Historically, the software asset manager, or SAM, focused on managing software for compliance and cost control. In a perfect world, the SAM would negotiate the software license to clarify the compliance requirements making it easier to manage and avoid a non-compliance event. Cost controls are accomplished by managing the software inventory.
The skills of a software asset manager align well with managing SaaS assets; however, these skills are just a subset of what is required. Here are just three of the top challenges SAMs face when managing SaaS assets:
Access
SaaS assets are easy to access by anyone, can be low cost, and can run on multiple platforms. On the other hand, software usually requires admin privileges to install and is easier to discover electronically.
Contract
Like the software license, the contract determines how easy it is to manage SaaS assets. But more importantly, the SaaS contract provides the necessary insight into the vendor’s operations that replaced the on-premises operations so that the SAM can manage performance, compliance, risk, and cost.
Vendor
The SAM’s organization directly manages performance, compliance, risk, and cost within the IT department. Now, these four business drivers are in the hands of the vendor. This is perhaps the most significant difference between SAM and SaaS Asset Management (SaaSAM). Furthermore, most of the time a SAM spends with the vendor is during the license negotiation, unlike the SaaS Asset Manager, which needs to manage the vendor throughout the lifecycle of the SaaS asset.
The Definitive Guide to SaaS Asset Management
This specialized ITAM certification course addresses these differences (and more) and provides practical solutions to managing this “same, but different” IT asset. With the adoption of the cloud, organizations can ill afford to ignore the opportunity to maximize the value of their investment in SaaS while simultaneously managing cost, risk, productivity, and compliance.
For more information on our specialized SaaS IT asset management certification course, please visit SaaS Asset Management Training and Certification.
SaaS Asset Management Worksheet
Stimulate ideas on managing your SaaS assets with the help of our free worksheet. You'll not only learn what you need to manage SaaS better using proven industry best practices, but you'll also learn which assets currently in your portfolio are in use (or not) and which are necessary (or not), leading to maximum cost savings.
Click here to get your free SaaS Asset Management Worksheet