The business risk of poorly managed software assets is
not well understood by the board members and general managers of UK
companies, research has revealed.
Only 48% of general managers at large organisations said a lack
of
software asset management (SAM) was a risk, a survey over 600
UK executives by IDC showed.
This contrasts with over 60% of IT managers in a whitepaper
based on the IDC research commissioned by the
Software Industry Research Board (SIRB).
The SIRB is an initiative of the
Federation Against Software Theft
and Investors in Software (FAST IiS).
The most likely reason for this discrepancy is that IT managers
are more directly linked to software management and have a better
understanding of the risks associated with poor management
practices, the whitepaper said.
Alex Hilton, chairman of the SIRB, said the research
demonstrates there is confusion over who owns SAM in
corporations.
"SAM must be taken seriously at board level, given the severity
of the legal, financial and security implications associated with
poorly managed licences," he said.
The research showed that, while the IT department was
responsible for SAM in nearly half the organisations surveyed, IT
made the software buying decisions in only 13%.
This means 87% of organisations are "buying blind" which further
increases risk to the business, said Matt Fisher, director of
marketing at SIRB member FrontRange Solutions.
Some 75% of managers believe they have some form of SAM in
place, but in reality only 38% actually know what is going on, said
John Lovelock, chief executive of FAST IiS.
Organisations where there is no effective SAM are typically
over-licensed on mission-critical applications, but under-licensed
in other areas, he said.
"There is no control or communication because they do not
maintain a software inventory or conduct software tracking," he
said.
The SIRB's whitepaper is aimed at helping businesses to identify
the legal, commercial, operational and reputational risk of poorly
managed software.
Fred Broussard, senior analyst at IDC, said the whitepaper
illustrates that effective SAM can address each of the four main
risks and deliver cost savings to the business.