On the 25th Anniversary of ISAM, we have experienced tremendous growth in the maturity of I.T. Asset Management over the past 25 years. When ISAM began on October 28, 1996, the phrase “asset management” was commonly associated with financial investments. Software ELAs (Enterprise License Agreements) were known to less than 1% of organizations and offered by only… Continue Reading
20 Year History of (I)SAM as Seen by an Insider
It was 22 years ago in 1994 when, in my new job with IT Finance, I was told to build a data repository of all our company’s hardware and software assets. What made it challenging was to create a way to measure unit costs across hardware and software spend. Since there were no robust tools… Continue Reading
Do the Best Negotiators Get the Best Deal
With over 50 years negotiating with vendors in many countries and watching hundreds of companies negotiate with their software vendors, I’ve never met a negotiator who thinks he/she is a bad negotiator. Of the thousands of software deals I’ve seen, I’ve never met someone who thought they negotiated a bad deal. Yet by definition, there… Continue Reading
Is Your SAM Provider a Travel Agent or Tour Guide
How many of us have traveled to another part of the country or continent in search of new sights and adventures? How many of us have had friends and relatives come from afar to visit with a list of places they wanted to see? When we travel to visit a new country or continent, we… Continue Reading
Why Building an Effective SAM Team is like an NFL Draft
Every year during the NFL draft, thousands of professional sports writers, prognosticators, coaches, managers, and millions of sports fans carefully watch which player their favorite NFL team will draft. Although every professional writer and draft expert goes thru their own systematic criteria for determining which player will be drafted by each team, they all seem… Continue Reading
Why “Special Negotiators Often Pay More
For years, I’ve often heard someone tell me that they negotiated a best in class software deal because they are “special”. The assumption is that they are a unique and “special” company therefore need to negotiate a software contract with their “special” considerations. While I believe that every person is indeed “special”, we all work… Continue Reading
What the Software Industry Learned from the Airline Industry
In the late 1970s, a global movement began to deregulate the airline industry. At that time, airline load factors were averaging under 60% and the industry was losing billions. Today their load factor is approaching 90% and US carriers made almost $30 billion in 2015. Unlike manufacturers that have invested heavily in plant and equipment,… Continue Reading
We Found Over $150 Million in Software Savings for the Social Security Administration
With the introduction of the FITARA Scorecard and the recent passing of the MEGABYTE bill, the pressure is on for federal agencies to negotiate better software licensing agreements and save money. That’s exactly what we do. ISAM is the proven leader in helping government agencies, including clients such as the Social Security Agency and the… Continue Reading
Who is the Best Software Asset Management Provider in the Industry?
Every few years, someone will post on LinkedIn or ask at a Software Asset Management (SAM) conference who the best SAM provider is in the industry. Inevitably many different SAM providers argue that they are the best. It is a good question to ask, yet reminds me of when my son at the age of… Continue Reading
Is 100% Accurate SAM Good SAM?
I recently saw a small booth in a mall advertising “100% Accurate” taxes completed. A first impression of a service that offers to be “100% Accurate” is that it must be good service. Yet, after some critical thinking, is the “100% Accurate” tax service really what it appears to be? Will they be able to… Continue Reading