SAM in an upgrading world

Some online services can appear to be very simple, but they can still add great value to a business, especially if they are part of a wider package of services. And that value can be quite significant if involves making sense of information that is complex, perhaps legalistic, and concerns products or services that are now officially unsupported by the original manufacturer.

One such issue, for example, is the fact that, on the one hand, Microsoft is already talking about serious updates to its Windows 8 operating system, while on the other, many steadfast Microsoft users in business and industry have still to make the upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. For those businesses, the transition impact will be two-fold: not only the functional and operational adjustments to accommodate the changed and additional capabilities of the system, but also the implications on technical compatibilities and software licencing.

This is where Software Asset Management (SAM) specialist, Business Continuity Services (BCS), can play a part with its Global Universal Software Library (USL) Subscription Service. The company has pulled together information that targets the needs of the XP users to provide them with support as they gear up to Windows 7 migration.

According to Andy Fisher, New Business Development Director for BCS, the more the company spoke with its customers about Windows 7 upgrade projects the more the company realised that it could make data available that could support them.

This functionality has been developed to help organisations make better sense of their software audit discovery data, by transforming it into meaningful, organised and standardised business intelligence, enabling them to quickly lower resource costs and reduce Windows 7 migration project costs.

“So we made the decision to enhance the capability of our Library. Windows upgrade projects are complex enough without fully understanding if a software application is compatible with the new operating system. This enhancement to our USL Service genuinely saves customers weeks of research and compatibility testing.”

The USL Subscription Service highlights whether an application is Windows 7 compatible, making it quick and easy for customers to identify a match. “Our research has found that some products will be compatible with Windows 7 32 bit OS. However, the same product requires a paid upgrade to be compatible with Windows 7 64 bit OS,” Fisher said.

The global USL Library holds in excess of 25,000 normalised, standard software descriptions, for both commercially and non-commercially recognised software products. The service can be configured to produce reports that highlight and categorise all types of software products.

Other benefits include the ability to fix raw data, where a high percentage of all audit discovery tools present incomplete data with publisher, product and version fields either incorrect or missing, the ability to identify commercially licensable products, and the removal of duplicate install counts.

The Subscription Service  complements the company’s other asset management tool, which include a ‘Service Provider Edition’ implementation of its Software Organiser. This has been specifically designed for the Service Provider community dealing with multiple Customer Software Asset Management and Licence Compliance projects from one central point. This focuses on a number of key areas, including shared centralised inventory and licensing resources, cost analysis and control.