Blogs

How to extract maximum value from your SAM tool investment

September 16 2020

Most large organizations will have invested in a SAM or ITAM tool. If not, they’ve probably at least contemplated it. At Livingstone we consider these tools vital to best practice asset management as they provide much needed visibility into software deployments, usage levels and entitlement. Not... Read More Read More

IBM ILMT: the good, the bad and the complicated

July 07 2020

An increasingly common topic of discussion when we’re talking to clients about their IBM deployments is the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) or, to be more specific, the importance and value of using it.There is no getting round that fact that ILMT can be extremely complicated to install, let alon... Read More Read More

Will 2020 be the year we reach ‘peak audit’?

May 26 2020

Software vendors usually send out their audit letters on a fairly predictable basis. The most common triggers are a contract term or ULA coming to an end, or indeed the end of the publisher’s financial year, something we covered in more detail in a previous blog aboutOracle’s audit strateg... Read More Read More

Is your SAM program doomed to failure?

May 20 2019

If your organization is – or is considering – investing in a Software Asset Management program, then there is a strong chance that you’ve either already paid for, or are about to buy, a SAM tool. It has become the default position for most organizations around the world: “in or... Read More Read More

Beware the guard dog

April 09 2019

While the debate about the actual volume of software audits performed by vendors continueswhat’s not in doubt is that software vendor audits are disruptive, time-consuming and expensive. And that’s not even presuming there’s any ‘guilt’ on your part. Even if the audit exe... Read More Read More

Before you buy that SAM tool…

January 31 2019

Some time back Livingstone's Senior ITAM Consultant,Hugh Skingley worked with our friends over at ITAM Review to highlight “15 hidden costs” that should make SAM and ITAM managers wary before diving into the deep end with a SAM tool. Many, if not all, of the 15 points raised by Hugh ar... Read More Read More

Why your RFI/RFPs are leading you to make bad SAM tool decisions

January 03 2019

lang: en_US SAM tools often get a bad rap. While it is normal for anyone embarking on a program to better discover and manage their software consumption to initially create and issue an RFI to a number of SAM tools providers (possibly narrowed down to a shortlist with the help of independent analys... Read More Read More

A Blueprint for Software Lifecycle Management Transformation

November 28 2019

Delivering outcomes on budget risk, cost control and investment value requires a holistic approach to understand and implement the necessary SLM target operating model. In this session we explore the relationship between data, process and skills leveraging technology investments within complex enterpr... Read More Read More

2020/2021 Trends

March 18 2021

The coronavirus pandemic and the mass move to remote working have brought forward a whole host of business challenges. From ensuring operations run smoothly by providing employees with the right equipment and software, to maintaining online security with everyone out of the office, organizations acros... Read More Read More

How to justify your SAM tool investment to your CIO

March 30 2021

It is undeniable that SAM tools have become an important part of best practice IT asset management. Offering much-needed visibility into software and cloud deployments together with usage levels and entitlement, these tools enable organizations to optimize their IT estates and control their spend. Ind... Read More Read More

Livingstone Industry Highlights November 2021

October 22 2021

Livingstone Group's Software Asset Management and Licensing specialists provide insights and experiences through our monthly Industry Highlights. These insights are a compilation of news and press releases that may impact your business’s upcoming software renewals and estate. Fina... Read More Read More

Livingstone Industry Highlights December 2021

November 26 2021

Livingstone Group's Software Asset Management and Licensing specialists provide insights and experiences through our monthly Industry Highlights. These insights are a compilation of news and press releases that may impact your business’s upcoming software renewals and estate. Fina... Read More Read More

Explaining the ITAM managed service value-add

December 07 2021

There’s a common misconception that, when an organization deploys a SAM or ITAM tool, the service wrap provided by the vendor constitutes a managed service. Tool vendors do provide some exceptionally high standard services that are designed to help organizations get their solutions up and run... Read More Read More

When to use a SAM Managed Service Provider

May 13 2022

Why a SAM Managed Service makes commercial sense; download the Gartner® Report: Infographic A regular discussion point on this blog – and one that is often raised in conversations with our clients and prospects – is SAM tools. Or to be exact, the comparative merits and limitations o... Read More Read More

ITAM in the virtualization era

May 20 2022

Part 2: The past, present and future of ITAM Livingstone Group recently joined The ITAM Reviewfor an episode of its podcast to discuss ITAM, the cloud, and creating business value from ITAM. We covered everything from the origins of SAM, to the evolution of ITAM in the cloud era, to the (healthy) f... Read More Read More

Defining ITAM value in changing times

July 19 2022

Livingstone's Senior ITAM Consultant, Hugh Skingley will join Rich Gibbons for a webinar that takes a deep dive into how ITAM, as a discipline, is being challenged and the true business value it delivers. Hugh says "It’s time that ITAM was viewed as an integral business asset in the ... Read More Read More

SAM tools in practice: Experiences from the frontline

June 27 2022

Recently on our blog, we discussed the latest Gartner® Report: Infographic, ‘When to use a SAM Managed Service Provider’, which suggests organizations often under-invest in Software Asset Management (SAM), so could be missing out on commercial benefits. In our experience – gai... Read More Read More