FlexNet Manager Suite Flexera Software Success Story

1. Success Story:
Flexera Software “Our software true-up expense dropped
Customer Profile: Flexera Software is a software technology innovator; delivering dramatically with the use of FlexNet
business-centric Application Usage Management solutions to software publishers,
Manager Suite for Enterprises. Prior to
intelligent device manufacturers, and enterprises. The company is ranked as a top
200 software vendor with products for software installation, licensing, entitlement and
deployment, Flexera Software IT
compliance management, application readiness and software license optimization.
Flexera Software has more than 80,000 customers worldwide. Its software license
estimated that our true-up liability
optimization solutions help enterprises maximize usage of commercial software
products, maintain license compliance and reduce ongoing software costs. would be more than $500,000 for
Challenge: Flexera Software’s IT organization is global, but small; typical of most Microsoft software products. The actual
small-to-medium (SMB) size businesses. Operationally, Flexera Software IT supports
the delivery of sophisticated software products to meet the demands of the company’s cost dropped to less than 8% of this
customers. Prior to deployment of FlexNet Manager® Suite for Enterprises, managing
internal software assets required extensive manual effort, consuming the time of IT staff estimate—about $39,000.”
that was needed for other IT functions. An estimated 4 months of part-time effort were
needed to manually gather data for periodic software vendor true-ups and related
software license purchases. In addition, software audits have been a growing trend and Joni Ferneau
Flexera Software needed to improve audit readiness and reduce audit risk. Director IT Infrastructure
Flexera Software
Solution: The solution was to implement FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises to
automate the software asset management (SAM) and license optimization process.
IT asset inventory is being collected, SAM process improvements were made and
automated license reconciliation and optimization were put in place. As a result, the
company is saving time and money and has gained the management precision needed
to efficiently utilize its limited IT staff and budget resources.
Benefits: Flexera Software IT has reclaimed staffing resources and reduced software
true-up costs dramatically. The company’s Microsoft® Enterprise Agreement (EA) true-up
liability was decreased from about $500,000 to less than $40,000 by fully leveraging
license entitlements. The time required to prepare for a true-up has decreased by
more than 75%. FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises has also helped the IT team to
optimize usage of licenses across the company.

2. The Need for Managing Software Assets in • streamlined annual true-up process
A Flexera Software consultants.” During
Small to Medium Sized Businesses with Microsoft the first phase, the company was able to
Small-to-medium size businesses (SMB) are accomplish many of its detailed project
• ontract and license reconciliation
C
in a challenging position—having limited objectives such as:
to ensure compliance and reduce
resources and yet high expectations for software costs • ssess the software asset management
A
delivery of sophisticated IT solutions. The and license optimization maturity level
IT budget is often small, making it difficult Flexera Software IT Grapples with of the organization
to hire specialized technology expertise Microsoft Licensing
or justify the investment in tools that • tilize FlexNet Manager for Microsoft,
U
As a key partner of Microsoft, software
solve day-to-day IT challenges. Yet these part of the FlexNet Manager Suite, to
license compliance is important to Flexera
investments are exactly what are needed generate an accurate and optimized
Software. An estimated 100 hours of
to effectively control IT expenses. Efficient Microsoft license position
global IT support were previously needed
operations and effective utilization of • everage Flexera Software consulting
L
to gather the inventory and license
IT resources allows organizations to services expertise to understand
entitlement data for the annual Microsoft
reduce IT cost and better meet the needs license entitlements and reduce true-
true-up. This effort had to be repeated
of the business. up costs
each time an audit or annual true-up was
approaching. Flexera Software handled • ndependently use FlexNet Manager
I
Maintaining control over software this manually, as many organizations Suite for Enterprises training materials
expenditures is challenging for continue to do. The IT team completed to educate the team
organizations of all sizes. Potential for a physical inspection of every system at
cost savings and the ability to achieve every Flexera Software location, counting Benefits to the Organization
and maintain software license compliance the number of software installations and The Flexera Software IT team has realized
are key drivers for implementing best validating the total licenses purchased. benefits that extend far beyond the
practice processes and a software asset For Microsoft applications, the team original goals and objectives of the
management (SAM) solution. Executives increased this count by about 20% to project initiative. The clear winner was the
typically drive toward SAM and license counter any errors in the manual process, financial benefit of reducing the Microsoft
optimization for these reasons, which ensure compliance and accommodate the annual true-up cost to a fraction of the
proportionally can have an even greater company’s growth. This over-estimation pre-deployment software estimate, as
impact for the SMB as compared to along with the laborious effort needed to shown in Figure 1. This cost savings alone
larger enterprises. In IT shops where prepare had become both unmanageable has saved Flexera Software far more than
resources are scarce, effective software and unaffordable. the investment in deployment of its own
asset management can be overlooked
SAM and license optimization solution.
simply due to the pressures of many other The implementation of FlexNet Manager The company is now able to fully leverage
business priorities. Suite for Enterprises was a straight- its Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN)
forward process for the Flexera Software licenses, for example, which helped
Goals and Objectives are Far-Reaching for IT team, led by the consulting services reduce the true-up cost. The IT Team is
Flexera Software IT organization. “Implementation of this now looking to see cost savings across
Flexera Software is an SMB and yet also tool was very simple,” said Digesh other, heavily used software products in
a global company with approximately Joshi, project manager for the initiative. the company.
600 employees world-wide, a large “Our team utilized online training and
mobile workforce and corporate offices documentation to understand the process FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises
in the United States, United Kingdom, with oversight and guidance offered by has enabled Flexera Software IT to take
Melbourne Australia, and Tokyo Japan.
The company is experiencing a period of Continue
high growth—due to expansion through
acquisition, as well as organic growth
with the development of new products
and services. Through this growth, it has $600,000.00
become challenging to manage software
assets and ensure the company remains in $500,000.00
compliance with several major vendors. $400,000.00
True Up W/O
FlexNet Manager
Flexera Software IT prepared to deploy
$300,000.00 $504,771.66 True Up with
FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises with FlexNet Manager
a number of objectives in mind: $200,000.00
• mproved audit readiness and
I $100,000.00 $39,472.20
Flexera Software LLC audit risk reduction;
associated Schaumburg United Kingdom (Europe, Australia (Asia, For more office locations visit:
1000 East Woodfield Road, (Global Headquarters): Middle East Headquarters): Pacific Headquarters): www.flexerasoftware.com
reduced audit preparation800-809-5659
Suite 400 +1
time for $-
+44 870-871-1111 True–up3-9895-2000
+61 Cost
vendors such USAAdobe®, Symantec™,
Schaumburg, IL 60173 as +44 870-873-6300
Oracle® and Microsoft® Fig 1: Microsoft Annual True-Up
Copyright © 2012 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
FMS_CS_FX-IT_Nov12

3. control of software and hardware inventory, the importing of data from Active Flexera Software IT Plans to Expand SAM/
reconcile inventory with purchase order Directory and financial systems to License Optimization Efforts
entitlements and calculate an accurate match employee, machine, cost center The Flexera Software IT team has many
and optimized license position. With and licenses. This allows reporting at plans moving forward. Success of this
the implementation of this tool, Flexera multiple levels of company hierarchy. project has provided fuel for additional
Software IT has improved its understanding investment in the internal IT asset
• he FlexNet Manager Platform’s
T
of what software products are installed in management program. Future efforts will
business reporting portal provides
its environment, what is being used, who be to further mature IT processes to achieve
many out-of-the-box reports. Report
is authorized to use each application even greater efficiency and to address other
delivery can be automated and
and how to allocate licenses against its critical software vendors. Adobe Systems
delivered via email as well. The
Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA). products are on the horizon in the near-
following reports are most useful to
Flexera Software has also been able to term utilizing Flexera Software’s license
the Flexera Software IT organization:
take full advantage of its membership in the optimization solution for Adobe software—
Microsoft Gold partnership program which - ll software licenses
A FlexNet Manager for Adobe. Oracle and
provides access to licenses for Microsoft - icense breaches
L Symantec are both planned to follow the
products at no additional expense. Adobe project.
- ll payments
A
Other benefits include the following: - pplications without evidence
A Longer-term objectives include: maturing
hardware asset management capabilities,
License Availability and Reharvesting to - ardware asset views for all
H
identification and removal of unauthorized,
Defer New License Purchases servers, laptops, workstations
and printers non-corporate software applications in the
• ontracts and software procurement
C environment, and integration of FlexNet
data are now stored in one central - ardware warranty information
H Manager Platform with the Microsoft
asset management repository. • ashboard views provide vital
D Exchange ActiveSync server to manage
Availability of surplus licenses is company-wide information about the company’s mobile device inventory.
now known and they can be allocated software and hardware assets. The Additional Flexera Software products will
as needed. Flexera Software IT team was surprised also be deployed to support the evolving
• lexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises
F at the extensive amount of hardware maturity of SAM and license optimization.
can collect application usage asset information they are able to see Planned product implementations include
information. Under-utilized and unused using this product. AdminStudio Virtual Desktop Assessment,
licenses can be re-harvested and Workflow Manager and Flexera Software
re-allocated to employees that have In addition, FlexNet Manager Platform App Portal.
a higher need for those applications. provides the ability to create ‘custom views’
Flexera has recovered over 40 licenses per individual users’ reporting requirements. About Flexera Software
from Visio Professional users and other Flexera Software is the leading provider
applications, putting resources to work Process Improvements of strategic solutions for Application
where needed. Usage Management; solutions delivering
• ptimized management of
O
continuous compliance, optimized usage
Microsoft Developer Network
Improved Forecasting and maximized value to application
(MSDN) licenses
producers and their customers. Flexera
• lexNet Manager Platform reporting
F • rocesses are now in place to centrally
P Software is trusted by more than
enables improved budgeting for maintain an accurate list of production 80,000 customers that depend on our
software expenses. The Platform is the servers, desktops, and laptops comprehensive solutions - from installation
foundation of the FlexNet Manager
• rocess assessments are done
P and licensing, entitlement and compliance
Suite and provides extensive hardware
periodically to identify areas for management to application readiness
asset management, software asset
process improvement, as well as to and software license optimization - to
management, contract management
quantify and communicate savings strategically manage application usage
and reporting capabilities.
and ROI. and achieve breakthrough results realized
only through the systems-level approach we
Improved Visibility • olicy has improved for handling
P provide. For more information, please go
• dapters available with FlexNet
A terminated users. to: www.flexerasoftware.com
Manager Suite for Enterprises enable
Flexera Software LLC Schaumburg United Kingdom (Europe, Australia (Asia, For more office locations visit:
1000 East Woodfield Road, (Global Headquarters): Middle East Headquarters): Pacific Headquarters): www.flexerasoftware.com
Suite 400 +1 800-809-5659 +44 870-871-1111 +61 3-9895-2000
Schaumburg, IL 60173 USA +44 870-873-6300
Copyright © 2012 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
AS_CS__FX-IT_Nov12