Tools hire firmSpeedy
Hireexpects to save £2m over the next six
years after rationalising the way it licenses Microsoft
software.
The company has merged 10 IT procurement teams into a single
department after discovering that different parts of the business
were buying software individually, failing to take advantage of a
bulk licensing agreement with Microsoft.
"We were buying Windows, MS Office and even server products off
the shelf or as part of a hardware purchase, rather than using our
existing Microsoft Select contract," said James Fleming,
infrastructure manager at Speedy Hire.
This disparate
IT procurement made it difficult for the company to keep track
of whether all its software was correctly licensed, said
Fleming.
With Speedy Hire growing ay 25% a year and expanding into
Ireland, Fleming said he needed to predict how much IT to buy over
the next three years.
The company hired
Computacenter
to help it manage its Microsoft licences and establish a
replacement single volume licence agreement across the business,
covering 3,500 IT users.
Speedy Hire used BMC Configuration Management software to work
out what software was running on its PCs and servers. Computacenter
used the results to draw up a shortlist of options for Microsoft
Enterprise and Select licences.
The company found its existing licensing agreement quoted for a
full professional desktop, including MS Office for all users. But
only about 60% of its 3,500 staff needed MS Office, so
Computacenter recommended that the software was licensed per user
rather than through the enterprise agreement site licence.
Speedy Hire also deployed AppSense application manager to
control which users could access MS Office, in order to reduce the
per-user licence fee.
Janice McGinn, research director at analyst
The451 Group, said, "It
is not unusual for companies to over-license software." She said
companies could easily fall into the trap of over-licensing after
mergers and acquisitions, in which each company brings in its own
licences.
"Post-merger is a very difficult time for both companies. There
is always a period of rationalisation." Part of this
rationalisation should involve IT systems and licences, she
added.
Speedy Hire has bought a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement site
licence for Windows, Exchange 2008, SharePoint and Windows Server
2008, and a Select agreement to cover licensing of MS Office for
individual users.