Software asset management standards and best practice take-up remains low

28 September 2011

By David Graham 

Interest in standards and best-practice frameworks to support software asset management (SAM) is increasing, but uptake of SAM-specific standards and frameworks is low.

IT asset managers are struggling to understand how IT Asset Management (ITAM) processes

will be affected by ITIL best practice framework, ISO Software Asset Management (SAM)

standards and developing standards. Their goal is to ensure that the optimal blend of

industry standards and practices is being implemented, and to defend more robustly against

compliance audits.

As Software Asset Management (SAM) increases in popularity, organisations are looking

for guidance on SAM best practice, and methodologies for assessing the effectiveness of

processes and policies.

The development of the ISO 19770 series of SAM standards has focused attention on the

contribution that such standards and best-practice frameworks (such as ITIL) can make to

organisations implementing and improving SAM.

To achieve a better understanding of the way in which standards and best-practice

frameworks are being applied to improve SAM initiatives, Gartner conducted a survey at SAM

briefings across EMEA between March and June 2011.

The majority of respondents (63%) appear to be applying standards and frameworks to their

SAM capability, although this majority is by no means overwhelming. A significant percentage

(31%) believe that no standards or frameworks are needed to support their SAM activity. In

addition, 32% have adopted ITIL V3 SACM (which forms part of Service Transition) which is

primarily concerned with the management of service assets rather than hardware or software

assets.

Surprisingly, only four respondents indicated the use of multiple standards and frameworks to

support SAM.

Of those who have adopted ITIL Service Asset and Configuration Management (SACM), one

had also adopted ITIL SAM V2, and of three respondents using ISO 19770-1, three have

adopted ITIL SAM (V2 or V3); of those, one also used COBIT to support SAM.

It is surprising that more ITIL-aligned organisations are not using both SACM and SAM of

one version or another. Discussion with clients indicates that those who leverage multiple

standards gain a variety of complementary insights and do not necessarily encounter conflicts

or duplication of effort if the application of the standards and frameworks is well managed.

Where standards such as ISO 9000 or methodologies such COBIT and ITIL are used

throughout the organisation, many synergies can be identified and leveraged.

If you found this post useful please share it by clicking on the links below