As noted the last time we discussed containers, specifically Kubernetes, they pose a significant challenge for IT. You can easily lose sight of applications in containers, including whether or not you’re license compliant. Container-based licensing is evolving and there are both compliance and cost issues to consider when implementing them across your IT estate. They also currently represent a significant risk to organizations using them more and more. It’s notoriously difficult to discover or track the software included inside them, which can be licensed from commercial vendors. Not only can they be difficult to manage, but containers are an evolving…
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Kubernetes just got easier with Flexera
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A new way to manage Salesforce Marketing Cloud entitlements
Here at Flexera, we are passionate about teaming up with our partners to provide the most seamless experience for our customers. As of late, we’ve been working with Salesforce to make managing your Salesforce environment easier than ever. In early January of 2022, we announced new functionality in Flexera One around the Salesforce AppExchange. This release allows you to save precious dollars and protect your company’s critical information by allowing you to manage your AppExchange licenses and users within Flexera One. As we look to build on our vision to have an industry-leading partnership with Salesforce, we have expanded our…
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Decoding the Language of Software License Optimization
We need to pivot from the concept of government IT spending to government IT investing, because only then will federal agency leaders understand and expect to get something in return. Otherwise, there’s no way to measure the value of the entire government’s $90B federal civilian IT budget. One of the largest sources for unplanned and unexpected expenses is underutilized software licenses that cost federal agencies billions of dollars each year. In addition, complicated and time-consuming software maintenance causes significant downtime for IT staff and their systems. Flexera speaks the language of both decision-makers and IT infrastructures, uncovering the missed connections…
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How to view and optimize your SAP licensing costs
SAP is known by SAM practitioners to have one of the most complex software licensing models. In fact, in a 2021 SAP User Group Survey, 95 percent of respondents said that SAP’s licensing is ‘overly complicated. On top of that, 67 percent of users claimed that they have found it challenging to keep track of SAP license usage. Additionally, according to Flexera’s 2022 State of ITAM Report, 30 percent of respondents claim that their SAM practices are still in the beginner phase. It’s clear that SAM practitioners need help tracking usage and consumption. But what can you do to optimize…
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Evolving the Ecosystem with IBM
Recently, Flexera and IBM announced an exciting and strategic partnership. I wanted to expand on what this partnership means from my perspective. There are two relevant facets to the partnership: Flexera One ITAM is a certified alternative to IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) Integration between Flexera One ITAM and IBM Turbonomic to optimize cost and performance powered by AI For years, Flexera has been imploring the largest software and technology suppliers to make it easier to manage usage and remain in compliance. You would be hard pressed to find a more dysfunctional supply chain in any other industry than what…
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Keep up in an evolving ITAM ecosystem with LISA
Digital transformation has increased at a breakneck speed over the past few years. Along with that comes ever-changing dynamics for ITAM professionals as they try to keep up. This creates the need for ITAM experts to continually educate themselves on new products and changing license models from their biggest vendors. That’s why we’ve partnered up with ITAM Review’s LISA–the Licensing, ITAM and SAM Academy. LISA is the leader in licensing and IT asset management training, taking an unconventional approach with on-demand and live trainings to help IT professionals bolster their knowledge and achieve certifications in their field. Through the partnership…
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Your Hybrid Microsoft Environment Simplified
We’re experiencing a technological revolution. Our almost exclusive dependency on the traditional desktop-installed application is becoming less and less common. Like nearly all organizations, it’s highly likely your users are now working with solutions that span on-premises, SaaS or a hybrid of the two. And without visibility and actionable insights into all three, you’re likely missing out on optimization opportunities. Then there are the rampant costs associated with vendor audits and negotiations. The new way of working—accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic—now means users want to use applications in the way that suits them. For example, this blog post was written…
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Flexera an IBM-certified alternative for ILMT
Let’s face it, no matter the vendors involved, IT asset management (ITAM) is complex, expensive and time-intensive for enterprises. Flexera’s 2022 State of ITAM found that 83% of software asset management (SAM) teams’ time is spent toward audit activities, and the top challenges included maturing the SAM practice, dealing with new environments (SaaS, cloud, containers) and finding ways to optimize software use. As they continue to adopt hybrid, multi-cloud strategies—with software and applications running across public, private and on-premises environments—many IT professionals acknowledge they need to better manage and improve the reclamation of underused or unused products. Enterprises face significant…
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Broadcom is acquiring VMware: Here’s what you need to do
It’s confirmed. Broadcom is acquiring VMware. This is just the latest of many attempts at diversification by Broadcom by moving into the enterprise software space. VMware is one of the most widely adopted technologies used by organizations around the world. But what does the acquisition mean for VMware customers? And more importantly, what actions should you take to prepare in the coming months? In plain terms, VMware customers should prepare for considerable change to their current vendor relationship. Broadcom has publicly stated that it runs acquired software organizations differently from how they were previously operating to create a larger impact…
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The High Stakes of License Management
License management and the broader imperative to improve IT asset management is challenging for many government agencies, particularly at the state level. A recent GovLoop media survey found that agencies at all levels of government continue to fall short of adequately managing software licenses in accordance with the demands of the modern enterprise. The consequences of ineffective license management fall into three main categories: fiscal, security and operational. Fiscal This lack of visibility increases the likelihood that agencies will overpay or underpay for software licenses. Unexposed accounting errors tend to persist, compounding losses over time. 57 percent of survey respondents…
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The Importance of IT Asset Management: Flexera State of ITAM Report
Digital transformation continues to expand unabated across organizations of all sizes and industries of all categories. With this transformation comes the need for rapid adoption of new technologies and new ways of acquiring and provisioning the resources that implement workloads in order to take advantage of these technologies. Over the previous few years, we’ve seen a shift in the role and purview of IT asset management practitioners, as they’ve had to adjust to this new world, much of it in the dynamic and agile expanse of the public cloud. This transformation and the disruption left in its wake has continued…
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Findings from the 2022 Gartner® Market Guide for Software Asset Management
The world of SAM is changing Despite the onset of worrisome macroeconomic events, we saw the continued adoption of software from organizations at a steep rate in 2022. As enterprises continue to consume software and SaaS, software asset management (SAM) tools are needed to provide visibility into complex IT environments, automate processes, mitigate risk and optimize costs. In fact, Gartner® forecasts that enterprise software spending will reach $754.8 billion in 2023, further highlighting the need for a robust SAM tool. The many demands placed on SAM tools All too often the price of SAM takes a back seat to other…
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Now available: SaaS data from over 26,000 applications
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has become increasingly attractive to enterprises because it provides a way to retire the technical debt associated with maintaining and operating traditional data centers. In fact, Flexera’s 2022 State of the Cloud Report found that moving from on-premises software to SaaS is a top initiative for 42 percent of organizations. The ability to access SaaS applications anytime, anywhere also provides an advantage that we witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The visibility you need to optimize spend with SaaS vendors Luckily, getting a handle on your SaaS spend is something Flexera specializes in. Historically, ingesting data from vendors outside…
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Decoding the Language of Software License Optimization
We need to pivot from the concept of government IT spending to government IT investing, because only then will federal agency leaders understand and expect to get something in return. Otherwise, there’s no way to measure the value of the entire government’s $90B federal civilian IT budget. One of the largest sources for unplanned and unexpected expenses is underutilized software licenses that cost federal agencies billions of dollars each year. In addition, complicated and time-consuming software maintenance causes significant downtime for IT staff and their systems. Flexera speaks the language of both decision-makers and IT infrastructures, uncovering the missed connections…
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Now available: SaaS data from over 26,000 applications
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has become increasingly attractive to enterprises because it provides a way to retire the technical debt associated with maintaining and operating traditional data centers. In fact, Flexera’s 2022 State of the Cloud Report found that moving from on-premises software to SaaS is a top initiative for 42 percent of organizations. The ability to access SaaS applications anytime, anywhere also provides an advantage that we witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The visibility you need to optimize spend with SaaS vendors Luckily, getting a handle on your SaaS spend is something Flexera specializes in. Historically, ingesting data from vendors outside…
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Decoding the Language of Software License Optimization
We need to pivot from the concept of government IT spending to government IT investing, because only then will federal agency leaders understand and expect to get something in return. Otherwise, there’s no way to measure the value of the entire government’s $90B federal civilian IT budget. One of the largest sources for unplanned and unexpected expenses is underutilized software licenses that cost federal agencies billions of dollars each year. In addition, complicated and time-consuming software maintenance causes significant downtime for IT staff and their systems. Flexera speaks the language of both decision-makers and IT infrastructures, uncovering the missed connections…
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Now available: SaaS data from over 26,000 applications
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) has become increasingly attractive to enterprises because it provides a way to retire the technical debt associated with maintaining and operating traditional data centers. In fact, Flexera’s 2022 State of the Cloud Report found that moving from on-premises software to SaaS is a top initiative for 42 percent of organizations. The ability to access SaaS applications anytime, anywhere also provides an advantage that we witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The visibility you need to optimize spend with SaaS vendors Luckily, getting a handle on your SaaS spend is something Flexera specializes in. Historically, ingesting data from vendors outside…
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What you need to know about the new Oracle Java licensing
Flexera has been helping large enterprises manage IT costs for years. We help you see into your technology black hole and inform your IT spending through complete visibility. Recent economic uncertainty underpins the need to be cost conscious, and our IT solutions are saving customers millions—sometimes even tens of millions—by providing these insights. A general but accurate rule of thumb at the negotiating table is, “the person with access to the best data typically wins.” Regardless of the type of agreement you have with your IT vendor, every technology agreement should be compared to actual consumption. There are millions of…
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How to view and optimize your SAP licensing costs
SAP is known by SAM practitioners to have one of the most complex software licensing models. In fact, in a 2021 SAP User Group Survey, 95 percent of respondents said that SAP’s licensing is ‘overly complicated. On top of that, 67 percent of users claimed that they have found it challenging to keep track of SAP license usage. Additionally, according to Flexera’s 2022 State of ITAM Report, 30 percent of respondents claim that their SAM practices are still in the beginner phase. It’s clear that SAM practitioners need help tracking usage and consumption. But what can you do to optimize…
↧
What you need to know about the new Oracle Java licensing
Flexera has been helping large enterprises manage IT costs for years. We help you see into your technology black hole and inform your IT spending through complete visibility. Recent economic uncertainty underpins the need to be cost conscious, and our IT solutions are saving customers millions—sometimes even tens of millions—by providing these insights. A general but accurate rule of thumb at the negotiating table is, “the person with access to the best data typically wins.” Regardless of the type of agreement you have with your IT vendor, every technology agreement should be compared to actual consumption. There are millions of…
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