others that provide services to the entities covered under HIPAA. Read More...
Consolidation Adds Value – Vendor Consolidation Establishes Value and Win-Win Relationship
By: Barb Rembiesa, President of IAITAM
Vendor Management, what is it and who within the organization actually does it? Without answers to these questions, organizations find it difficult to effectively manage their vendors much less take advantage of consolidation, get the best possible value for their purchases, establish clear channels of communication or create that ultimate win-win relationship we all strive for with our key vendors. For IT Assets, the ITAM Program takes on the responsibility of managing those vendors deemed key to its operation. Many organizations have designated groups internally to deal with vendor relations, and IAITAM strongly urges that ITAM play a strong role in those management efforts for IT vendors. Read More...
Who Will Lead? – That Attributes Should You Look For in an ITAM Lead
By: Brett Husselbaugh, CEO of eTelligent Solutions Inc.
When choosing the IT Asset Management lead, what attributes are most important for success?
The question is often asked - what qualities should we look for in a lead and to where should ITAM ultimately report in the organization? After twenty years of working with customers and observing what has been successful, as well as what hasn't, the following conclusions are offered: Read More...
Standard Published: What Now? – How Will the ISO/IEC 19770-2 Standard for Software Tagging Influence Your Organization’s Decisions?
By: Krzystof (chris) Bacziewicz, ISO/IEC editor of the ISO/IEC 19770-2 and ISO/IEC 19770-3 and IT Standards Support Department Managemer for Eracent Inc.
On November 15, 2009, the ISO/IEC 19770-2 standard was finally published. It is available to the public, and now it is time to make final decisions as to how the passage of this standard will influence our organizations and how we should react to it.
What now?
The driving forces of the ISO/IEC 19770-2 standard are the people that negotiate contracts. This specification is designed to make their lives easier. As Software Asset Managers meet the daily problems with identifying what they have on their machines in their environments, they will surely put pressure on software vendors to adhere to this new standard. Read More...
Column
Tag, Your IT - ISO Software Tag Standards Come of Age
By: Steve Klos, IAITAM Fellow, Convener the ISO/IEC 19770-2:2009, Executive Director of TagVault.org and Co-Founder Agnitio Advisors
Software Identification tagging is receiving a significant amount of market attention lately. This attention has been coming from software publishers, tool providers and software purchasing organizations.
The standard defining software tags, ISO/IEC 19770-2:2009 was published by ISO with the final date on the document being November 15, 2009. The standard, as well as the XSD used by the standard are now finalized and will only be updated once the standard goes through its systematic review cycle (this needs to be done in 5 years). Organizations can now purchase the standard from ISO (available from the ISO, ANSI, your country’s standards body, or even amazon.com) and all organizations can start developing and deploying or using software identification tags in their products today. Read More...
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