Swapping Software Suppliers for Better Alternatives
Do you know of any alternative, maybe lesser-known, software suppliers that can save you money while not compromising on quality? Well, here’s one. Meet Nitro. It offers PDF and eSign tools.
Here’s one of our favourite soundbites:
“If you’re fed up with a particular vendor, go and seek alternatives – vote with your feet and spend your money somewhere else.”
Navigating Software Renewals
Join AJ Witt, Dr. Michael Corey and Dean Bolton from LicenseFortress as they discuss the dos, don’ts, pitfalls to avoid, and more, when it comes to navigating software renewals.
Here’s one of our favourite soundbites:
“You have to know what you’re consuming. What are you using? What software or products aren’t you using? If you don’t understand what your use is, you’re in no position to determine what licenses you should get rid of, what licenses you should keep, what licenses you should purchase more of so when the next audit comes, you’re not under licensed. It really does comes back to those basics if you want to understand if you’re paying a fair price.”
Decoding Hidden SaaS Costs – How to Optimise and Save Now
In this episode, AJ Witt speaks with Robbie Plourde about what’s new in SaaS Management, moving from cost to value, and the influence of AI.
Here’s one of our favourite soundbites:
“As soon as you start talking about value, it becomes more of a business conversation, something that senior management will understand because your’re spending money, investing money, in order to get a return.”
Are ITAM and ITSM dead?
In this episode, ex-Gartner Analysts Ryan Stefani and Ken Gonzalez (Advisor, kennethgonzalez.com) discuss the future of ITAM and ITSM. As Ryan says, ITAM isn’t really dead…it just needs to evolve, and there are new technologies enabling and preparing ITAM and ITSM to let go of the past.
Here’s one of our favourite soundbites:
“It is going to change over time. You’re going to need to make a shift. Getting so bought into a particular vendor’s technology or a view of how the world is organised, that is like nailing your foot to the floor and wondering why you can’t dance around. That’s crazy making.”
Hear from the Dutch Police – the 4th organisation to achieve ISO/IEC 19770-1 certification!
In this episode, we hear from Rosalie Kramer and Marc Goedhart about the Dutch Police‘s journey towards ISO/IEC 19770-1 certification and the benefits certification has brought to the entire organisation. Also joining the discussion is Ash Dharas from Noventiq.
Here’s one of our favourite soundbites:
“We are proud of what we do, and are very proud of our team so it’s icing on the cake, and we can tell the market that we have a mature SAM program.”
Interview with Sarah Marriott, Consultant of the Year 2023
In another joint ITAM Review / ITAM Forum episode, we interview Sarah Marriott, director at Anglepoint. Sarah is the Consultant of the Year 2023 at the annual ITAM Review Excellence Awards.
Here’s one of our favourite clips from the episode:
“We need to have that visability be that embedded part of the team and then we are able to do so much.”
“We’re looking ahead, no just at what is happening today, but looking across the industry, what are the trends, what should we anticipating for the future, and having the relationship with lots of different clients.”
Meet Mihai Ciupala, winner of the 2023 Rising Star Award
In this joint episode with the ITAM Review, we speak with Mihai Ciupala, Software Asset Management Specialist at _VOIS (Vodafone Intelligent Solutions). Mihai is the 2023 winner of the Rising Star Award at the 2023 ITAM Review Excellence Awards!
Mihai, who’s based in Romania, was in bed when he found out he won (it was after 11pm on a ‘school night’).
Here’s one of our favourite clips from the episode:
“There are so many opportunities, and many companies don’t know what they’re missing if they don’t implement ITAM properly.”
Meet an ISO/IEC 19770-1 Auditor
In this episode, we speak with Yorick Heijink from Brand Compliance, the official auditor of the ISO/IEC 19770-1 Certification Scheme. If your organisation is considering certification, this is a must-listen-to episode. It provides great insight direct from the person who will be on-site with your team performing the audit.
Yorick talks us through a typical audit process, explains what a ‘management system’ is, why you must have management buy-in, and the importance of reading and understanding the -1 standard itself. He also shares what he likes most about being a certification auditor.
Here’s one of our favourite clips from the episode:
“These customers are my clients, and my job is to certify them, when they are compliant. I’m not there to find non-conformities. In the end, my objective is to help you. But, in my role, I have to stay objective. I cannot give any advise, which is always the tricky part.”
Elevating ITAM – ISO Certification
In this episode, we speak with Ash Dharas (Softline Group Northern Europe) and Patrick Milas (HDI Group) about their experiences achieving ISO/IEC 19770-1 certification – these are the world’s first two organisations to achieve ISO ITAM certification.
Here’ are two of our favourite clips from this episode:
“The benefits of ITAM are much broader than people think. It is the nucleus for every other IT process. If you don’t know what you have, you can’t manage it. The audit process was the perfect way to get all the relevant stakeholders across the business in one room to make the case for ITAM and demonstrate its value.”
– Patrick Milas, HDI Group
“It is a humbling experience, but it ultimately improves the quality of your ITAM practices. It was a very enlightening journey and well worth the effort.”
– Ash Dharas, Softline Group Northern Europe
IT priorities = ITAM opportunities
In this episode, we speak with Alastair Pooley (CIO, Snow Software) about key findings from Snow’s 2023 IT Priorities Report and the opportunities for ITAM. The bottom line is there are many opportunities for ITAM – some you would expect, some that may come as a surprise. Together, they present ITAM with a real opportunity to become a strategic, trusted advisor.
Here’s one of our favourite clips from this episode:
“We’re happier now buying SaaS applications than we were before COVID hit. I think this is a permanent shift in how we buy software. But, it’s harder to manage. This is where ITAM can really help. Managing this and helping to prevent any surprises when unexpected cloud bills arrive is something ITAM professionals can really help with.”
How can ITAM help save the planet?
Stop thinking about how much money you can save your organisation and start thinking about how you, as an ITAM professional, can help save the planet. We don’t know anyone better than AJ Witt to address how ITAM can positively contribute to sustainability programs and e-waste reduction (the fastest growing waste stream in the world). If you want to learn how you can make a difference, listen to this episode.
ISO (with a little bit of FinOps and Sustainabilty mixed in)
If you’d like to learn more about ISO and the ISO ITAM family of standards (19770), spend a few minutes listening to this episode. Here, we speak with Ron Brill, chair of the ITAM Standards Committee – who better to give a great (and simple) overview of ISO, how and why to get involved, and how standards become, well, standards. We also touch on FinOps and Sustainability.
Findings from the 2022 State of ITAM Report
If you like industry reports and lots of stats, percentages, charts and trend information, this episode is for you! We speak with Brian Adler about some key findings from the Flexera 2022 State of ITAM report. Brian is Senior Director, Cloud Market Strategy, at Flexera and a Governing Board Member of the FinOps Foundation. This is 40 minutes of happiness for those of you (like us!) who like research packaged up and presented nicely.
Ditch the ‘mine’ mentality
Eric Schuman has worked in IT/ITAM for 30 years, both in-house and as a consultant. He now heads up the ITAM practice at Cask. Eric’s team sees the ‘mine’ mentality quite a bit within organisations – pocket areas that buy their own hardware and software and won’t relinquish this to a centralised asset management or procurement team. “This create a huge waste of corporate dollars. With this, you cannot get volume discounts, and you won’t know who needs what or when.”
What more can ITAM do?
Rachel Ryan has worked in ITAM for more than 25. She is the First Vice President – Global Head of IT Asset Management at Danska Bank and an ITAM Forum Trustee. Her team won ‘Project of the Year’ at the 2021 ITAM Review Excellence Award. “ITAM is so fundamental to so many parts of the business. You just need to get out there and see what more you can do.”
Do you see your ITAM weaknesses?
Dennis Montanje has worked in ITAM for 20 years and leads the ITAM Forum’s Certification work stream. “You can achieve so much more with proper ITAM beyond license compliance. It all starts with adopting ISO 19770. By having organisations gain certification, the industry will start to see all that can be achieved and all the benefits that ITAM brings.”
What problems do you want to solve?
Ben Strickland fell into ITAM close to 10 years ago. He’s a fan of ISO 19770 and the ISO ITAM Standards Committee. He’s also the recipient of the 2021 Professional of the Year award (ITAM Review Excellence Awards). “What opportunities do you see in front of you? Just start doing it.”
What was ITAM called in the 1980s?
Meet Sherry Irwin. Sherry has worked in ITAM for three decades and has volunteered with ISO for 11 years. She started her own ITAM consulting business in 1995 and the Canadian IT Users Group in 1992. Trailblazer? Category definer? Absolutely yes and so much more.
“You don’t need to be techy to do ITAM.”
Meet Justine McSweeney. She is the 2020 ITAM Review Excellence Award “Rising Star” winner. After 31 years with Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) and various roles, she entered the ITAM profession and hasn’t looked back.
The parallel between mixed martial arts and ITAM
Meet Lance Giles. He leads the team that won the ‘Implementation Team or Project of the Year’ award at the 2020 ITAM Review Excellence Awards. Lance has worked on the vendor side, the publisher side, the end-user side and the consulting side.
ITAM and ITSM are critical for any organisation
Meet Desiree Weiss, a SAP licensing specialist. Desiree won the “Specialist or Consultant of the Year Award” at the 2020 ITAM Review Excellence Awards. We spoke with Desiree about her passion for all things SAP and about her work in IT Procurement, Service Excellence and Service Management.