Software Usage Analysis – the PILS™ Assessment
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Service Description
Our Software Usage Analysis, or PILS Assessment, is a cost effective way to obtain helpful information to better manage your software portfolio. Similar to our Data Center Optimization service, this service reviews your software usage and provides guidance for more cost-effective product image licensing. However, our Data Center Optimization service is used when usage data is unavailable or unclear. Our PILS (product image licenses) Assessment goes a step further by utilizing usage data to provide a detailed review of software licenses to identify helpful recommendations and cost reductions.
Key Benefits
- The data center manager receives an improved overall understanding of the data center.
- The PILS Assessment is easy for you to initiate with our data collection package.
- Our detailed analysis helps the manager identify and proactively implement solutions to improve software value and reduce software expenses.
- Our analysis examines both hardware and software data to influence improvements in LPAR usage and software placement.
- Our PILS Assessment can often help speed software upgrades.
- Our service helps you understand and implement SAM best practices.
- Our PILS Assessment service propels your company toward “best in class” status among data centers of similar size for software deployment and cost.
Collecting Your Data for Analysis
We begin by helping you collect software pricing and usage data and load it into our Software Intelligence Database. We collect your IBM and ISV software data quickly and efficiently using our software data collection package. Specific company information is kept in the strictest confidence. ISAM’s Software Intelligence Database has software pricing data from data centers of various sizes (total MIPS) and representing all industries. Our database is the largest and most comprehensive in the software asset management industry and we have developed multiple applications to help the client reduce expenses and manage software assets.
Our Process
- ISAM provides a software data collection package with easy instructions.
- Hardware and software data are loaded into our Software Intelligence Database to develop various models which influence LPAR usage and software placement.
- We prepare a customized analysis that quantifies savings and action items within multiple hardware and software scenarios.
Service Deliverables
- ISAM provides a detailed analysis with multiple scenarios to help the manager understand software usage, hardware configurations and software placement.
- We rank products by software category, representing 80 percent, 90 percent and 100 percent of total cumulative usage by category.
- We also provide CPU usage rankings by total cumulative usage by product.
- ISAM identifies core products and candidates for consolidation or elimination.
- Our analysis provides guidance to help make decisions about specific product licenses.
- Our report also offers suggestions for SAM best practices and long-term savings strategies.
- Our service will provide tools to move your company toward “Best in Class” status for IBM and ISV software deployment and cost.
Project Timeline
Once the data is received, it generally takes about eight weeks (less if requested), to produce the PILS Assessment.
Our Experts
The ISAM team is made up of professionals with unique experience in software asset management. Our team members have financial expertise, software pricing expertise, database expertise, data center management expertise and they all provide excellent customer service.
Additional Information
If your company does not have access to detailed software usage data, our Data Center Optimization service is designed to help your company identify cost savings through multiple hardware and software scenarios. After the IBM Software Pricing Audit and the SAS Software Usage Analysis, our Data Center Optimization service or PILS Assessment service are typically the next logical steps for the SAM team that’s driven to further understand software asset management and implement measurable cost reductions.