ServiceNow Software Asset Management on the Now Platform Vancouver release
ServiceNow® Software Asset Management offers a cohesive platform for technical teams to enhance risk management, optimize expenditures, and automate software lifecycle processes. This solution empowers precise control over software and cloud investments, providing instant visibility into unlicensed deployments, license reclamation options, and actionable software positions categorized by publishers. This enables a proactive approach to managing software and cloud expenses, offering the flexibility to take immediate actions or automate cost-saving measures to reinforce financial budgets.
In the Now Platform® Vancouver release, three key features shine for ServiceNow Software Asset Management:
- Success guides and guided experience
- Overlapping usage
- Software bill of material management
Success guides and guided experience
Software asset managers face challenges simplifying setup and ensuring accurate configurations, especially for Microsoft Server and SQL Server. This feature offers a step-by-step process, guiding users to surface prerequisite configurations, perform them quickly, and verify correctness. It helps ensure data accuracy across all business areas and a swift setup for enhanced efficiency.
Overlapping usage
From the perspective of a Software Asset Manager, the challenges faced by CTOs and Architects resonate deeply. Insufficient data poses obstacles in optimizing application overlap and planning for the future. They aim to consolidate, minimize costs, mitigate tech debt, and reduce risks. By integrating software usage data, these goals come into sharper focus. This approach equips Enterprise Architects with invaluable insights for efficient rationalization and strategic planning, ultimately aiding in curbing unnecessary expenses. This data synergy can also be effectively leveraged alongside ServiceNow Application Portfolio Management, fostering a holistic approach to software management.
Software bill of material management
From a Software Asset Manager's perspective, the challenges faced by SecOps and Security teams are a good place where they can help. The lack of comprehensive information about vulnerabilities and shared software components creates gaps in security readiness. Here, software asset managers can step in as key allies, offering a centralized and expedited approach to address security breaches. The solution synergizes Software Asset Management with SecOps, facilitating a direct link to the bill of materials of the affected software. This connection effectively traces the presence of vulnerabilities in software and their corresponding components through the vulnerability response dashboard. Such a collaborative approach streamlines remediation workflows, enabling timely and effective actions to bolster security measures.
There is a lot more to Software Asset Management
Being out of compliance or facing audits is one thing, but cost-cutting requests from management are another. ServiceNow constantly monitors software usage, providing cost-saving recommendations. Workflows reclaim licenses, eliminate unnecessary software, and optimize purchases based on business needs.
SaaS insights optimize savings and governance. Manage SaaS licenses to eliminate waste, reduce overlaps, and reclaim or downgrade licenses. ServiceNow Cloud Cost Management complements Software Asset Management and is a part of the Software Asset Management Enterprise offering, delivering holistic cloud spend views, resource rightsizing, policy automation, and optimization.
Additional features for this release include:
|
Feature/Capability |
Description |
|
Microsoft 365 SaaS optimization enhancements |
New M365 and Office 365 optimization recommendations with expanded optimization suggestions to help with cost savings and efficiencies. This update offers optimization with dual license reclamation candidates, consolidation candidates, and suite reclamation candidates. |
|
Adobe Cloud optimization enhancements |
New Adobe Cloud reclamation rules and optimization recommendations with expanded reclamations and optimization suggestions to help with cost savings and efficiencies. Reclamation rules include downgrading users, consolidating, and reclaiming subscriptions. |
|
Advanced entitlement management |
Collection of enhancements to improve entitlement management, including copy allocations and import improvements. It provides SAM managers a better experience with entitlement management with expanded capabilities such as copying allocations between entitlements supporting User or Device Allocations and validating rights and quantities. It also improves importing entitlements using a spreadsheet for facilitating entitlement creation. |
|
Consumption rules for global entities enhancements |
Enhanced consumption rule definitions to include parent/child hierarchy for company, cost center, and department. It has expanded consumption rule capabilities to manage complex licensing scenarios. |
|
SAP Custom Price List Import |
Ability to import customer-specific price lists and incorporate negotiated price details into Software Asset Management. It provides the SAM managers the capability to use custom price list for accurate SAP licensing needs and compliance analysis. |
|
Microsoft Windows Server enhancement |
Track and manage Microsoft Server licensing both in virtualized and physical environments in accordance with new Microsoft licensing changes. Users can now license at the virtual machine level rather than the host level, provided they have an active subscription or Software Assurance. |
