A new Ernst & Young report finds that just 20 percent of IT departments have formal software asset management (SAM) programs in place. By contrast, among suppliers, 63 percent said they use SAM in order to generate more revenue, and 50 percent said they did so in order to protect intellectual policy rights.
The suppliers surveyed said they would likely conduct audits of customers with inconsistent patterns of purchasing software. Audits could also be triggered by a history of poor compliance or company size.
The report also found that SAM is difficult because of the complicated nature of license agreements. “Both suppliers and customers are critical of the over-complex nature of many software contracts — the majority of those we surveyed confirmed this to be the case,” said an Ernst & Young partner. “Customers also feel that their own decentralized structures often make it harder to keep track of usage around the organization — as does their increasingly complicated suite of IT packages.”
