'Our solutions have built-in software usage monitor provides superior usage determination and software license management capability.'

Please read how Asset Insight saved a company $1.8US million by proving that they did not have to purchase 6,000 extra licenses to comply with Microsoft’s records.

A major cosmetics conglomerate that is a multi-billion dollar manufacturer and marketer of skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products. The company has 30,000 employees worldwide, with products sold in over 120 countries and territories in North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific.

Since 2000, the company has been using Asset Insight^® asset tracking solution to manage approximately 4,000 client/server assets located in its corporate headquarters and surrounding areas. During this time, the organisation has migrated away from an IT outsourcing model, taking complete control of all IT assets and services. The ultimate goal of moving IT operations in-house was to improve services, ensure IT supports the corporate strategy, and reduce the overall cost of technology. The first step toward achieving these objectives was to understand precisely what assets are installed in the enterprise, where they are located, and who is using them–information that is automatically provided by Asset insight.

The company has realised numerous Asset Insight benefits, ranging from hard-dollar cost savings to improved employee productivity. The following are key areas where the company has attained measurable and substantial results from a best practices asset management initiative. The estimated return on investment was calculated based on industry averages and actual savings estimates provided by the company.

Use of Asset Insight in the Company's Environment

Prior to Asset Insight, the cosmetics giant was conducting quarterly physical inventories to itemise their installed asset base. Since Asset Insight is a completely automated asset tracking solution, there is no need to visit the desktop for an audit. Instead, Asset Insight automatically inventories the company’s diverse workstations and servers every two weeks (or at administrators desired times). The historical asset information is stored in a central repository, serving as the cornerstone of the company’s enterprise management initiatives, allowing them to:

• Replace physical inventories with automated asset discovery

• Manage software licenses (see also Enterprise Insight and Components of a Unified Solution)

• Budget for new workstations and servers

• Improve help desk resolution time

• Enforce desktop standards

• Plan business continuity efforts

• Manage software migrations

• Perform IT chargeback to the business units

Licence Management

The organisation, like thousands of others, received a letter from the BSA, requesting an audit of the firm’s Microsoft applications. Microsoft estimated that 10,000 licenses were required for their software. In response, the company produced an Asset Insight report that listed every asset in the enterprise, as well as the installed Microsoft software on each device. In reality, the firm only required 4,000 licenses. If the company were unable to quickly produce a report that listed their installed Microsoft application base, they would have been forced to endure a full Microsoft audit. What’s more, they would likely have had to pay for the audit itself, as well as full retail price for any software that was non-compliant.

Organisations that do not have accurate software usage and licensing information often accept the vendor’s records, rather than go through an audit. In this example, the company would have had to buy 6,000 extra licenses, just to comply with Microsoft’s records. Note that the company has implemented asset management best practices; therefore, they would never be forced to license their software based on any vendor’s records.

Licence Management Savings