IAITAM ACEs It Again
January 30, 2013
After missing the 2011 conference because of a conflict with Novell's BrainShare, I was pleased to return to the 2012 International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM) Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) in Palm Springs, CA, this past October. IAITAM lived up to their reputation for putting on an event that was informative as well as fun. There were nearly 1,000 attendees – a record – for the 10th year of the conference, packing sessions on eight different learning tracks.
Sessions Attended, Lesson Learned
It's impossible to attend every session of interest at a conference like this, and of course you take away more from some sessions than other. Here are some notes and thoughts that I took away from Palm Springs.
Brett Husselbaugh of eTelligent Solutions has been a friend and colleague since the 1990s and my Tally Systems days. He presented a session entitled "Establishing Software License Compliance is one thing: Holding it is another altogether." The basic stipulation was that getting into software license compliance is a good goal; but, if you're out of compliance, how did you get there and, more importantly, how is your organization going to change to stay compliant? Several steps to get and stay compliant include:
Hennessey Green from Marriott International spoke on how they deal with software asset management. With close to 80,000 assets at over 3,500 properties around the world, the most amazing thing is that Marriott does not own the hotels - they either manage them or they are franchised. Since that means that each property is a profit-and-loss center, the value of any SAM initiative has to be sold to each property owner. It's taken a while, but they seem to have a pretty good grip on the situation.
There were a number of sessions on software usage, with Signe Marie Stenseth of OpenIT and Kris Barker, co-founder and CEO of Express Metrix presenting excellent information. My main take-away here was that what we started doing with TS.Census at Tally Systems is just as relevant today as it was 10+ years ago - analysis of software usage is where you'll achieve the best return-on-investment from your SAM program.
John Tomeny of Sassafras Software (both "neighbors" of mine over the hill in Hanover, NH) presented on "Software Entitlement Management." John's premise is that instead of focusing on the physical installation of software, it's better to pay attention to the entitlements to software you own. This "entitlement-centric" view of ITAM features "a focus on measuring and managing usage rights in software licensing."
Session after session, it was gratifying to hear that ZENworks Asset Management still receives high grades for how well it works in the evolving IT asset management environment.
2013 IAITAM Conferences
The IAITAM conferences have become so popular that they've decided to run two each year. The first one comes up in April and registration has been open for a couple of months. Here are the dates and registration links for each of the 2013 events:
IAITAM 2013 Spring ACE: Houston, TX | April 16-18, 2013
I'll be presenting a session in Houston on inventory technologies and the questions to ask when looking for an inventory tool.
IAITAM 2013 Fall ACE: St. Petersburg, FL | October 15-17, 2013
If you or your associates have anything to do with any facet of IT asset management – configuration, software licenses, disposal – this is the best event of the year that I've found.
Next Up: BrainShare!
February 3rd brings the kickoff for BrainShare 2013 - quite literally, as the conference starts Sunday evening with a giant "tailgate" party for the Super Bowl. Then it's four days of technical sessions and networking. The Advance Technical Training offerings are a bit scaled back this year, so instead of presenting with ATT I'll be spending some time in the ZENworks Asset Management booth at IT Central helping to educate ZENworks customers on why they should add ZENworks Asset Management to their implementations.
I've also finally conceded to social media and will do my best to post regular updates to my McDowell Consulting Facebook page - please visit and "like" my page to follow along. I'll file a conference report later in February.
That's the news for now - hope to see you at BrainShare!
After missing the 2011 conference because of a conflict with Novell's BrainShare, I was pleased to return to the 2012 International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM) Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) in Palm Springs, CA, this past October. IAITAM lived up to their reputation for putting on an event that was informative as well as fun. There were nearly 1,000 attendees – a record – for the 10th year of the conference, packing sessions on eight different learning tracks.
Sessions Attended, Lesson Learned
It's impossible to attend every session of interest at a conference like this, and of course you take away more from some sessions than other. Here are some notes and thoughts that I took away from Palm Springs.
Brett Husselbaugh of eTelligent Solutions has been a friend and colleague since the 1990s and my Tally Systems days. He presented a session entitled "Establishing Software License Compliance is one thing: Holding it is another altogether." The basic stipulation was that getting into software license compliance is a good goal; but, if you're out of compliance, how did you get there and, more importantly, how is your organization going to change to stay compliant? Several steps to get and stay compliant include:
- Understand the terms of your software licenses - the Product Use Rights are key to only using the software to which you are entitled.
- Define a managed software list - place bounds on the list of software titles you will manage, with an emphasis on where you've spent the most and expect the highest risk from audits. Remember - it's not if you will get audited, but rather when.
- Control software acquisition - focus purchasing through a minimal number of software resellers, and do everything possible to discourage individuals from buying software or circumventing approved processes - Brett calls this "back channel acquisition."
Hennessey Green from Marriott International spoke on how they deal with software asset management. With close to 80,000 assets at over 3,500 properties around the world, the most amazing thing is that Marriott does not own the hotels - they either manage them or they are franchised. Since that means that each property is a profit-and-loss center, the value of any SAM initiative has to be sold to each property owner. It's taken a while, but they seem to have a pretty good grip on the situation.
There were a number of sessions on software usage, with Signe Marie Stenseth of OpenIT and Kris Barker, co-founder and CEO of Express Metrix presenting excellent information. My main take-away here was that what we started doing with TS.Census at Tally Systems is just as relevant today as it was 10+ years ago - analysis of software usage is where you'll achieve the best return-on-investment from your SAM program.
John Tomeny of Sassafras Software (both "neighbors" of mine over the hill in Hanover, NH) presented on "Software Entitlement Management." John's premise is that instead of focusing on the physical installation of software, it's better to pay attention to the entitlements to software you own. This "entitlement-centric" view of ITAM features "a focus on measuring and managing usage rights in software licensing."
Session after session, it was gratifying to hear that ZENworks Asset Management still receives high grades for how well it works in the evolving IT asset management environment.
2013 IAITAM Conferences
The IAITAM conferences have become so popular that they've decided to run two each year. The first one comes up in April and registration has been open for a couple of months. Here are the dates and registration links for each of the 2013 events:
IAITAM 2013 Spring ACE: Houston, TX | April 16-18, 2013
I'll be presenting a session in Houston on inventory technologies and the questions to ask when looking for an inventory tool.
IAITAM 2013 Fall ACE: St. Petersburg, FL | October 15-17, 2013
If you or your associates have anything to do with any facet of IT asset management – configuration, software licenses, disposal – this is the best event of the year that I've found.
Next Up: BrainShare!
February 3rd brings the kickoff for BrainShare 2013 - quite literally, as the conference starts Sunday evening with a giant "tailgate" party for the Super Bowl. Then it's four days of technical sessions and networking. The Advance Technical Training offerings are a bit scaled back this year, so instead of presenting with ATT I'll be spending some time in the ZENworks Asset Management booth at IT Central helping to educate ZENworks customers on why they should add ZENworks Asset Management to their implementations.
I've also finally conceded to social media and will do my best to post regular updates to my McDowell Consulting Facebook page - please visit and "like" my page to follow along. I'll file a conference report later in February.
That's the news for now - hope to see you at BrainShare!
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