SERVICES

One of the hardest overheads to manage in business today is the software inventory on the desktop. Zallcom™ provides a service that enables the tracking, analysis and management of software plus management of desktop hardware inventory in one simple process. Using Zallcom’s Software and Asset Management (SAM) Services it is possible to view and monitor software application usage as well as asset tracking of all desktop computers, laptops and servers. Zallcom’s Software Management and Asset Administration Services permits businesses and organisations to reduce software costs and as a result, the legal risks that are endemic in almost every business and organisation. Zallcom can help review software usage and requirements, rectify problem areas and manage software and hardware assets on an ongoing basis.

Zallcom provides a range of Software Asset Management services tailored to a client’s needs. The initial step is to determine the existing licensing position through interviews and audits and depending on what is discovered, a future direction and ongoing maintenance plan is developed. The steps involved in a comprehensive Software Asset Management process are as follows:

Software Audits – Tailored to meet individual requirements the service consists of two distinct audits – assets owned and assets in use. For assets owned the audit will include reviewing an organisation’s physical licence and software holdings, and software procurement history, comparing these findings to records maintained by the software vendors. Zallcom uses a discovery tool (KeyServer) to provide details of software utilisation on software deployed.

Procurement Strategy – A strategy is required to ensure that future software assets are captured, recorded and managed using Zallcom’s centralised software asset register - AboveBoard™. This service is included with software purchased by Zallcom on behalf of its clients. The strategy is also capable of being modified for organisations using a decentralised acquisition model. Zallcom’s service manages the software vendors including any reporting requirements to ensure that the most cost effective but appropriate licensing solution is available.

Licence Modeling and Recommendations - Provides clients with the best overall software model that suit its business requirements. Zallcom works with its clients to understand their technology directions and then architects or advises on the most appropriate go-forward software licensing model.

Piracy & Copyright – Provides Zallcom clients with vendor software licensing agreements and specific rules and policies relating to software piracy and distribution. This service also assists in developing internal software usage policies that meet general software anti-piracy regulations.

Software Code of Ethics – This service advises and assists organisations to produce and publish an internal “Software Code of Ethics”.

Software Asset Management (SAM) – This is the key and premier service provided by Zallcom. With this service the software assets of an organisation are maintained at the highest level. All software asset information (irrespective of vendor, platform or whom it is purchased from) is collected and held in AboveBoard, Zallcom’s browser based asset manager. Information managed includes:

• Software descriptions, version numbers, quantities, vendor part numbers and licensing program details.
• Maintenance information including period of coverage and renewal dates.
• For Full Packaged Product (ie Retail Product), procurement details including Purchase Order Numbers, Order Date, Zallcom / Reseller Invoice Number with date.
• Electronic licence images.
• Volume Licence Key / Serial Number details.
• Software history including any vendor specific details, authorisations for variations to vendor Licensing Terms and Conditions.
• User registration details (eg for MSDN subscriptions).
• Utilisation information (for clients using Zallcom Consulting Services).

AboveBoard (via a managed service) provides the capability for clients to view (via a single portal) all of its software asset information combined with specified detail in relation to a specific products actual usage and deployment detail. When combined this data provides an accurate picture of asset ownership and usage from which vendor negotiations can be leveraged.

“Organizations that implement an effective asset management strategy will realize savings of between 5 and 35 percent of their IT Budgets” - Gartner Group Study