Gaining control over the SaaS ecosystem and spend is not an easy task. Companies must follow a process to avoid redundancy. Redundancy means wasted costs and increased risk. With all of the many concerns and to-dos that come with digital transformation, it’s easy to fall into the mindset of, “I’ll get to that later.” At first glance, consolidating SaaS apps seems like the last thing an IT department would need to tackle. This would be a costly mistake

A 2018 Gartner survey says that cloud is growing faster than IT spend as a whole, and in fact it’s growing 7x faster.  From our experience working with customers – and industry analyst data also supports it – companies are wasting 30-35 percent of their cloud and software spend. License costs are wasted on insufficient management, such as allowing redundant applications to infiltrate the environment. Duplication, or redundant apps, make up a significant portion of this waste.

Related: Technology Spend Optimization for Software, SaaS and Cloud. How to succeed in 2019.

So how do companies start to take control and identify redundant applications? First and foremost, you need visibility into your SaaS estate. You can’t manage or control what you can’t see. You must invest in the right technology to ensure you have complete and total transparency across every division, department, and team, down to the individual employees who use the SaaS Applications.

There will most definitely be redundancy, along with underutilized apps, underutilized licenses and underutilized features.

Here are FOUR questions to ask yourself to get you started

1. Which SaaS apps will be used and what is their purpose?

Every department and perhaps, every team or even employee, may want to use their own SaaS application for similar purposes, i.e. project collaboration, storage. Alternatively, there will be plenty of corporate SaaS applications that will be standardized on. Who is using what, and why? You want to avoid different applications being used for the same purpose. Why pay for three project collaboration applications when the company would likely need one?

Determining which SaaS apps have been authorized is essential. These applications will be managed by IT. Be sure not to miss the Shadow SaaS, a.k.a. Rogue SaaS. It is rare for any company not to have Shadow SaaS lurking somewhere.

Related: Managing SaaS Sprawl and Driving New Procurement Strategies

2. How many subscriptions do you have?

You will need to review your SaaS contracts and the number of subscriptions purchased. Be sure the number of subscriptions purchased align with the new number of users. In some cases, it is likely that the contract will either need to be renegotiated or expanded to include new users. Before you get to that point, however, carefully analyze application usage. Frequently, there are unused subscriptions that can be extended to new users.

This may sound cut and dry, but there is another level to consider. Even when it appears there are no more subscriptions to go around, look a little deeper. Is every SaaS subscription being fully utilized or can any be reallocated to someone who would use it to its potential? Segway into…

3. Are all of the SaaS subscriptions being fully utilized?

Once you know the number of licenses, it’s time to consider whether or not every license is being fully utilized. Some companies rely on single sign on to see which SaaS apps are being logged into, but this doesn’t tell the whole story.

If employees are considered “users” simply because they are automatically logged into an app when they sign in for the day, IT doesn’t really get a good picture of whether or not that employee is actually using the app. Logins don’t always equal utilization.

You need visibility and data to see which users are actually using the app. How long are they in the app and what are they doing while they are there? Is there real activity? Which features are they using? Information like this will help IT determine if an app is being fully utilized – per user. All of those apps that aren’t can either have their licenses reallocated or the apps may be eliminated completely from the platform. Either way, the company is going to save money.

4. Keeping an up-to-date Inventory

The best way to track all of this data is to create a SaaS catalog that would help manage redundant technology. You can piggyback off of your IT hardware tracking database. Think of every descriptor, such as vendor name, product name, version, license count, license type, names of users and their department. Then you’re going to want to know login dates, duration and usage for each employee. It may appear to be a bit overboard, but this is where some companies drop the ball.

Understanding who is using what is critical. If a user, who the company has purchased a license for, is no longer or rarely using the SaaS app, that’s a wasted license that costs the company money to maintain. Multiply this across the entire employee base and you can see where Gartner gets its staggering numbers.

A SaaS catalog must be in real time. A merger is disruptive with plenty of changes. A spreadsheet is grossly insufficient and unmanageable, nore is it real-time. It simply cannot give you the visibility you need to eliminate redundant SaaS apps and manage them effectively. The more you automate SaaS management, the greater the transparency.

An automated system will make your catalog simple, flagging potential threats as well as opportunities. Say, for instance, there is a SaaS app that was being used in the past but hasn’t had activity in months. An automated system will flag this app to bring it to your attention. You can then view who was the last person to use it and how it was used. You can also scan the catalog to see if there was a similar application brought onto the platform that took its place. Retiring unused applications is a great way to lower costs and keep the platform optimized.

As you work through all of the side effects of an expanding SaaS portfolio, be sure to keep your eyes on redundancy. With the right SaaS Management tool you can spot duplicate applications quickly and make the proper adjustments to keep your platform optimized.

Fifteen years ago, or 60 quarters in sales parlance, I joined this fantastic company as EMEA General Manager for InstallShield. There are so many of the team—including the fellow who hired me, our current CEO Jim Ryan—who are still with the company today. In the fast-changing world of software, that is truly special and rare.

Over those fifteen years, we have been acquired, divested, merged and expanded through M&A and phenomenal organic growth. Along the way we have hired hundreds of the smartest people in the industry and expanded our business with and for our partners.

I am very gratified to be associated with what we can proudly call a tech unicorn—one that actually makes money and illuminates the spend and risk of many of the world’s top companies.

But at Flexera, we’re doing much more than shining a light on technology assets. We have found a way to be relevant for our customers and partners as the technology industry races to the cloud.

As someone who has worked in the tech space for almost 35 years, I see today what I have seen several times in the past. The big paradigm shifts make things better, but they don’t always make things easier to manage. What is so exciting about the Flexera of 2019 is that we’re committed to lead and not follow. That will continue to be the case. Our best days are still ahead of us.

In my career at Flexera I’ve been privileged to be associated with all parts of our product and solution portfolio. We don’t play to be second best and we are not complacent about how difficult software is to do well, or how much work it takes to make partners and customers successful. As I look back over recent times, I see that our investments in customer and partner success are likely to be among the smartest decisions we have made. We know this is the new norm. Don’t ever take customer loyalty for granted.

And now, after 35 years of hard charging, the time is right for me to run a little slower. I have had a great career in the software industry as a sales professional and sales leader. Along the way I have always tried to work hard, do my best and take every piece of the “luck of the Irish” I was born with!

This move of mine comes as no surprise: Flexera leadership has long been aware of my plan. And many of you know the travel schedule I committed to for the last two and a half years in particular. But there comes a time when the body and the brain say, “enough…don’t push it.” My health is good and the best time to make a move is when things are going well. But I’m going to finish strong, and will be making all the same calls until June 30^th!

As Carolynne and I head off on our next adventures, I know our company, our partners and our customers are in a great place. I thank you all for helping me in every way you have. In the meantime, business as usual!

Following closely behind other news, Flexera is excited to let you know that Flexera’s FlexNet Manager Suite scored highest in all five SAM functionality use cases in the recently published Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools 2019 report*.

Last month, Flexera was named a Leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management Tools**. This is the second year in a row Flexera was identified as a Leader in SAM by Gartner.

The companion report to the Magic Quadrant report is titled “Critical Capabilities.” The Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools report is the companion piece to the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SAM Tools.

What are the Gartner Critical Capabilities reports?

The Magic Quadrant looks at the vendors within a particular market, such as software asset management. The Critical Capabilities report looks at the vendor’s products and ranks them against specific use cases, such as the size of the business or the maturity of their processes.

The Gartner Critical Capabilities compares the products against each other using a “critical set of differentiators.”

According to Gartner, “Critical Capabilities research complements a Gartner Magic Quadrant by allowing deeper insight into the providers’ product or service offerings by identifying which ones best fit various use cases.*”

Flexera Scores Highest

Eight SAM solutions were scored against five functionality use cases aimed to help buyers make strategic purchase decisions. The five use cases are:

PC and Mobile Licensing Use Case

On-Premises Licensing Use Case

Complex Licensing in Hybrid Environments Use Case

Complex Licensing in Cloud Primary Environments Use Case

IT/OT Licensing Use Case

These graphics were published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Flexera.

 Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

The report also rated each SAM tool’s ability to deliver nine critical capabilities on a 1-5 scale:

• Software Entitlements Manual Entry
• Software Entitlements Automation
• Endpoint Software Consumption
• Data Center Software Consumption
• Cloud Consumption
• Specialty Software Consumption
• Reconcile External Information
• Optimize Entitlements/Consumption
• Share Information

You can learn how Flexera scored in these nine areas and read a review of the FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises by downloading a complimentary copy of Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools 2019. If you are evaluating software asset management tools or want to learn more about the importance of specific SAM features, we feel this report is for you.

Download a complimentary copy of the report here. It’s only available for a limited time.

*Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools, Roger Williams, Matt Corsi, Ryan Stefani, 24 April 2019

**Gartner Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management Tools, Roger Williams, Matt Corsi, Ryan Stefani, 24 April 2019

Many federal agencies now have software inventories. But where are the savings? The answer is in the data.

For years, federal agencies have struggled to effectively manage their sprawling software estates. Given that agencies typically spend more than $6 billion a year on software, the cost of mismanagement can be considerable.

Unexpected costs come in the form of software that’s either overutilized, when agencies pay vendors additional money for overstepping the terms of their licenses, or underutilized, in which case agencies have purchased software that’s left on the shelf.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) first reported on this problem in 2014. Some progress has been made since then:

• The Office of Management and Budget in 2016 directed agencies to centralize oversight of their software purchasing and usage, assemble agency-wide software inventories and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Congress passed the Making Electronic Government Accountable by Yielding Tangible Efficiencies (MEGABYTE) Act of 2016, requiring CIOs to establish software licensing policies and inventories.
• Lawmakers included software asset management (SAM) as one of several IT management categories for which federal agencies would be graded twice a year under the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA).

These efforts are showing promise. A December 2018 GAO assessment found that agencies made some gains in assembling software inventories, as well as installing better software license policies and practices.

But they have much more to do. The concern today is agencies still fail to realize the enormous cost savings and other benefits these directives are anticipating, even though they are complying better with SAM directives.

Current directives require agencies to create comprehensive and regularly updated inventories of their software licenses. Then they have to use those inventories to make management decisions and save money. More agencies are doing that. But they still confront two fundamental problems: poor inventory data and an inability to understand and manage their licensing terms.

1) Poor inventory data: The inventory data on which agencies rely is often fraught with inaccuracies, duplication, inconsistencies and incompleteness. The reliance on numerous infrastructure tools to gather software asset data results in a hodgepodge of software inventory data that must be painstakingly reconciled, normalized, deduplicated and made consistent.

Agencies don’t have the time or staff to do that, so they end up with software asset inventories that lack critical information, such as specific versions of software assets. A single software asset may be referred to by many different naming conventions — in some cases hundreds — resulting in highly distorted views of an agency’s inventory.

It is not enough to assemble an agency-wide software asset inventory. That inventory must be complete, accurate, normalized and deduplicated in order to effectively and efficiently support management decisions that will produce tangible cost-saving results.

Even without high-quality software asset data, agencies could still be compliant with software directives. But they’ll continue to lose money through wasteful practices. The potential costs could be significant, considering that one major federal agency reported saving $181 million just by consolidating its enterprise license agreements, according to the GAO.

2) Poor understanding of their licensing terms: Software comes with many complicated terms and conditions. There are upgrade and downgrade rights, second use rights and special terms for using software in backup, test, development and production environments. When an agency purchases a software package, it’s entitled to use that software up to a certain amount. But consumption of that software varies considerably depending on what hardware it runs on. Similarly, product use rights vary widely from one software package to the next.

Getting a working understanding of those terms and conditions for all software assets across the enterprise may seem impossible. Some agencies simply have no idea how well they’re abiding by their software terms until software publishers conduct periodic true-up audits that inform them of whether and to what extent they’ve exceeded their licensing terms. And then they pay the bill.

Agencies in this situation are exposed to potentially millions of dollars in unanticipated software audit charges. Moreover, they’re incapable of effectively governing, optimizing and enforcing their software estates.

The costs of ineffective software management take the form of missed savings opportunities, as well as wasted staff resources. Tens or hundreds of hours of staff time are typically spent conducting manual data calls to prepare for internal or vendor audits to ensure that software usage adheres to what is licensed.

Flexera’s FlexNet Manager solution was designed to provide enterprises with high-quality, comprehensive data that offers actionable insights for efficient, enterprise-scale software asset management. Flexera’s FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises employs robust automation and business intelligence to clearly and easily inform asset managers exactly where they’re underutilizing and overutilizing software assets, arming them with the data they need for the next software audit.

These capabilities enable agencies to not only know their inventories of software assets and their associated licensing terms but to effectively optimize, govern and enforce their software estates so they can realize meaningful cost savings.

Industry analyst firm Gartner scored FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises highest among all SAM vendors for its ability to perform intermediate SAM functionality and advanced SAM functionality use cases. (Intermediate SAM is typically for medium to large organizations, while advanced SAM is for large enterprises with challenging licensing requirements.)

What’s more, FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises provides agencies visibility and control of their entire software state to better optimize software spend, which Gartner estimates could save enterprises up to 30 percent. This means agencies can help fund other strategic business initiatives, such as cybersecurity and IT service management, without having to increase their overall IT budgets.

One other thing: customers love us. Flexera was named a Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Software Asset Management Tools in 2018 and 2019.

In my role, I take part in a lot of sales calls with potential customers. During these meetings we often discover that the client utilizes an inventory tool Flexera hasn’t seen or touched, or they have a home-grown tool. Since most IT managers don’t want to buy another tool or deploy “yet another agent,” the same question almost always comes up – “Can’t you just write an adapter for that?”

Well, of course we can. We’ll happily sell more service hours, but the more important question is – should we? Many times, after some investigation, the answer is no.

Sometimes the home-grown tool actually does give us the information we need (Installer Evidence + File Evidence), and no adapter is needed. Or it turns out the client is OK with the risks of using the existing tool. Even with Installer and File evidence, there are some titles that really do require the Flexera Agent. What’s more, the Flexera Agent will likely still be needed in some areas in addition to creating a new Inventory Adapter.

The good news is that Flexera has the tools to help you write the Inventory Adapter yourself. Start by familiarizing yourself with the Database Objects available to build the Inventory Adapter. For this blog, we will assume you will be connecting to data in a database (SQL Server for simplicity).

Using Inventory Adapter Studio

Let’s start with the basics. FlexNet Manager Suite includes the Inventory Adapter Studio (IAS). When you create a “new” adapter using IAS, you will start with a pre-filled template and example queries.

Let’s look at in the Computer section and the first step – “Get domains from source database.” I’ve color-coded each section, and we’ll look at each one separately. Any text in bold is a field included in the example.

The left pane, in Blue, shows all of the steps that the adapter will take. In the example template, there are many steps that you may not need or may be collapsed. For your first adapter, you may want to step through each of these and only delete those steps that you do not have information for. But you can also leave them in place as you build your first adapter until you are absolutely sure they are not needed.

The center\top pane, in Yellow, contains information about the object and step you are working on.

• The Step Name should be unique and descriptive.
• The Execution options you will use for Object Adapters are ExecuteOnSource (meaning actions are taken on the SOURCE database, typically used to create temporary tables for staging data for use later in the adapter) and SourceToObject (meaning that you are outputting the query with data to be sent to FlexNet Manager Suite to populate the object).
• The Data Object Type contains the data objects that are defined and may be used to populate data in FlexNet Manager Suite.
• File sets the filename where this step will be stored on the file system and must be an XML.

Leave the other fields in the Yellow area alone for now. You can utilize them for Excel as a data source as well as version your code to work with multiple versions of a data source (when underlying schema changes), but we aren’t going into that here. Just above this pane is where you define your connection to the Inventory Source.

Moving on to the Red pane on the right side. If you have chosen the SourceToObject Execution type and selected an object from the Data object type, the right pane contains the object information you need to create from your query. A few very important notes, these data fields are case sensitive. So, when you write your query, you want to make sure your output fields match exactly.

You also want to make sure your data type matches. If the data object is expecting an int and your database contains an integer in a text field, you need to cast or convert it to an Int. Also, don’t overflow your varchar fields, utilize Left and Trim functions as needed.

Finally, the center Green pane. This is where you do your actual work and write your query. Think of this as your Query screen. You may use comments with the appropriate comment nomenclature for the database you are connecting (in our example, SQL Server, so ‘–‘ for single line or ‘/* */‘ for multi-line). While you may load data into temporary tables if you wish, there should be one and only one “Output” query. Rename your output fields to match the appropriate information in the object model (Red pane).

One of the nice things about how the framework is created is that you don’t have to have every field available at once. As long as you include the Primary Key (labeled Natural Key), you can use multiple queries (each as their own step) to build the object. So, if you have IP and MAC Addresses in a separate table, you can build the appropriate query to convert them to a comma delimited list separately from the rest of the Computer Object – which is indeed included in the example. You can run each step (once you’ve defined your inventory connection) by clicking the Run current script. You will see the output in the result pane.

Putting it all together

Now that you have an overview of how the IAS works, you “simply” put it all together. I know, there’s nothing “simple” about it. What you’re looking for, at a minimum, is what you need to calculate license positions, which means the Computer Object (with HostName, SerialNumber, Processor Information, Chassis Information and as much other information as you can) and installed software. Ideally, you will want Installation Information and Installed File Evidence information. The example template separates these out to pull the normalized Installer and File Evidence information, and THEN links that normalized information to a computer object. However, you also have access to Consolidated Objects – ConsolidatedInstallerEvidence and ConsolidatedFileEvidence if pulling all of the information into a single object is more feasible. It is best practice to separate Computer, Installer, File, etc. information into their own XML files, but it is not a requirement of the tool.

I’ve found creating a new “template”, saving it as an example, then starting clean and building one object at a time with a small dataset is the most helpful for me. First Computer, then Installation Evidence and finally any other objects I can access.

Of course, your Flexera Services and Strategic Success Team is available to help you every step of the way. Contact our services team for help with creating the adapter!

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We are very excited to announce that we are extending our technology asset management capabilities to the cloud with the acquisition of Santa Barbara, CA-based RightScale, the leader in multi-cloud management and cost optimization. Now you can get the best of all technology asset management worlds with a single solution provider.

Flexera + RightScale = Best in Class IT Asset Optimization
Our goal at Flexera is to deliver the best solutions for optimizing technology assets while minimizing risk. Flexera’s industry-leading solutions are the preferred choice for optimizing software, hardware and SaaS assets. But, optimizing assets that are being virtualized and moved to the cloud need optimization, too.  Cloud services already take up 20% of the IT budget and will continue to grow. Adding to the challenge, most enterprises use more than one cloud service provider. In fact, according to the RightScale 2018 State of the Cloud Report™, 81 percent of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy and most of them leverage the capabilities of more than three cloud vendors. The report also uncovered that an average 35 percent of cloud spend is wasted each year. With these numbers in mind, we realized enterprises urgently need a multi-cloud cost optimization solution. They need a tool that delivers not just cost and usage insights across all of their cloud services, but also a means to act on them.  Better yet, a tool that is not tied to any one cloud provider.

Why RightScale?
Founded in 2007, RightScale has experienced continued success and growth to become the leading vendor-agnostic provider of enterprise multi-cloud management and optimization solutions. The RightScale Optima solution is a cloud cost management and optimization tool that empowers organizations to take automated action to reduce cloud spend across the enterprise. The RightScale Cloud Management Platform enables IT organizations to deliver instant access to a portfolio of public and private cloud services across business units and development teams while maintaining enterprise control.

RightScale is recognized as a leader in the 2018 Forrester Wave™ Hybrid Cloud Management and the 2018 Forrester Wave Cloud Cost Monitoring and Optimization reports. RightScale is also highly rated by Gartner, IDC and Enterprise Management Associates. But more than that, the RightScale technology and strategy fit perfectly with Flexera.

RightScale shares Flexera’s commitment to innovation and to delivering products that help optimize and control rapidly evolving technology environments. The company is driven by a desire to innovate and succeed and has built a reputation for excellence and expertise. With proven technology used by customers around the globe, RightScale brings a needed new dimension to Flexera.

What’s next?
The benefits to both Flexera’s and RightScale’s customers will be immediate and compelling. Customers will now have a single solution provider to help them manage costs and security vulnerabilities across their entire range of technology assets. Our Flexera team is excited about offering RightScale’s leading capabilities to customers and investing in their development. Join us for a webinar on October 11th to learn more.

We are thrilled to welcome our colleagues at RightScale and new customers to the Flexera family.

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Chances are your organization now spends a significant amount of money on cloud resources. The question is: Are you maximizing the value of that spend?

It may seem that on-demand cloud instances are extremely cost-effective, giving developers and IT teams easy and quick access to needed resources. However, Flexera’s RightScale team has measured cloud spend among enterprise users and identified that, on average, 35 percent is wasted. That wasted cloud spend adds up to more than $15 billion across just the top three cloud providers – AWS, Azure and Google!

It’s probably easy to understand that the decentralization of cloud use and oversight can lead to wasted cloud spend. But that’s not the only cause. Let’s take a look at some additional factors that lead to this significant amount of waste:

1. Cloud pricing is actually complex. The on-demand nature of cloud resources allows developers and IT teams to quickly ramp up or scale down when needed. But the flexibility comes at a cost that needs to be monitored on an ongoing basis. While cloud pricing may seem simple, the reality is there is a dizzying array of ways providers charge for access to cloud resources. Access to virtual machines and instances can be priced differently depending on the region, hours that they run, and countless other circumstances under which the resources are accessed. Pricing for storage capacity can be just as complicated with many different tiers and classes.

2. Instance sizes are often overprovisioned. There are many unknowns when migrating instances from on-premise to the cloud. What is the equivalent instance size in the cloud? Are performance characteristics the same? What instances and sizes make the most sense to realize maximum value from the cloud? Unfortunately, a lot of enterprises take educated guesses and end up overprovisioned. And once instances are in place, they rarely get downsized. 

3. Individual resource owners don’t see the full picture. With today’s agile development processes, teams may be automatically provisioning and tearing down instances for development and QA without realizing the total costs of the deployments. Hourly costs for cloud use may seem low, but when the resources are used for weeks, months or even years, the costs can really add up. Users may not be aware that bulk use discounts are even available. But the worst part is that resource owners may not receive the reports that show the true costs of their cloud use to be able to actually understand and adjust the cloud provisioning. 

4. Automation isn’t being used to optimize workloads. Many organizations take the stance that one-time optimization of an enterprise’s cloud spend is adequate. But that is not the answer. Identifying waste and resolving it must be ongoing to ensure cloud spend is under control. Automation makes it much easier to optimize cloud spend by resolving issues with unused, idle or underutilized accounts; instances running in higher-cost regions when they could be in a lower-cost region; older instances that should be updated to newer versions; and more.

Taking Control of Cloud Spend

According to data from Flexera’s RightScale team, 39 percent of cloud instance spend is on VMs that are running at below 40 percent of CPU and memory utilization, with the majority of those running at under 20 percent. It’s clear that a lot of enterprises are spending significantly more than they need to on cloud resources. How can you help your enterprise reduce that waste? Start with these recommendations: 

Recommendations for Reducing Wasted Cloud Spend

You can do it the easy way, or the hard way …

With the right tools, cloud spend optimization can be an efficient, ongoing process. Flexera’s  RightScale Optima optimization platform is the right tool and the easy way to optimize your cloud usage to realize significant savings on cloud spend. In collaboration with your organization’s cloud optimization goals, Optima analyzes your cloud utilization and automates actions to shut down unused resources or make adjustments to take advantage of lower prices or discounts. Learn more >>

NEXT:  Collaborating with stakeholders to reduce cloud spend

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For the second consecutive time, the Flexera team is pleased to announce that we have been recognized as a January 2019 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Software Asset Management Tools. We are extremely proud of this recognition, as feedback from our customers is always central to the development of our products and services.

This recognition comes a week after Flexera (RightScale) was positioned in the Leaders quadrant of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Management Platforms.

The Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice is a recognition of vendors in this market by verified end-user professionals, considering the number of reviews and the overall user rating. The Magic Quadrant recognition differs in that it is based on analyst opinion.

Check out more reviews like these at Gartner Peer Insights.

“Excellent Support and Powerful Product.” – IT Vendor Relationship Manager Lead in the Transportation Industry

“Very complete and flexible. Most comprehensive usage rights management module I’ve seen.” – IT Manager in the Government Industry

“Valued Partner.” – Asset and Configuration Manager in the Finance Industry

We’re thankful for this recognition and appreciate the many comments and ratings.  And, we continue to work hard at bringing more innovation to the evolving practice of software asset management and providing outstanding customer service and support!

Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice constitute the subjective opinions of individual end-user reviews, ratings, and data applied against a documented methodology; they neither represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Gartner or its affiliates.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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SaaS usage continues to increase. Gartner forecasts that by 2021, SaaS applications will account for 45% of software spend.

Knowing that there are hundreds of SaaS applications in use across the enterprise, it is a category of software that can’t be ignored and will continue to present challenges. IT, Procurement and Finance all have a stake in ongoing SaaS Management from a security and financial perspective. SaaS continues to change the way software is purchased and Flexera continues to change the way SaaS applications are managed.

View this Infographic to see how Flexera SaaS Manager helped several companies overcome challenges using powerful insights into SaaS usage.

Interested in Learning More?

Learn how to take control of your SaaS apps with the Essential SaaS Management Toolkit

Interested in Learning More?

Learn how to take control of your SaaS apps with the Essential SaaS Management Toolkit

Source

All of us at Flexera are incredibly proud to announce that Flexera has been named as a Leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management Tools!

For the second time Gartner positioned Flexera as a market “Leader” (upper right quadrant) because of our Completeness of Vision and  Ability to Execute. Flexera (RightScale) was also a Leader in the 2019 Magic Quadrant for Cloud Management Platforms.

But as proud as we are for being a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader for the second year in a row, we are even prouder of our scores in all SAM functionality use cases in the 2019 Gartner Critical Capability for SAM tools report and that Flexera was named a Jan. 2019 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Software Assets Management Tools for the second time, based on feedback from verified reviews we received on Gartner Peer Insights from customers and users of our solutions.

What are the SAM functionality Use Cases in the Critical Capabilities Report?

The report looks at five different functionality use cases for Software Asset Management tool buyers:

• PC and Mobile Licensing
• On-Premise Licensing
• Complex Licensing in Hybrid Environments
• Complex Licensing in Cloud Primary Environments
• IT/OT Licensing

So how did we do?

Flexera scored highest for all five use cases. In addition to Flexera’s traditional focus for on-premises SAM, the increased focus on cloud and SaaS licensing are represented in the use cases.

The Voice of the Customer
Gartner Peer Insights are reviews written by actual Flexera customers and users of our solutions. Our solution, FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises, is rated highly across all dimensions in the Gartner Peer Insights reviews. As of the time of this posting FlexNet Manager Suite had a score of 4.5/5 for Product Capabilities including a 4.8/5 for Satisfaction of FlexNet Manager Suite meeting an organization’s needs.

Source: Gartner peer insights

What did some of these Flexera customers have to say?

• “Quick implementation with rapid cost avoidance opportunities”
• “Easy to use and intuitive with a supportive vendor”
• “Very complete and flexible. Most comprehensive usage rights management module I’ve seen”
• “Excellent support and powerful product”
• “Flexera is your one stop shop for Asset Management”
• “Awesome tool and Technical Support is second to none. Really matured our SAM capability!”

These customer reviews illustrate a common thread. They demonstrate Flexera’s excellent product quality, innovation, customer service and support. They also illustrate how FlexNet Manager Suite delivers software cost savings, value and return on investment to customers of all sizes and in all types of industries.

Our leadership among SAM suppliers is not by accident. We’ve always led through innovation. As enterprises increasingly adopt SaaS and public cloud technologies, we have also significantly expanded our portfolio to offer solutions that help customers optimize and govern their full hybrid IT landscape.

Flexera also takes a customer-first approach to ensure customer success—a quality noted in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management, April 2019 report.

For information on Flexera’s position as a Leader in Gartner’s 2019 Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management Tools, download a complimentary copy of the full report here.

Thanks again for making us #1

The Flexera Team

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner Peer Insights reviews constitute the subjective opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences, and do not represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates.

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management Tools, Roger Williams, Matt Corsi, Ryan Stefani, 24 April 2019

Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools, Roger Williams, Matt Corsi, Ryan Stefani, 24 April 2019.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

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Gaining control over the SaaS ecosystem and spend is not an easy task. Companies must follow a process to avoid redundancy. Redundancy means wasted costs and increased risk. With all of the many concerns and to-dos that come with digital transformation, it’s easy to fall into the mindset of, “I’ll get to that later.” At first glance, consolidating SaaS apps seems like the last thing an IT department would need to tackle. This would be a costly mistake

A 2018 Gartner survey says that cloud is growing faster than IT spend as a whole, and in fact it’s growing 7x faster.  From our experience working with customers – and industry analyst data also supports it – companies are wasting 30-35 percent of their cloud and software spend. License costs are wasted on insufficient management, such as allowing redundant applications to infiltrate the environment. Duplication, or redundant apps, make up a significant portion of this waste.

Related: Technology Spend Optimization for Software, SaaS and Cloud. How to succeed in 2019.

So how do companies start to take control and identify redundant applications? First and foremost, you need visibility into your SaaS estate. You can’t manage or control what you can’t see. You must invest in the right technology to ensure you have complete and total transparency across every division, department, and team, down to the individual employees who use the SaaS Applications.

There will most definitely be redundancy, along with underutilized apps, underutilized licenses and underutilized features.

Here are FOUR questions to ask yourself to get you started

1. Which SaaS apps will be used and what is their purpose?

Every department and perhaps, every team or even employee, may want to use their own SaaS application for similar purposes, i.e. project collaboration, storage. Alternatively, there will be plenty of corporate SaaS applications that will be standardized on. Who is using what, and why? You want to avoid different applications being used for the same purpose. Why pay for three project collaboration applications when the company would likely need one?

Determining which SaaS apps have been authorized is essential. These applications will be managed by IT. Be sure not to miss the Shadow SaaS, a.k.a. Rogue SaaS. It is rare for any company not to have Shadow SaaS lurking somewhere.

Related: Managing SaaS Sprawl and Driving New Procurement Strategies

2. How many subscriptions do you have?

You will need to review your SaaS contracts and the number of subscriptions purchased. Be sure the number of subscriptions purchased align with the new number of users. In some cases, it is likely that the contract will either need to be renegotiated or expanded to include new users. Before you get to that point, however, carefully analyze application usage. Frequently, there are unused subscriptions that can be extended to new users.

This may sound cut and dry, but there is another level to consider. Even when it appears there are no more subscriptions to go around, look a little deeper. Is every SaaS subscription being fully utilized or can any be reallocated to someone who would use it to its potential? Segway into…

3. Are all of the SaaS subscriptions being fully utilized?

Once you know the number of licenses, it’s time to consider whether or not every license is being fully utilized. Some companies rely on single sign on to see which SaaS apps are being logged into, but this doesn’t tell the whole story.

If employees are considered “users” simply because they are automatically logged into an app when they sign in for the day, IT doesn’t really get a good picture of whether or not that employee is actually using the app. Logins don’t always equal utilization.

You need visibility and data to see which users are actually using the app. How long are they in the app and what are they doing while they are there? Is there real activity? Which features are they using? Information like this will help IT determine if an app is being fully utilized – per user. All of those apps that aren’t can either have their licenses reallocated or the apps may be eliminated completely from the platform. Either way, the company is going to save money.

4. Keeping an up-to-date Inventory

The best way to track all of this data is to create a SaaS catalog that would help manage redundant technology. You can piggyback off of your IT hardware tracking database. Think of every descriptor, such as vendor name, product name, version, license count, license type, names of users and their department. Then you’re going to want to know login dates, duration and usage for each employee. It may appear to be a bit overboard, but this is where some companies drop the ball.

Understanding who is using what is critical. If a user, who the company has purchased a license for, is no longer or rarely using the SaaS app, that’s a wasted license that costs the company money to maintain. Multiply this across the entire employee base and you can see where Gartner gets its staggering numbers.

A SaaS catalog must be in real time. A merger is disruptive with plenty of changes. A spreadsheet is grossly insufficient and unmanageable, nore is it real-time. It simply cannot give you the visibility you need to eliminate redundant SaaS apps and manage them effectively. The more you automate SaaS management, the greater the transparency.

An automated system will make your catalog simple, flagging potential threats as well as opportunities. Say, for instance, there is a SaaS app that was being used in the past but hasn’t had activity in months. An automated system will flag this app to bring it to your attention. You can then view who was the last person to use it and how it was used. You can also scan the catalog to see if there was a similar application brought onto the platform that took its place. Retiring unused applications is a great way to lower costs and keep the platform optimized.

As you work through all of the side effects of an expanding SaaS portfolio, be sure to keep your eyes on redundancy. With the right SaaS Management tool you can spot duplicate applications quickly and make the proper adjustments to keep your platform optimized.

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Fifteen years ago, or 60 quarters in sales parlance, I joined this fantastic company as EMEA General Manager for InstallShield. There are so many of the team—including the fellow who hired me, our current CEO Jim Ryan—who are still with the company today. In the fast-changing world of software, that is truly special and rare.

Over those fifteen years, we have been acquired, divested, merged and expanded through M&A and phenomenal organic growth. Along the way we have hired hundreds of the smartest people in the industry and expanded our business with and for our partners.

I am very gratified to be associated with what we can proudly call a tech unicorn—one that actually makes money and illuminates the spend and risk of many of the world’s top companies.

But at Flexera, we’re doing much more than shining a light on technology assets. We have found a way to be relevant for our customers and partners as the technology industry races to the cloud.

As someone who has worked in the tech space for almost 35 years, I see today what I have seen several times in the past. The big paradigm shifts make things better, but they don’t always make things easier to manage. What is so exciting about the Flexera of 2019 is that we’re committed to lead and not follow. That will continue to be the case. Our best days are still ahead of us.

In my career at Flexera I’ve been privileged to be associated with all parts of our product and solution portfolio. We don’t play to be second best and we are not complacent about how difficult software is to do well, or how much work it takes to make partners and customers successful. As I look back over recent times, I see that our investments in customer and partner success are likely to be among the smartest decisions we have made. We know this is the new norm. Don’t ever take customer loyalty for granted.

And now, after 35 years of hard charging, the time is right for me to run a little slower. I have had a great career in the software industry as a sales professional and sales leader. Along the way I have always tried to work hard, do my best and take every piece of the “luck of the Irish” I was born with!

This move of mine comes as no surprise: Flexera leadership has long been aware of my plan. And many of you know the travel schedule I committed to for the last two and a half years in particular. But there comes a time when the body and the brain say, “enough…don’t push it.” My health is good and the best time to make a move is when things are going well. But I’m going to finish strong, and will be making all the same calls until June 30^th!

As Carolynne and I head off on our next adventures, I know our company, our partners and our customers are in a great place. I thank you all for helping me in every way you have. In the meantime, business as usual!

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Following closely behind other news, Flexera is excited to let you know that Flexera’s FlexNet Manager Suite scored highest in all five SAM functionality use cases in the recently published Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools 2019 report*.

Last month, Flexera was named a Leader in the 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management Tools**. This is the second year in a row Flexera was identified as a Leader in SAM by Gartner.

The companion report to the Magic Quadrant report is titled “Critical Capabilities.” The Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools report is the companion piece to the Gartner Magic Quadrant for SAM Tools.

What are the Gartner Critical Capabilities reports?

The Magic Quadrant looks at the vendors within a particular market, such as software asset management. The Critical Capabilities report looks at the vendor’s products and ranks them against specific use cases, such as the size of the business or the maturity of their processes.

The Gartner Critical Capabilities compares the products against each other using a “critical set of differentiators.”

According to Gartner, “Critical Capabilities research complements a Gartner Magic Quadrant by allowing deeper insight into the providers’ product or service offerings by identifying which ones best fit various use cases.*”

Flexera Scores Highest

Eight SAM solutions were scored against five functionality use cases aimed to help buyers make strategic purchase decisions. The five use cases are:

PC and Mobile Licensing Use Case

On-Premises Licensing Use Case

Complex Licensing in Hybrid Environments Use Case

Complex Licensing in Cloud Primary Environments Use Case

IT/OT Licensing Use Case

These graphics were published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Flexera.

 Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

The report also rated each SAM tool’s ability to deliver nine critical capabilities on a 1-5 scale:

• Software Entitlements Manual Entry
• Software Entitlements Automation
• Endpoint Software Consumption
• Data Center Software Consumption
• Cloud Consumption
• Specialty Software Consumption
• Reconcile External Information
• Optimize Entitlements/Consumption
• Share Information

You can learn how Flexera scored in these nine areas and read a review of the FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises by downloading a complimentary copy of Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools 2019. If you are evaluating software asset management tools or want to learn more about the importance of specific SAM features, we feel this report is for you.

Download a complimentary copy of the report here. It’s only available for a limited time.

*Gartner Critical Capabilities for Software Asset Management Tools, Roger Williams, Matt Corsi, Ryan Stefani, 24 April 2019

**Gartner Magic Quadrant for Software Asset Management Tools, Roger Williams, Matt Corsi, Ryan Stefani, 24 April 2019

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Many federal agencies now have software inventories. But where are the savings? The answer is in the data.

For years, federal agencies have struggled to effectively manage their sprawling software estates. Given that agencies typically spend more than $6 billion a year on software, the cost of mismanagement can be considerable.

Unexpected costs come in the form of software that’s either overutilized, when agencies pay vendors additional money for overstepping the terms of their licenses, or underutilized, in which case agencies have purchased software that’s left on the shelf.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) first reported on this problem in 2014. Some progress has been made since then:

• The Office of Management and Budget in 2016 directed agencies to centralize oversight of their software purchasing and usage, assemble agency-wide software inventories and identify cost-saving opportunities.
• Congress passed the Making Electronic Government Accountable by Yielding Tangible Efficiencies (MEGABYTE) Act of 2016, requiring CIOs to establish software licensing policies and inventories.
• Lawmakers included software asset management (SAM) as one of several IT management categories for which federal agencies would be graded twice a year under the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA).

These efforts are showing promise. A December 2018 GAO assessment found that agencies made some gains in assembling software inventories, as well as installing better software license policies and practices.

But they have much more to do. The concern today is agencies still fail to realize the enormous cost savings and other benefits these directives are anticipating, even though they are complying better with SAM directives.

Current directives require agencies to create comprehensive and regularly updated inventories of their software licenses. Then they have to use those inventories to make management decisions and save money. More agencies are doing that. But they still confront two fundamental problems: poor inventory data and an inability to understand and manage their licensing terms.

1) Poor inventory data: The inventory data on which agencies rely is often fraught with inaccuracies, duplication, inconsistencies and incompleteness. The reliance on numerous infrastructure tools to gather software asset data results in a hodgepodge of software inventory data that must be painstakingly reconciled, normalized, deduplicated and made consistent.

Agencies don’t have the time or staff to do that, so they end up with software asset inventories that lack critical information, such as specific versions of software assets. A single software asset may be referred to by many different naming conventions — in some cases hundreds — resulting in highly distorted views of an agency’s inventory.

It is not enough to assemble an agency-wide software asset inventory. That inventory must be complete, accurate, normalized and deduplicated in order to effectively and efficiently support management decisions that will produce tangible cost-saving results.

Even without high-quality software asset data, agencies could still be compliant with software directives. But they’ll continue to lose money through wasteful practices. The potential costs could be significant, considering that one major federal agency reported saving $181 million just by consolidating its enterprise license agreements, according to the GAO.

2) Poor understanding of their licensing terms: Software comes with many complicated terms and conditions. There are upgrade and downgrade rights, second use rights and special terms for using software in backup, test, development and production environments. When an agency purchases a software package, it’s entitled to use that software up to a certain amount. But consumption of that software varies considerably depending on what hardware it runs on. Similarly, product use rights vary widely from one software package to the next.

Getting a working understanding of those terms and conditions for all software assets across the enterprise may seem impossible. Some agencies simply have no idea how well they’re abiding by their software terms until software publishers conduct periodic true-up audits that inform them of whether and to what extent they’ve exceeded their licensing terms. And then they pay the bill.

Agencies in this situation are exposed to potentially millions of dollars in unanticipated software audit charges. Moreover, they’re incapable of effectively governing, optimizing and enforcing their software estates.

The costs of ineffective software management take the form of missed savings opportunities, as well as wasted staff resources. Tens or hundreds of hours of staff time are typically spent conducting manual data calls to prepare for internal or vendor audits to ensure that software usage adheres to what is licensed.

Flexera’s FlexNet Manager solution was designed to provide enterprises with high-quality, comprehensive data that offers actionable insights for efficient, enterprise-scale software asset management. Flexera’s FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises employs robust automation and business intelligence to clearly and easily inform asset managers exactly where they’re underutilizing and overutilizing software assets, arming them with the data they need for the next software audit.

These capabilities enable agencies to not only know their inventories of software assets and their associated licensing terms but to effectively optimize, govern and enforce their software estates so they can realize meaningful cost savings.

Industry analyst firm Gartner scored FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises highest among all SAM vendors for its ability to perform intermediate SAM functionality and advanced SAM functionality use cases. (Intermediate SAM is typically for medium to large organizations, while advanced SAM is for large enterprises with challenging licensing requirements.)

What’s more, FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises provides agencies visibility and control of their entire software state to better optimize software spend, which Gartner estimates could save enterprises up to 30 percent. This means agencies can help fund other strategic business initiatives, such as cybersecurity and IT service management, without having to increase their overall IT budgets.

One other thing: customers love us. Flexera was named a Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Software Asset Management Tools in 2018 and 2019.

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Today we report the results from the Flexera 2020 State of Tech Spend Survey to identify the latest IT spending benchmarks and trends. This first annual report is based on responses from more than 300 enterprise CIOs and IT executives who are driving digital transformation. It enables enterprises across every …

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Continue reading 2020 State of Tech Spend: IT Spending Benchmarks and Trends at Flexera Blog.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carroll

A wonderful moment recently arrived when my 17-year-old daughter passed her driving test. The reasonably priced insurance premium for her as a “provisional driver” instantly expired. So, we needed to find …

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Continue reading Driving for continuous compliance at Flexera Blog.

IT spend has risen for years as organizations invest in new, disruptive technologies to improve their business outcomes. And the trend shows no sign of slowing. More than half of the respondents in the Flexera 2020 State of Tech Spend Survey expect their organizations to increase IT spend in the …

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Continue reading Discover How You Can Reduce Wasted IT Spend at Flexera Blog.

As we begin a new year, it’s always good to take a step back and think about where we’ve been and where we’d like to go. This is the same approach we should take when thinking about our technology investments and what changes may need to be implemented, depending on …

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Continue reading Think About Changes and New Approaches to Managing Assets in the New Year at Flexera Blog.

Organizations are ratcheting up how much they’re spending on cloud-based software—SaaS in particular—while cutting on-premises software. It’s likely that SaaS solutions already represent a rapidly growing part of your enterprise application portfolio.

Do you have a handle on the SaaS apps your organization is using? Do you know how …

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Organizations are always looking for more efficient and cost-effective ways to manage their assets. The continued growth of disruptive technologies in the environment makes handling assets a major challenge on a good day. And the need to address changes quickly exacerbates the issue.

Many workers have recently transitioned to working …

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