Client story Evolving the software asset management maturity of Australia’s first university

Facts at a glance

Client industry:

Education

Challenge:

Managing software compliance and inventory for 80,000+ users across different locations, departments and faculties–and from a diverse selection of software vendors–was complex, costly, and hard to control. 

Solution:

Insight partnered with The University of Sydney to implement a new software asset management (SAM) solution and provide ongoing management services to help with licensing, vendor management, risk minimisation and cost optimisation. 

Results:

A far more consolidated and data-led approach to SAM which has saved the university in excess of AU$1 million a year, de-risked the software auditing process and delivered crucial visibility and insight.

Service area:

Our Software Asset Management (SAM) service provides clients with the visibility, clarity and guidance necessary to control costs and mitigate risks.

Overview:

Australia’s first university, The University of Sydney, has around 73,000 students and 8,100 continuing and fixed-term staff. To fulfil its mission of contributing to a better world, the university provides each of these staff and students with access to the software they need. Managing such a diverse collection of software—across different faculties and users, and from a wide range of vendors—was proving to be a major challenge for the university’s vendor management team. 

Without any SAM solution in place, or data-led insights, the team was essentially flying blind. It was extremely difficult to keep up with licensing refresh cycles, ensure compliance with vendor software audits, and minimise software-related costs and risks for the university. Recognising the clear need for change, the university called on Insight for help.

Insight worked with the university to develop and implement a new SAM solution that provides detailed and at-a-glance visibility regarding the software utilised by the university. Insight was also engaged to provide ongoing support and strategic advice via an ongoing SAM-as-a-Service (SAMaaS) contract. This new approach to SAM has completely evolved how the university consumes and manages its software—saving over AU$1 million in unnecessary licensing costs, streamlining its software refresh and auditing processes, and delivering essential insights and visibility.

“Universities have complex software requirements and organisational structures making software lifecycle management difficult. The university understood that maintaining an in-house SAM team with fresh knowledge across all the major software publishers is not easy. With Insight, they have access to specialist IP across all the major software publishers. The University of Sydney has also been able to call on our SAM strategy expertise and operational know-how to further their continuous improvement agenda to reduce waste, reduce risk and optimise software and SaaS spend." Natalie Rice, Practice Lead, Insight

The challenge

One of the world’s most prestigious educational institutions, The University of Sydney has eight academic faculties, and offers the widest range of academic programs of any university in Australia. Its teachers, researchers and leading thinkers are paving the way for solutions to complex global issues which a¬ffect our health, environment and culture. 

To deliver on its mission of contributing to a better world—and to drive critical innovation—the university provides both staff and students with access to the software they need. However, managing such a diverse collection of software—across different faculties and users, and from a wide range of vendors—was proving very difficult. 

The university lacked a dedicated in resource for software asset management (SAM), and it had become the responsibility of their vendor management team, which already had other priorities. Keeping up with licensing refresh cycles and volumes was very complex, especially with so many diverse employment contracts and technology requirements.

The team lacked detailed insights as to where money was being spent, and whether or not the university was over- or under-paying for its software licensing. 

Meeting the requirements of vendor software audits was also very time-consuming and laborious as the data required was not readily available. There was also the ongoing risk of unintentional non-compliance, which would bring hefty fines and penalties. 

The university called on Insight, their established IT partner, for help.

“Insight’s expertise, understanding of our business and clarity in delivering information has been outstanding. I cannot fault them. They have gone above and beyond to deliver." Emiliano Fisanotti Head of Vendor Management University of Sydney

The solution

After working closely with the university’s vendor management team to understand its requirements, Insight developed and deployed a SAM solution—providing stakeholders with ready access to all of the details they need, at a-glance, via a clear interface. Members of the vendor management team can now see where money is being spent, and can access data on refresh cycles, licensing volumes and potential issues of non-compliance.

However, as time went on, the vendor management team realised that the time associated with SAM was still considerable, and they lacked the internal expertise to get the most out of the solution.

“We originally started by engaging Insight to roll out a solution to help with software asset management. However we soon realised that just by implementing a solution doesn’t mean you instantly get the best out of it,” says Emiliano Fisanotti, the University’s Head of Vendor Management.

“It was like we’d bought a fancy new car, but didn’t really know how to drive it properly,” he adds. “This is where Insight has been able to add enormous value”.

Insight was therefore engaged to provide integrated Software Asset Management lifecycle delivery as a monthly continuous service to the university, which involves the provision of several key services:

• Day-to-day license management, including updates and renewals.
• Software vendor liaison and management.
• Support with vendor software compliance audits.
• Identifying opportunities for cost-savings and risk reduction.
• Supporting with SAM policy and process development
  
  

“We have a really great relationship with Insight – it’s the reason we keep extending our contract. We very much rely on them to help us make our SAM more sustainable, and to identify opportunities for risk and cost reduction.” says Emiliano

The results

Insight has completely transformed the university’s approach to SAM—saving money, reducing risk and alleviating the burden of ongoing management from the vendor management team.

By right-sizing software licensing, the university has been able to save around a million dollars a year alone. 

The risk and negative marketing associated with not meeting vendor software compliance audits has also been eliminated, and the university now has absolute confidence their licensing is current and accurate.

“It’s hard to put a monetary value on the impact of a poor audit response, but the fall-out from not meeting requirements would have a very negative impact on our reputation,” says Emiliano. “With Insight providing ongoing SAM services, this is something we don’t need to worry about anymore.” he adds.