I’ve been working in IT for about 20 years now, most recently coming from iQuate, a company I founded in 2002. I’ve had IT Asset Management responsibilities or been involved directly and specifically in the development of software for IT Asset Management for at least 16 years.
Back in 2010, working alongside Oracle’s LMS department I helped define and create the Oracle “Third Party Tools Verification” program. In 2012 alongside colleagues in VMware and EMC I helped evangelize how virtualization can lead to higher economies of scale and reduced costs when licensing expensive datacenter technologies.
During that time, and as a result of being involved as editor of the upcoming ISO 19770-3 Entitlement standard, I have observed, time after time, that current software tooling in the ITAM space is NOT providing ITAM practitioners with real value. Most tools out there are barely more than automated spreadsheets which fail to deliver on the promises made to their customers. The tools mostly count things, they do not enable real change. They do not solve problems (though they may highlight them). I’m sad to say that I think nothing truly innovative has happened in the ITAM tools space in perhaps 10 years.
At first in iQuate, and now as part of Alcurian (my current company) I have partnered with 1E. As a result I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sumir Karayi, the CEO of 1E. Sumir shares my concern that while ITAM is well-known, it is haphazardly implemented in most organizations – leading to failures in desired outcomes. After a long and interesting relationship, Sumir asked me to challenge the status quo and work in partnership with 1E to build a world-class team which will help enterprises better understand and manage their Entitlements and in doing so, reduce risk, software license costs and implement better ITAM.
I’m delighted to be able to collaborate on this project with Steve Klos and Peter Beruk (two wise men of ITAM who between them have almost 50 years of ITAM market experience). I’ve known the guys for several years. Each of us is a significant contributor to the ISO standards for ITAM (the 19770 family), these standards seek to share ideas, best practices and methods of opening up proprietary data stores of inventory, usage and entitlement information. Steve was one of the founders of ManageSoft (now Flexera), and was the convener and editor of the 19770-2 standard defining software identification tags. Peter worked on the vendor side, creating ISO-based audit practices working with the BSA, liaising with many different vendors, and was a major contributor to a more manageable 19770-1 standard that defines the ITAM processes organizations should follow to be successful in their efforts to be compliant with their software entitlements.
We three are coming together to start an online ITAM community with a difference. While sponsored by 1E, Better ITAM is independent. 1E provides the servers and the hosting, however, the opinions are our own (don’t blame them!). Here we will openly discuss the challenges customers’ face, the issues they have with their tools, problems they see in their organizations (without breaching trust obviously – we’re not here to name and shame!). We’ll provide a forum where you can share your experiences also – either “named” with your LinkedIn profile or anonymously so that you can truly share your problems and needs without worrying about highlighting weakness within your organization.
Better ITAM is about highlighting how things can be made better. It’s about giving voice to new and innovative ideas related to ITAM. It’s about interconnecting ITAM with IT Operations, IT Security, IT Service Management and other groups to align goals and enable changes in organizations which:
- Eliminate the risk and costs associated with vendor audit
- Provide bottom line value by reducing operational costs
- Ensure compliance with software licensing requirements
If you’re reading this, you have obviously found Better ITAM. I hope you continue to visit and that you find our content interesting and informative, educational and challenging. We aim to challenge your view of what is possible with ITAM. We aim to enable ITAM practitioners to be catalysts for positive change in their organizations, individual contributors who act as part of a wider IT management team to deliver real value.
