By Insight Editor / 2 Jul 2019 / Topics: Software
Facts at a glance
Client industry:
Healthcare
Size of company:
80,000 employees
Challenge:
The client struggled with managing its Microsoft licenses and lacked internal resources to carry out an effective software asset management strategy.
Solution:
- Microsoft license tracking
- Enterprise License Dashboard
Results:
- More effective internal resource allocation
- Easier user interface for license management
- Greater visibility into Microsoft environment
- Significant cost savings
Solution area:
Insight’s Supply Chain Optimization solutions simplify the process of procuring, maintaining and replacing the technology clients invest in to run their business.
The Canadian subsidiary of a large healthcare solution provider and pharmaceutical distributor needed a better way to track its Microsoft licenses. The company’s internal teams couldn’t keep up with the amount of work required to properly manage the licensing environment.
The problem intensified when the U.S. division of the company started new contract negotiations with Microsoft on behalf of all the business units. To get a full understanding of the organization’s existing environment, they asked Canada to provide information around individual licensing:
The Canadian office struggled to find that information and realized it lacked effective means to provide accurate reporting.
The way the organization shared negotiated contracts across its business units added to the challenge. The U.S. business regularly negotiated a single contract with a software publisher and made it available to all global subsidiaries, complicating the process of determining which unit used which licenses.
The Canadian unit recognized better Software Asset Management (SAM) would allow it to differentiate between its license usage and the rest of the organization’s, but it needed a knowledgeable team to head the effort. The unit’s internal resources had neither the bandwidth nor the Microsoft licensing expertise to effectively tackle a project of such magnitude.
This is a common pain point for businesses. Workers with SAM expertise are in short supply and high demand, making them an expensive investment. Additionally, a company of this size would likely need a whole team of experts.
The U.S. unit of the organization had worked with Insight for close to two decades to improve its IT supply chain, especially in the enterprise software space. We had also performed previous SAM services for the unit, including license reconciliation projects.
As a result, the U.S. business knew the extent of our Microsoft expertise and knowledgeable consultants. And, since we had managed the organization’s Microsoft agreement for many years, we were already familiar with the company’s licensing environment.
When the Canada office voiced its licensing challenges, the U.S. unit recommended contacting Insight.
The client needed an intuitive interface through which it could pull license counts and send them to the U.S. We set up the Canadian unit with our Enterprise License Dashboard on insight.com.
This complimentary feature of our e-procurement platform simplifies software license tracking and monitoring. Through the user-friendly interface, businesses can gain an accurate understanding of their compliance position, optimize their license purchasing and ensure effective use of their existing agreements.
Our SAM consultants took the client’s license counts and uploaded them into a dashboard that’s visible only to the Canada business.
Now, Canadian workers can view their licenses separately from the rest of the organization. And, when the U.S. business needs licensing information for contract negotiations or audits, the Canada office is able to quickly find and share it.
The Enterprise License Dashboard has freed workers from licensing headaches. A single internal person is now dedicated to managing the client’s licensing — a significant cost savings. And, that one person has the time to focus on effectively managing the Canada office’s software publishers without having to worry about Microsoft licensing counts.
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