The Next Speaker Spotlight for the ITAM Review US Annual Conference 2019

ITAM News & Analysis

The Next Speaker Spotlight for the ITAM Review US Annual Conference 2019

Last week we took a look at some of the esteemed speakers educating attendees at our US annual conference. We’re continuing our US Speaker Spotlight series this week!

Our 2019 US Conference is taking place on March 13th & 14th at the University of South Florida, St Petersburg.

David Fryklund, IT Asset Manager Lead – Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)

What is the biggest challenge you have faced when trying to make ITAM stick within an organisation?

It’s not about survival of the fittest, it’s those who are most adaptable to change that make it through.

• WHO – Engaging with Enterprise Architecture, Project Management, and/or Release and Control, depending on organizational structure.
• WHAT – ITAM needs to proactively engage in the change conversation as early as possible.
• WHEN – An architectural change is proposed, a project is conceptualized, a change is planned, etc.
• HOW – Get invested – A person with passion always stands out. The world is so full of average, but once you have that passion and a sense of energy it distinguishes you.

In your experience, is there a particular team or department that can be more challenging to get on board with implementing ITAM across the whole organisation?

Yes, the one we missed engaging. In some way, everyone eventually comes to the ITAM table.

Why should attendees come to your session?

Get invested and position yourself to create value.

Why do you think end users should attend this event?

The best of the best are here. Key points from just one presentation were crucial to my ability to manage an audit to an outcome of zero findings, even after the vendor “went dark” for nine months analysing data looking for anything to monetize.

Meet David at the US Annual Conference

Richard Spithoven, Managing Partner & Director – B-lay

Why do you think there is a continuous increase in Oracle Audits, and do you think the number will ever decrease?

 Oracle has been gaining a lot of (compliance related) revenues from audit and review activities. On a yearly basis this exceeds more then 2 B USD in revenue and as such it is a large contributor towards Oracle’s Sales targets. Oracle Sales is making use of – or threatening with – the compliance department (License Management Services) on multiple different occasions (e.g. audits, friendly reviews, ULA certifications) to make sure that a compelling event is created to do a new commercial transaction. End-users should realize themselves that Oracle Sales representatives are not measured on customer satisfaction or actual (cloud) consumption, but are only measured on the additional revenue they are able to bring in for new solutions (software licenses/cloud/hardware). Selling a complex product like enterprise software programs is not easy and requires multiple skills and management of multiple levels within an end-user organization. Identifying a compliance issue which requires to be resolved in a period of 30 days is therefore the ideal compelling event that Oracle Sales can leverage to close a new transaction. Although the LMS organization has separated themselves out in the audit department and the advisory department (called Software Investment Advisory), it is not expected that the number of audits will decrease in the short term. This since a large amount of the audit activities are being done/outsourced towards the LMS team located out of Romania Bucharest and in addition a number of third parties (e.g. SevenEights former Garmendia Consulting) are authorized by Oracle LMS to perform audits on their behalf. So although the number of employees performing audit within the local Oracle countries may have decreased, the number of resources out of Romania and at external parties has increased.

 In your experience, what is the most challenging point in an Oracle audit?

The most challenging point is that the level of detail and knowledge required for an end-user to have a complete and accurate picture of its compliance position is that high, that almost no end-user (98%) is able to determine its compliance position themselves. Individuals within an end-user organization do not know what they do now know and as such they believe or think that they are compliant, while (once the data has been collected reconciled by Oracle), the final results do typically show a large financial exposure. In almost all the cases, end-users just want to be compliant and want to license the software it is using. But the reality is that 95% of the end-users that are going through an Oracle audit are found to be non-compliant, requiring a new additional investment which is typically not budgeted for. The fact that an audit always costs an end-user organization a lot of time, the fact that in almost all the cases there is a compliance issue found and the fact that such additional investment which is required to resolve the non-compliance is never budgeted for, makes it very challenging for an end-user.

What challenges are end users currently facing and how will your session help overcome these?

During our session we will focus on the specific most common gotchas end-users are confronted with while dealing with Oracle. It is our objective to make sure that end-users are educated, equipped and enabled with the right knowledge that end-users typically do not have to smoothen the relationship with Oracle and to take back control. Would it not be nice that you would have all the knowledge and expertise available to start enjoying your software licenses, avoid and start saving costs instead of being confronted with an everlasting increasing (support) spend towards Oracle?

Why do you think end users should attend this event?

The event is a great opportunity to share knowledge, expertise and know-how within the software licensing and software asset management community. There are so many angles that are related towards software licensing and software asset management that nobody in this (already small) community will have all the knowledge, expertise and know-how it would need to be efficient and effective in its role within the SAM community. Connecting with peers, individuals that are focused on other areas or publishers in a nice atmosphere are THE ingredients for me why end-users should attend the event.

Meet Richard at the US Annual Conference

Matt Turner, Founder & Director, ITAM Insights

In your session you talk about engaging with architecture and design teams, without giving too much detail from your presentation away, what was the biggest challenged you’ve faced when trying to engage your internal teams?

Gaining their time and confidence that your here to help and not to hinder.  That you understand IT and not just SAM and you want them to help you shape the future.

What has been your biggest success to date from your 10-year technical plan?

IBM 19m saved through use of 3rd party , duplication of software, switching support off.

Why should attendees come to your session?

If people are interested in true transformation which is tough to crack but is so rewarding come and listen and ask some challenging questions.  I think this is where SAM professionals should be positioning themselves not as someone you counts licences , but someone who wants to transform the business.

Why do you think end users should attend this event?

Great way to meet like minded people , who will listen to your frustrations and offer solutions and ideas.  You might end up leaving your job like I did after attending the UK conference and starting up on your own!

Meet Matt at the US Annual Conference

Join us on March 13th & 14th 2019 at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg (USFSP) for the US Annual Conference

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