Very nice blog post by Jenny Schuchert of the International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM) concerning how to build the business case for IT asset management (ITAM).  In particular, I agree with her philosophy regarding the two general approaches to selling ITAM most likely to succeed. 

The first approach is to link ITAM to a particular event or known issue, and build the business case around resolving the issue or preventing such an event from happening again in the future.  Schuchert remarks that while this approach may not necessarily target areas where the most significant savings may be obtained, it may be the most politically savvy—and therefore practical—approach for obtaining buy-in from skeptics.  Plus, once a successful program is in place, the additional savings generally speak for themselves and will likely lead to subsequent reprioritization of program goals and emphasis. 

The second approach Schuchert mentions is to focus the business case on the multitude of ways a well-structured ITAM program can lead to cost savings, presented in terms of potential return on investment. This approach, if presented as a strategic initiative, is more likely to succeed among executive stakeholders that have demonstrated a commitment to exploring ways of uncovering long-term organizational savings. 

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Finally, some good news for the battered tech industry: The Big Chill is over. According to both Forrester and Gartner, IT spending in 2010 will continue to thaw, with Forrester expecting 8.4% growth in the U.S. and Gartner predicting 5.3% growth worldwide.  Though anticipated spending levels are hardly what I’d call “sizzling” compared to years past, after the IT spending freeze of 2008-2009, vendors and end-user organizations alike are no doubt happy to embrace a low, yet steady simmer. 

Both research firms expect hardware spending to lead the charge.  Here are some highlights from the research, as reported by Network World:

• In the U.S., computer equipment spending will see the largest rebound—around 11%—due to “replacement of old PCs, servers, and storage equipment.” (Forrester)
• Software spending in the U.S. will also see a healthy gain of 10.5%, resulting from deferred license purchases from the 2009 capital freeze, continued growth in the SaaS market, and other technologies such as SOA, virtualization software, and analytics. (Forrester)
• In the U.S. IT consulting services will grow at around 7%; IT outsourcing will trail the pack, with expected growth of only 3.8%. (Forrester)
• Consumer PC spending will account for around a third of the growth in hardware spending, driven in large part by mobile PCs; an additional ten percent of the gains in hardware spending will be fueled by Windows 7 migrations. (Gartner)

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It’s been a big month for the BSA. Since the beginning of March, the BSA has issued press releases documenting five U.S. settlements totaling close to $525,000 (see the list of losers below).  Over the years, I’ve attempted to ferret out patterns that would suggest certain types of organizations may be at higher risk of a BSA software audit; but as usual, the companies involved span a wide range of sizes, geographies, and industries.  The only common thread I can find among all five (aside from the predominance of Adobe and Microsoft software) is an identical string of text embedded within each press release: “BSA was alerted to the unlicensed software use by a confidential report made on its web site www.nopiracy.com.” (Read my recent blog post elaborating on this trend.)

Though it may seem self-serving for software license management vendors such as ourselves to continue harping on the importance of rigorous asset management practices, it’s clear that the message isn’t getting through to many end-user organizations.  In times fraught with layoffs, salary cuts, and a general sense of workplace malaise it’s not reasonable to assume businesses can successfully curb workers’ very human instinct to inflict reciprocal damage upon their impassive corporate leaders—especially when it can be done with the impunity of whistleblower status and the ability to claim the moral high ground. One thing companies can control, however, is the perpetuation of careless, if not downright reckless, software licensing practices. Business executives can add this to the ever-growing list of good reasons to insist upon the establishment of a thoughtful, comprehensive software asset management strategy. It may just be best way to break the BSA’s winning streak. 

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When the global economy first sank into recession, dozens of reports were published in which technology analysts speculated that software vendors would rely more heavily on software audits—and the resulting financial settlements—to compensate for lower revenues.  In tandem with this, organizations targeted by vendor audits were expected to have a higher rate of non-compliance because software asset management initiatives would be back-burnered—along with the true-ups that frequently come as a result—until budgets were once again secure.

So did these predictions bear themselves out?  From a philosophical standpoint, one could just as easily argue that software companies have a lot more to lose during uncertain economic times by terrorizing their customers.  But the answer would appear to be “yes,” at least in the United Kingdom, where a fair amount of research has been conducted on the topic. (I have yet to come across any specific research suggesting a US or overall global increase in vendor audits.)

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An article featured in a South Africa technology portal popped up in one of my feeds today, and I couldn’t help but take the bait. The column, entitled “Open Source Against Piracy,” contends that open source software developers should consider becoming members of the BSA.  As I best understand it, the reasons given are twofold:  

1. The BSA perpetuates a belief that anyone who copies or gives away software is a pirate; open source developers, as BSA members, could persuade the organization to change its definition of piracy and ensure the terms of FOSS agreements are being upheld.
2. Users pirate software not because they are “criminals” but because the software they wish to use is cost-prohibitive; if producers of open source software can convince the BSA to be more aggressive in their pursuit of software pirates, illegal users will flock to free open source alternatives.

Frankly, I find these arguments rather curious and a bit thin on logic.  First, the goal of persuading the BSA to conduct audits and enforce open source license agreements would be nothing short of futile, given the relative permissiveness of open source EULAs, the characteristic lack of paper trail, the absence of financial motivation, and the difficulty determining where, when, and by whom violations have occurred. How would the BSA even begin compiling its list of targets?  It’s not that the BSA doesn’t understand the fundamental difference between commercial and open source EULAs, as the author claims—it’s simply that the entity isn’t set up or, perhaps more importantly, intended to enforce the latter. 

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