Change Makers Podcast
Jennifer Carr 1 Comment

Ben Strickland fell into ITAM close to 10 years ago. He was working for Cisco, helping it to move from a propriety operating system to a Linux system and was asked to keep track of software licensing. “It eventually consumed me and became my whole life.”

This led Ben to everything else, including ISO 19770. This was the step that started everything. “I had no idea it would take me in the direction it did.”

Ben went on to build a team focused on how software licensing should change, hiring some of the smartest people he knew. One of these people told him he had no idea this field was so exciting, that there were such big problems to be solved and so much money to be saved (and made) as a result of doing it.

Ben is the recipient of the 2021 Professional of the Year award (ITAM Excellence Awards). He now works for RAY ALLEN INC. as a Senior Director of Product Management. He’s also very involved with the ISO ITAM Standards Committee.

We recently spoke with Ben for the latest episode of the Change Makers podcast.


A fan of ISO-19770

Ben is a huge fan of ISO 19770 and the ISO ITAM Standards Committee.

In 2019/20, he joined the hardware WHID tag, writing the final couple of drafts of it. He also got involved with the new tag orchestration (19770-7) and doing the rewrite of 19770 -4.

“This is an exciting place for me to get involved. It’s how I like to give back. I always learn something new and get a different perspective on things thanks to the wonderful people who are part of that organisation.”

We asked Ben how ITAM Managers can help to push forward the ISO 19770 standard to make it more recognised.

“There’s a lot of power in who does the purchasing. You have the opportunity to ask for change where you think you need it. If people are all asking for the same change, it will get higher and higher levels of awareness. So, one of the things you can do is ask, ‘I’m purchasing these products from you, and I’m going to have to manage them. Tell me how you’ve done this in a ISO 19770 compliant way?’ The more people hear this, the more it will resonate within all the different areas of the industry.”

 

What problems do you want to solve?

We asked Ben what he would tell someone considering a career or role in ITAM to encourage them to pursue this interest.

“What problems do you want to solve? What opportunities do you see in front of you? Just start doing it. You’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t, and you can then go and tell your boss that you found this new wonderful opportunity. My advice is to get into it, take some classes, get some certifications, start understanding how different vendors/manufacturers do things. There’s an immense need for people with this skill set.”

 

Listen now to the full 19-minute podcast.

Hosts: AJ Witt and Jennifer Carr


Other episodes in The Change Makers podcast series: