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Case Studies

Fortune 500 Finance Organization Creates SAM Program and Saves $20M

(April 2022)

SAM teams can use this case study to understand how developing a centralized SAM governance program can lead to cost savings and drive strategy across the business’s software assets.

Company Profile

  • Industry: Financial Services
  • Size: 10,000 — 25,000 Users
  • Revenue: 1B — 10B USD
  • Region: North America
  • Market: Fortune 500
Total Cost Analysis:
$20
million
In cost avoidance & cost savings


The Challenge

Repeat Issues in Managing and Tracking Software Entitlements

When you start getting multiple challenging audits in one year, you know something has to give. That was the case for a financial industry leader who faced several consecutive contentious audits. These audits resulted in significant lost time, energy, and financial burdens. The company realized if they were going to protect their resources, they needed to establish a SAM program with a laser focus on avoiding and mitigating future risks within its major software publishers​. 

However, they also realized their internal staff was far from equipped with the licensing expertise they’d need to cover all their major publishers like IBM, Oracle, Microsoft, and Salesforce​. Challenges also existed in ensuring data integrity between multiple sources like Flexera’s FlexNet Manager Suite (FNMS) and IBM’s License Metric Tool (ILMT). 

The Solution

Implement Processes, Controls, and Tests to Identify Risks

The client partnered with Anglepoint in a Managed Service to tackle the various challenges:​ 

  • The partnership created an Audit Response Framework that ensured all future audits had an agreed-upon plan of attack. Anglepoint also assisted the client’s legal team in quickly responding to audit notices received from Microfocus, Corel, and Veritas​. 
  • Anglepoint’s Software Tool Implementation Group helped make the transition of all IBM licensing data from ILMT instances to FNMS to create a single source of data for 20 software publishers​. 
  • Anglepoint provided licensing and audit support expertise resulting in “zero audit findings” for Micro Focus and Corel​. 
The Impact

$20M in Cost Savings

  • $6.5M in IBM cost savings​ 
  • $1.18M in Microsoft cost savings 
  • $541k in Salesforce cost savings 
  • $13.7M in cost avoidance over 20 publishers 
  • “Zero-findings” audits from Micro Focus and Corel​ 
  • Multiple publishers onboarded including Actian, Adobe, Cisco, Citrix, HCL, Quest, SAS, Scooter, Tableau, and VMware. 

Due to a lack of governance, specifically ineffective controls and defined processes, the client was unable to accurately measure and account for licenses purchased and licenses deployed across 20 major software publishers.

The financial institution realized more than $20 million in cost savings and avoidance across IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, and its 17 other software publishers.

Exhibit 1:

Cost Savings Breakdown

 

“I have a deep appreciation for the high level of expertise and knowledge that Anglepoint employs. We receive great insight into what we might get audited for. The best thing is the customer service. This is one of the things that makes Anglepoint a good partner for [us]—they are like us—all about serving their customers and building relationships.”
– Senior Vice President, IT License & Asset Lifecycle Management