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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In the IT world, we tend to view end users as an occupational hazard—a perilous yet inescapable part of our jobs.  After all, it seems employees will install just about any application they can get their hands on without regard for the potential licensing implications, compatibility issues, security holes, or bandwidth consumption.  But who can blame them?  They’re trying to do their jobs just like we all are, but without the benefit (or curse) of understanding the potential implications of their actions.

What we rarely acknowledge is that the onus is on IT leaders to ensure workers have the information they need—and are held accountable—to make good decisions. It all begins with a clearly articulated and effectively communicated software usage policy that educates end users about the importance of complying with a set of basic standards. Such a policy shouldn’t be long and infused with technical mumbo jumbo.  In fact, the shorter and more straightforward the guidelines, the greater likelihood it will be read, understood, and, most importantly, adhered to.  Not only can a properly developed software usage policy serve to curb risky behavior, but it will also generate goodwill among software publishers when and if they decide to audit you.  If a vendor sees your organization making a conscientious effort to prevent the use of unlicensed software, they’re more likely to treat you as a partner rather than a criminal throughout the software audit process.

The nature of your software usage policy will (and should) depend on your organization’s size, geographic dispersion, and diversity of your software estate, as well as the sophistication of your end users and their technology needs.  If you run the IT department of a small community college, for example, you may wish to prohibit anyone but the IT staff from purchasing or installing software on school-maintained systems. On the other hand, if you work for a technology company with software developers that rely on a variety of commercial and open source solutions to do their jobs, you may need to build more latitude into your usage policy. 

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Over the last few months, I’ve come across several LinkedIn Groups with great discussions taking place about asset management technology and best practices.  The “IT Asset Management – Global” Group (3,500+ members), the “Software Asset Management” Group (1,500+ members), and the newer “ITAM Review” Group (400 members) have some illuminating posts (and at times, heated debate) regarding such topics as software recognition databases, asset discovery, license reconciliation, and software tagging, to name just a few. 

If you’re a LinkedIn member, be sure to join these groups to access and weigh in on the discussions.  If you’re not a registered member, it may be worth taking five minutes to do so.

Any software vendor that’s been paying attention to its customers in recent months will tell you that software licensing preferences are changing–and quickly.  The past year, in particular, has brought about an appetite for more flexible licensing models that are less user-centric and more usage-centric.  As IT organizations continue to chisel away unnecessary spending and take a more strategic approach to software asset management, they’re increasingly demanding “pay-per-use” (i.e. usage-based licensing) and “pay as you go” (i.e. subscription-based licensing) scenarios that are more directly correlated with the benefits received through the use of any given application. And vendors are listening.  

According to a Computerworld article by Eric Lai, vendors are rapidly adjusting their license offerings to accommodate and take advantage of this shift. The article notes that 43% of vendors have changed or expanded their licensing options to include such approaches as usage-based and subscription-based pricing.  (Subscription pricing, which has long dominated the SaaS market, is now becoming commonplace among on-premise offerings). And, according to IDC, these trends are only expected to accelerate. 

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This just in:  One of our customers recently completed a product review of our asset management software, Express Software Manager, version 9.0.  The evaluation was submitted to the ITAM Review and is, according to Martin Thompson, the highest end-user score received to date (90%).  Terrific!

The end-user customer is an environmental engineering firm with an estate size of roughly 580 machines (27% desktops, 60% laptops, and 13% servers).

Read the entire Express Software Manager review here.

To the customer who completed the review:  Many thanks for taking the time, and for helping raise Express Metrix’s visibility in a very competitive market. 

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