Press release
At the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) last night, Microsoft announced the launch of a new software asset management (SAM) evaluation programme called the SAM Optimisation Model. The SAM Optimisation Model provides customers with greater control of their IT budget and environment by connecting the dots between IT and the business itself, with the goal of aligning software investments with evolving business needs.
The benefits of implementing a comprehensive Software Asset Management (SAM) process include cost control, risk mitigation, security and compliance. The launch of the new framework, the SAM Optimisation Model, aligned with Microsoft’s Infrastructure Optimisation (IO), allows partners and customers to evaluate SAM effectively.
Microsoft implemented this model to provide an established set of criteria which partners can follow with customers to make consistent SAM assessments and recommendations. Using the Optimisation Model, partners can offer guidance and create a roadmap to visualise benefits and savings at each stage of SAM Optimisation. The model provides a framework to help customers understand and improve the state of their software asset management through three steps: Control, Optimise, and Grow.
It can also be seen as a tool to measure performance and evaluate the level of maturity of SAM practices using straightforward criteria and easy-to-understand concepts. It’s essentially a structured scorecard framework by which a SAM practice can be evaluated and analysed, and areas for improvement identified. Once you have that, businesses can really look at how investments in the organisation’s SAM practice can be optimised.
Using the SAM Optimisation Model, customers can more effectively implement an ongoing SAM practice, and actively manage their software. With this approach, not only will that licensing picture be just as good in the future as the one today, but the company can also systematically align its software assets with the real-world needs of the business.
