March 2017 – Zunesis

By definition, Software Asset Management (SAM) is a business practice that involves managing and optimizing the purchase, deployment, maintenance, utilization, and disposal of software applications within an organization.

To many of our customers, SAM is associated with software compliance, software audits, risk mitigation, risk analysis, and cost savings. All of these ring true.

My experience with SAM as a discipline spans all types of businesses, whether SMB, Corporate, Enterprise, all the way up to Government and Education. SAM, whether we realize it or not, truly is a subject that affects nearly all organizations at some point in time.

Optimization If you’ve ever been faced with a Software audit, or have been tapped on the shoulder for a “voluntary” compliance check by a Software Manufacturer, SAM is typically the discipline utilized to come the rescue.

Over the course of my 18 years in IT, SAM has been one of the top growth areas across the software segment.

Whether a small-mid sized or large enterprise, the risks and impact to the organization remain the same. Organizations who are found out of compliance can expect to be dealt heavy fines, whether from the BSA (Business Software Alliance) or the software manufacturer; negative internal & external exposure (especially for state/local government and publicly traded organizations); and in many cases I’ve seen, a loss in employment to those directly in charge of managing the software assets in question.

So, yes, SAM is a critical discipline. When we talk about SAM, as a starting point, we consider the following:

Title
Version number
What licensing considerations apply (by user/device/processor/core/etc.)
Whether or not the license is covered via maintenance

What we understand about SAM goes far beyond being under-licensed. I’ve seen many cases where legacy buying behaviors often reveal over-licensing. By understanding what you’ve purchased, whether or not it’s used, and how often it’s used, we create a business case for future purchases – Or sometimes the opposite: the case to support a NON purchase event.

Zunesis recognized by CRN as a top IT solution provider with deep technical expertise and premier certifications for the eighth consecutive year.

Denver, CO (PRWEB) March 27, 2017

Zunesis announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Zunesis to the 2017 Tech Elite 250 list. This annual list honors an exclusive group of North American IT solution providers that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology vendors, scaled to their company size. The 2017 recognition marks the eighth consecutive year that Zunesis has earned this award.

To compile the annual list, The Channel Company’s research group and CRN editors work together to identify the most customer-beneficial technical certifications in the North American IT channel. Solution providers that have obtained these elite designations— which enable them to deliver premium products, services and customer support—are then selected from a pool of online applicants.

Zunesis is a very deserving recipient of this award because they place a significant emphasis on technical expertise and certifications. Over the thirteen years that the company has been in business, they have sought to hire, retain, and equip only the best solution architects who can bring the highest value to their clients. It is this deep commitment to extensive technical knowledge that often sets Zunesis apart from their peers.

“This exclusive, ambitious group of solution providers boasts some of the most advanced IT certifications available from top technology suppliers,” said Robert Faletra, CEO, The Channel Company. “They have adapted impressively to major changes in the IT channel, especially the shift to a more services-driven market, by expanding their skill sets and sharpening both their technical and customer service expertise. Congratulations to our 2017 list, whose robust investment in their organizations has earned them yet another elite designation—the CRN Tech Elite 250.”

“I could not be more proud of our team for achieving this award again this year,” commented Zunesis CEO, Steve Shaffer. “Our solution architects work very diligently to stay on top of, and even ahead of, what is happening in the technology space. Because of their commitment and dedication to be the best at what they do, Zunesis is able to offer top-tier services to our customers.”

Coverage of the Tech Elite 250 will be featured in the April issue of CRN, and online at http://www.crn.com/techelite250.

About Zunesis
Zunesis is a leading IT solution provider with locations in Colorado and Nevada. Our vision centers around an intense focus on serving our customers and bringing value to their business through strategic IT solutions. In 2015 and again in 2016, Zunesis was added to the CRN Next-Gen 250 list, recognizing them for their innovation and forward-thinking in the industry. As of March 2017, Zunesis has been named to the CRN TechElite 250 for 8 consecutive years as a best-of-breed solution provider with deep technical expertise and premier certifications. For more information, visit the Zunesis Blog, or follow us on LinkedIn.

About The Channel Company
The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education, and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequaled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. http://www.thechannelco.com.

The Evolution of Software Asset Management

Bike helmet Years ago, Software Asset Management (SAM) was a novelty, as there was very limited visibility around the benefits SAM brought to clients. Probably the easiest way to capture this scenario was almost like selling a bike without a helmet. The client would begin their journey via the licensing vehicle. However, when they ran into a bump in the road, severe trauma was likely. SAM was the helmet – the way to protect clients from said trauma.

Before too long, Microsoft, in addition to many Tier 1 Software Vendors, announced mandatory audits for ALL customers. What this meant was if you invested in licensing, you were subject to an audit at any given time by a vendor. I recall these early years as there was a significant spike in partners who obtained proficiency in the SAM discipline.

Today, Software Asset Management is as relevant as it ever has been. Many clients have either gone down the path of an audit; know someone who has; or are uncertain, when the audit does come, whether they will be in compliance.

Non-compliance comes at a high cost:

Hefty legal fines via the BSA/Vendor,
Negative internal exposure at an organization,
Negative public exposure (diminished shareholder value),
These are just a few. Trust me, there are more.

Thoroughly understanding what’s at stake is why Zunesis incorporates SAM Disciplines during each licensing engagement. Quite simply, it’s ensuring that our clients’ investments in licensing are fully optimized. Whether it means we identify scenarios in which a client is over licensed and can eliminate the need to invest further, under licensed and needs help producing a strategy to address the gap, or ensuring that every license corresponds with the right amount of usage (specific to an end user role or department), are some of the ways we optimize IT investments and shield customers from the effects of non-compliance.

Deploying an enterprise wireless solution can be a challenging task,

especially for IT administrators tasked with supporting multiple sites. In order to ensure good performance, network administrators would often have to perform a site survey at each location to discover areas of RF coverage and interference, and then manually configure each AP according to the results of this survey.

Static site surveys can help you choose channel and power assignments for AP’s. However, these surveys are often time-consuming and expensive, and they only reflect the state of the network at a single point in time. RF environments are always changing, and new sources of interference pop up all the time – whether it’s the microwave in the break room that only gets used around lunch time or a new tenant down the hall who put in a new access point. If your wireless solution is not able to adapt to these changes on the fly, then users will have a poor experience. This means your IT department will experience higher call volumes.

Aruba Networks has developed a feature within their operating system to address these ever-changing wireless environments: Adaptive Radio Management (ARM).

ARM maximizes WLAN performance even in the highest traffic networks by dynamically and intelligently choosing the best 802.11 wireless channel and transmit power for each Aruba Access Point in its current RF environment. ARM solves wireless networking challenges such as large deployments, dense deployments, and installations that must support VoIP or mobile users.

Office wireless devices Deployments with dozens of users per access point can cause network contention and interference, but ARM dynamically monitors and adjusts the network to ensure that all users are allowed ready access. ARM provides the best voice call quality with voice-aware spectrum scanning and call admission control.

When ARM is enabled it will continuously scan the air on all 802.11 channels and report back what it sees to the controller. You can retrieve this information from the controller or push the data to Airwave to get a quick health check of your WLAN deployment. You can do all of this without having to walk around every part of a building with a network analyzer tool.

In addition to all this, there are some exciting changes coming to the ARM technology and the Aruba Operating System in general with the 8.0 update, make sure you engage your local Aruba resources for more information.

Securing productivity, collaboration and enterprise data is critically important as organizations digitally transform. Microsoft is committed to delivering a new approach to secure this transition, as evidenced with the announcement of their new Secure Productive Enterprise offering.

Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) provides an identity-driven security solution that offers a holistic approach to the security challenges in this mobile-first, cloud-first era. Microsoft technologies not only help you protect your organization but also identify breaches before they cause damage.

Protect at the “front door”

A solution starts with identity protection capabilities to secure access at the “front door” of your company’s apps and data. Azure Active Directory Identity Protection leverages billions of signals to provide risk-based conditional access to your applications and critical company data, including the option of multi-factor authentication. Microsoft also helps you manage and protect privileged accounts with Azure Active Directory Privileged Identity Management so you can discover, restrict and monitor privileged identities and their access to resources.

Protect your data from user mistakes

Microsoft provides deep visibility into user and data activity, so you can protect your company when users make poor choices as they work with critical company data. Microsoft Cloud App Security provides visibility and controls for cloud apps, including popular SaaS apps like Box, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and, of course, Office 365. With the new Azure Information Protection, Microsoft brings together classification and labeling with persistent data protection to enable secure file sharing, internally and externally. Finally, Microsoft Intune Mobile App Management (MAM) helps you prevent data loss on mobile devices, with the unique ability to manage the Office mobile apps without requiring device enrollment.

Detect attacks before they cause damage

As more organizations move to an assume breach posture, Microsoft EMS identifies attackers in your organization using innovative behavioral analytics and anomaly detection technologies―on-premises with Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics and in the cloud with Azure Active Directory and Cloud App Security. Threat intelligence is enhanced with the Microsoft Intelligent Security Graph driven by vast datasets and machine learning in the cloud.

In just two years, EMS has grown to lead the market with over 27,000 enterprise customers and more than 1/3 of the Fortune 500 now onboard. Contact Zunesis to find out how your organization can benefit from Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS).