From Audit Management and Reliance on Tools to a Comprehensive Long-Term ITAM Strategy

Traditionally managing publisher relationships in-house, this organization leveraged ServiceNow tools to gather usage data from across its infrastructure. However, the increasing size and complexity of its software estate presented a growing challenge to its ITAM team, which was charged with collecting and verifying more and more data, reconciling this against a growing number of licensing agreements, and then agreeing the best possible terms during contract negotiations. The challenge was amplified during publisher audits, which require considerable in-house resources and detract from day-to-day responsibilities.

A routine IBM audit sparked a change in strategy. Having managed this lengthy and complex audit process in-house, it subsequently elected to join the IASP program, which acts as an alternative to traditional audits by ensuring ongoing compliance. To participate in the program, the organization needed to appoint an IBM authorized SAM provider with a deep understanding of the publisher’s licensing regimen and a proven track record of software management.

As a longer-term objective, the client also wanted to introduce ITAM best practices across all its top-tier publisher relationships. With greater transparency over its usage and licensing entitlement, the client recognized it could reduce the risk of non-compliance and overspend, boost its ability to forecast future requirements, and improve its bargaining power.

Anglepoint is one of just four authorized IASP program providers worldwide, and the only one to focus exclusively on asset management and optimization. This combination of deep expertise and vendor independence made it the stand-out choice when the company began its search for a strategic ITAM partner.

In March 2021, Anglepoint immediately transitioned the Fortune 500 top 40 client to the IASP program to protect it from any future IBM audits, which had in the past been resource intensive and led to unbudgeted software spend. Not only did this help reduce risks to the client’s business, it afforded it greater transparency over its ongoing IBM usage and licensing entitlement, helping it to pinpoint and eradicate over-licensing, and placing it in a stronger position to negotiate any future contract renewals.

In 2023, following the success of this initial engagement, the organization elected to increase Anglepoint’s scope of work to include fully managed services for six additional top tier publishers: Broadcom, Microsoft, OpenText, Oracle, RedHat and VMware. Along with IBM, these vendors account for almost half of the client’s annual software spend.
The two organizations are now working together to establish the client’s Effective License Position (ELP) for each of these vendors, placing the client on the front foot when facing audits and negotiating renewals. The service is also helping it identify areas of overspend, with Anglepoint providing its client with ongoing actionable advice on how to reduce these liabilities.

While all workstreams are underway for all software publishers, work is most advanced with VMware, as its renewal is first on the calendar. With Anglepoint’s insights, the client was able to identify and quickly mitigate a potential audit risk of $3.1 million across five product families, a process that took just one month. It has also been able to identify areas where it can reduce ongoing license costs, delivering a predicted annual saving of $2.4 million.

The partnership between Anglepoint and the client is truly collaborative and built on trust, with the two companies working together to make continuous improvements to the way the client’s estate is managed.

For example, Anglepoint has helped its client extract greater value from its substantial investment in ServiceNow, helping the organization configure and upgrade its tooling so it is tailored to its own environment, as well as providing up-to-date and trustworthy data. With this accurate information at its fingertips, the organization is empowered to make better business decisions relating to its software estate.

In addition, with a representative on Anglepoint’s Client Advisory Board, the client is also providing the ITAM provider with valuable insights and honest feedback on how it can continue to improve its service offering to meet the evolving needs of large, complex and digitally-advanced organizations.

The relationship continues to evolve. Most recently, Anglepoint has been appointed to steer the client’s Hardware Asset Management (HAM) strategy, gathering intelligence on its deployments, reviewing processes across its entire organization, and making practical recommendations on how to rationalize its estate and standardize its procedures.

Audit avoidance: By moving to the IASP program, the client is no longer required to undertake resource-intensive and risk-laden IBM audits

Reduced costs: With greater transparency into its ongoing IBM usage and entitlement, it has been able to reduce costs substantially.

Audit readiness: With Anglepoint now managing its tier one publisher relationships, the organization can enter into audits with total confidence; for VMware alone, it has identified and mitigated audit risks of $3.1 million

Maximized Investments: Anglepoint has enabled the client to access more accurate, up-to-date information from its ServiceNow tools, helping it extract more value from its pre-existing SAM investments

Favorable terms: With greater transparency into its estate, the client organization is empowered to negotiate more favorable contract terms that accurately reflect its actual and forecasted usage; with VMware, this could deliver annual savings of $2.4 million

Continuous improvement: Anglepoint and the client’s close working relationship delivers maximum value. With deep understanding of the client’s estate and of its top publishers’ licensing arrangements, Anglepoint isn’t just enabling it to solve tactical challenges, it is helping it architect a long-term ITAM strategy to underpin its future IT operations.