iThink... the wood for the trees

With the pressure on and organisations stripping budgets back to the bare bones, IT managers could do worse than go back to basics too, says Mark Cresswell, CEO at Scalable Software. 

It’s not easy being an IT manager these days; constant pressure to do more with less time, less resource, less everything; firefighting on a daily basis; tackling what’s urgent and having to take an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ attitude. It’s harder than ever to stay in control.

Although, in the blind grind of everyday routine, it can be difficult, the business that can manage to take a step back and take a more holistic view of its IT estate could quickly find several areas and ways in which to realise rapid, real cost and efficiency savings.

Take, for example, an issue that I see at almost every company we work with. Software licensing. We routinely discover over-spend of more than £200 per PC; 20% or more of overall software expenditure, with many companies having as many as 60% too many software licences and overspending to the tune of £millions. Why?

Well, more often than not, the responsibility for software compliance rests on the already heavily laden shoulders of the IT manager. But with everything else that’s going on, it only becomes a priority when an audit looms. By this stage the IT department is already at panic stations – “we need to deal with this now!” – which can lead to massive overspending as confusion reigns about what the business has, what it needs, or both.

The result? Panic, blanket-buying “just to be on the safe side.” 

Given the time and inclination however, several savings can be made via the reuse, redeployment, and retirement of unused software. But, if it’s that easy, why isn’t everyone doing it?

First there’s the question of ownership. In most companies of size, budgets are delineated by the authority and the requirement to buy. So often, while IT will purchase most of the organisation’s software, individual business units will buy platforms for their own ends too.

Because of this, at any given time there’s every chance that spare licences will be lying around all over the business. The problem is that there’s no way to check before purchasing another one. i.e. Business Unit A might authorise a software purchase completely unaware that Business Unit B has an unused licence for the self same product.

And yet who gets it in the neck for non-compliance and over-spending? The IT manager of course. And addressing the issue can itself give rise to further problems. Traditional IT usage tools aren’t helpful in recycling software that’s not being used – the information provided is either inaccurate or not specific enough.

In the case of software, businesses need a tool that can properly store licenses, reconcile such information against what’s installed, and then report on the organisation’s true usage so that unused licences can be reallocated across the business wherever needed.

However – and here’s the wider point – software overspend is both a microcosm of and analogous to another more pernicious and costly business problem. Complacency. 

IT budgets are more precious than ever. Taking real control of them means not only eradicating waste, but maximising value – £1,000 not spent on a redundant software licence is £1000 straight on your bottomline. If you really want to expose the wood, try shaking the tree. 

Mark Cresswell is CEO of Scalable Software