SAM is the business practice of managing and optimizing enterprise software within an organization. SAM provides the governance framework that covers the request, purchase, deployment, maintenance, use, harvesting, and disposal of software. Why should anyone including the CEO or CFO care about SAM? Three words: money, efficiency, security.
Software takes up 20-35% of the typical IT budget and enterprise software purchasing and upgrades are on the rise. With enterprise application software alone, Gartner research forecasts a worldwide growth to more than $201 billion in 2019. With organizations typically over- or under-license by approximately 30%, an effective SAM program could mean significant savings in the first year and a continual 10 to 15% reduction in the total cost of ownership (TCO) year-after-year. This could mean millions in savings in the first 5 years.
Software licensing is increasingly complex. Even as vendors promise to work on simplifying...