Double-digit software price rises, “license gouging” and vendor M&A activity creates unprecedented uncertainty for CIOs in 2023: ITAM Review report
The ITAM Review, the online community for worldwide ITAM professionals, has today published its inaugural ITAM Insights 2023 report, an annual analysis of the changing cost of software, hardware and cloud, as viewed by those charged with managing it – the IT Asset Management professionals. By examining the potential implications of these events on business decisions and budgets, the report equips IT professionals, C-level executives, and stakeholders with valuable insights to proactively manage their IT assets, maximize returns on investment, and minimise the disruption to their business.
The report is being launched today during a keynote by Rich Gibbons, MD of ITAM Review at the Wisdom EMEA 2023 conference. Commenting on the findings of the report, Rich says, “Businesses rely on predictability and certainty to plan for the future, particularly when it comes to their costs. But the last 12 months have been anything but certain. Even if you discount the political events, the amount of change within the IT industry itself is enough to raise eyebrows in the boardroom. When you’re facing – at best – double-digit prices rises now and potentially significantly more in the near-future due to seismic changes in the licensing terms of core business software like IBM and Oracle, this is no longer just something for IT Asset Managers to worry about. This is a board level concern.”
“The "ITAM Insights 2023" report presents a comprehensive analysis of the key industry events that are expected to shape the IT landscape throughout the year, and is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand the main changes coming their way – from day to day through to long-term strategy.”
The report examines the three main changes to IT management in the last twelve months, namely double-digit software price rises, significant changes to software licensing contracts among tier 1 software vendors (i.e. “license gouging”), and a wealth of Mergers & Acquisitions among software publishers. The report examines, among others, the following developments:
Global price rises
- IBM global price increases for all non-SaaS products of around 24% in most regions including GBP, EUR, Japanese Yen etc. (SaaS products received their own, albeit lower price increases)
- Microsoft “price harmonization” saw most prices rise in double digits (e.g. GBP: +9%, EUR: +11%, Danish Krone: +11%, Norwegian Krona: +11%, Swedish Krone: +15%
- Oracle support costs up 8% in US and APAC
Contract & Licensing changes
- IBM Passport Advantage self-reporting requirements: Customers now required to measure their own consumption of IBM licenses and report to IBM on their request within 30 days
- Oracle Java switches to an all-encompassing “employee” licensing, whereby an employee includes full-time employees, part-time employees and temporary employees (i.e. contractors, outsourcers, consultants etc.). Some customers are reporting this change alone could see costs increase by up to 10x
Mergers & Acquisitions
- TIBCO + Citrix merger: February 2022 saw the acquisition of Citrix for $16.5 billion by “Vista Equity Partners” and “Evergreen Coast Capital”: Mergers & acquisitions involving software companies often leads to an increase in compliance audits, thus there is now an increased risk of software licensing audits focusing on Citrix software.
- OpenText acquires Micro Focus: Both organisations are well known for their difficult and aggressive audit tactics, and it is our view that customers should be prepared for new compliance checks and audits within the next 12 months.
- Broadcom looks to acquire VMware for $61 billion: In addition to the expectation of price rises for some VMware products, it is likely that Broadcom will look to divest many of the less profitable parts of the VMware portfolio, meaning uncertainty for customers using those product lines.
Commenting on the various issues raised in the report, Rich Gibbons stated, “This annual report highlights the key changes over the previous 12 months that may impact ITAM professionals, their stakeholders, corporate leadership and the organisations at large. Ignited by COVID-19 and driven by rising inflation, soaring energy costs, and geo-political instability, 2022/2023 saw a range of price increases from software publishers - across on-premises and SaaS product lines. We have witnessed a substantial upward trend in software licensing and subscription costs over the last year, making it increasingly challenging to manage IT budgets effectively. These price hikes directly impact the bottom line, squeezing financial resources and necessitating difficult decisions regarding resource allocation. With spend increasing and no commensurate increase in value being received by customers, software & cloud cost management must be a C-level imperative for all organizations.
Coupled with this, there have also been significant changes to licensing rules and contract terms from some Tier 1 vendors, some of which could be construed as ‘license gouging’ – where the license terms are tweaked solely to maximise revenue for the vendor. These amendments not only raise costs significantly, but add further complexity and overhead to managing software entitlements and performing renewals as well as introducing further compliance and financial risks to the business. Lastly, merger and acquisition activity among software publishers is something that customer organisations should pay close attention to as it can have a profound impact in various ways, including changes to product roadmaps and support, supplier stability, long-term viability and increased risk of vendor audits.”
The fast-paced evolution of technology has made Information Technology Asset Management (ITAM) an essential discipline for organizations seeking to optimize their operational efficiency, enhance cybersecurity measures, and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements. As businesses strive to navigate the dynamic landscape of digital transformation, the ability to make informed decisions regarding IT assets has become paramount to ensure competitiveness and success.”
To download a copy of the ITAM Insights 2023 report, visit https://itassetmanagement.net/2023/06/15/itam-insights-report-2023/. For the latest insights on the ITAM industry, sign up to the ITAM Review newsletter.
Turning Your IT Organisation’s Experience Management Interest Into Action
Employee experience management is still a relatively new IT service management (ITSM) trend, where there’s a big difference between being committed to introducing experience management and taking the actions required to capture and benefit from experience data. To help, this short blog offers some quick insights into both.
The interest in experience management
The Axelos ITSM Benchmarking Report 2022 showed that over 80% of IT organisations understood the need to deliver a better employee experience. But while these organisations know that experience management is needed, it doesn’t mean they are actively getting experience-focused data and insights to improve their IT and business operations and outcomes.
We commonly see this with customers – the ambition is there, but, as with anything new, it can be challenging to know where to start. Don’t worry if this sounds familiar; we have worked with our customers to help explain the “how” through various enablement tools.
The key steps for introducing experience management
Importantly, these enablement tools aren’t consultancy-created theory. Instead, they aggregate customer learnings and experience data from the last eight years. For example, from the 873,738 pieces of end-user feedback captured in 2022, the data shows that 48% of the 7% of end-users reporting negative incident handling experiences stated that their issue wasn’t resolved. Or that using the IT self-service portal channel for incidents is perceived to lose employees close to two hours more productivity than the telephone support channel. And remember, this data is for organisations already focused on identifying and addressing experience issues (albeit at different points in their improvement journey).
In many ways, data points such as these are the first step for experience management – appreciating that issues adversely impact end-users despite traditional IT metrics consistently being reported as “green.” Then, in the age-old management wisdom of “keeping things simple”, we believe there’s a need to “keep things practical” with the introduction of experience management.
Keeping experience management practical
The practical steps for introducing experience management are covered in more detail in our IT Experience Management (ITXM) Framework™ which covers:
- Measuring experiences
- Sharing the experience data
- Identifying improvements
- Improving what matters most.
More recently, this has been supplemented by the ITXM Framework™ Progression Playbook, designed for organisations wishing to move forward on their ITXM journey. For many customers, it starts with the progression towards defined objectives, which could be:
- 6 to 12 months – expose the “watermelon effect” and prove the value of experience data
- 12 to 24 months – make ITXM a practice
- 18 to 36 months – use experience data as a decision-making tool
- 24+ months – achieve Human-Centric IT.
These objective-based progression steps help make it easier by providing focus through a plan you can follow, knowing that similar helped other companies succeed with experience management.
McLaren Racing announces Halo as an Official Partner of McLaren Formula 1 Team
McLaren Racing today announced Halo, the fastest growing IT Service Management (ITSM) and Professional Services Automation (PSA) software provider, as an Official Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team from 2023.
The partnership will support the McLaren F1 Team in enhancing its productivity through Halo’s industry-leading IT service management platform, HaloITSM.
Through the multi-year partnership, McLaren will utilise the HaloITSM solution to accelerate its ability to collaborate effectively and deliver managed IT services through centralised workflows, across all areas of the team.
From the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix, Halo branding will feature on the halo of the McLaren MCL60 F1 cars and on the team’s pit wall.
Zak Brown, CEO, McLaren Racing, said:
“In the competitive and fast-moving world of Formula 1, efficiency and performance is crucial across all corners of the business. Halo will enhance McLaren’s extensive IT services, helping us increasing our team’s efficiency and productivity. We are excited to integrate Halo’s IT capabilities into our operations as we continue our journey pushing to return to the top of the grid.”
Paul Hamilton, CEO, HaloITSM, said:
“We are thrilled to partner with the McLaren Formula 1 Team as it embarks on a highly ambitious journey in pursuit of greater speed, higher reliability and unmatched efficiency.
“By tapping into our latest innovations with our IT service management platform HaloITSM, we are proudly supporting the team as it pushes the boundaries of continuous performance improvement beyond the finish line.”
Meet the brand: Global Technology Solutions
SITS exhibitors Global Technology Solutions, “Take the headache out of recruitment”. Learn about what they do and their time at the show...
What do you do?
GTS specialise in IT Service Management and Technical recruitment throughout the UK and Globally too. We cover both Permanent and Contract vacancies . Our main aim is to “take the headache out of recruitment” We have recently become BIOR certified and proud to be Women in business certified.
How did you get started?
After having my second daughter three months later set my business up in my bedroom specialising at the time in IT permanent recruitment. Since then 22 years later, GTS has grown specialising in both contract and permanent vacancies supporting the UK market and Globally.
We have recently moved into brand new bigger offices where we can really make it our own.
What did you enjoy most about exhibiting at SITS?
Meeting new and old clients and candidates alike, there is always such a buzz and it was very busy. Always great to speak to people face to face and I look forward to exhibiting next year!
Women in tech mentoring programme: what are the benefits?
It’s no secret that gender diversity in the technology sector is an issue firms have been tackling for decades. A recent PwC report stated that only five percent of leadership positions in the technology industry are occupied by women.
Equally, those women who are in a tech role tend to leave the industry by the age of 35. A joint report by Accenture and Girls Who Code suggests the drop-out rate for women of this age is as high as 50%, compared with around 20% in other professions.
With an evident gender gap in the sector, how can we encourage more women to both pursue a career in technology and stay in one?
A study in the US found that mentoring programmes boosted minority representation at management levels from nine to 24%. The research also found they dramatically improved promotion and retention rates for minorities and women from 15% to 38%, compared with non-mentored employees.
Mentorships are a versatile solution to aiding individuals with their career development and improving their skills. By learning from someone who has made a successful career in the sector, you are able to understand first-hand what it takes to get there, as well as use your mentor’s knowledge and experience to guide you to your goals, both professionally and personally.
Participating in a technology mentoring programme positively impacts female team members - ensuring access to a successful role model and providing the opportunity to support and nurture the technology talent of the future
Benefits for the mentee
Being mentored can be an effective way to grow your network and improve your opportunities. With very few female leaders in the technology sector, finding someone who has walked a similar path is hugely beneficial, with advantages including:
- Access to relevant contacts to network with
- Opportunities to identify and correct skills and knowledge gaps
- Building confidence in the workplace
- Reducing feelings of isolation
- Offer a neutral and objective perspective to your concerns
- Providing someone to hold you accountable when achieving goals
- Exposure to new ways of thinking
Benefits for the mentor
A mentor can be more than someone who provides knowledge and experience, but allows you access to a fresh perspective, through a mentee who is often from a different generation and background. Key benefits also include:
- Recognition as an expert and leader in your field
- Offering an opportunity to develop your management and teaching styles
- Providing personal satisfaction and a chance for self-reflection
- Exposure to new ideas outside of your organisation
- Potential for networking
Benefits for a company
Businesses are always looking for new ways to nurture and retain their employees - a mentoring programme for women in tech could contribute to this goal. According to a report from Ceridian, 86% of employees believe it’s important for employers to provide learning opportunities.
Encouraging employees to participate in a mentorship programme can lead to better engagement, improved skills development and provide businesses with future professionals and leaders who can ultimately bring more success. It also helps companies to:
- Enhance leadership skills
- Cultivate a culture of personal and professional growth
- Improve morale and engagement
- Retain and develop staff
- Demonstrate to future employees that their company values them and encourages progression and development
If you would like to participate in Reed’s Women in Technology Programme as a mentor, mentee, or employer, register your interest today.
Meet the brand: ControlUp
Introducing ControlUp, a cutting-edge platform designed to empower IT professionals with real-time visibility, proactive monitoring, and intelligent automation capabilities to support their user environments. ControlUp enables IT teams to proactively address performance issues, enhance end-user experience, and streamline operations across various virtualized and cloud-based environments. Their customers receive fewer tickets, closed faster, for a better desktop experience.
What do you do?
Throughout the years, ControlUp has gained industry recognition for its innovative and proactive approach to workspace monitoring and management. The ControlUp virtual desktop solutions offer real-time insights into the performance and health of digital workspaces via a centralized dashboard displaying critical information about the end-user experience, system performance, and resource utilization.
The ControlUp physical desktop solutions identify, resolve, and prevent problems for remote or local devices, including unified communications applications like Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
How did you get started?
ControlUp was founded in 2009 by Yoni Avital, Asaf Ganot, and Amir Harel to create a comprehensive monitoring and management solution for virtualized IT environments.
Based on their interactions with IT teams, they recognized the growing complexity of IT infrastructures, particularly in virtualization, and with the growth of companies such as Citrix and VMware, they knew that there was an opportunity to help IT teams deliver better performance and an improved user experience.
What did you enjoy most about exhibiting at SITS?
We loved the quality engagement with the local IT community and to have the chance to meet our partners and long time customers.
The event was very well organized and the breakout session was a great platform for introducing fresh point of views on ongoing matters that are relevant to most of us in the tech industry.
The happy hour on the second day of the show was another opportunity to network and participate in industry conversations in a different setting.
Why DevSecOps and what’s different about it? (Part 1)
DevOps is an approach to software development and IT operations processes that incorporates Agile methodologies. Its core principles of empowerment, automation, and collaboration between development and operations drives efficiencies, quality improvements and profitability.
Traditionally, security was seen as an essential add-on that received attention once the application had been developed. In our new world of cloud platforms, microservices, containers and an improved approach to development + operations (DevOps!), leaving security to the end does not work. A new approach is needed to keep pace with todays’ advances. That approach is DevSecOps.
How is DevOps security different from traditional security?
DevSecOps is an extension of DevOps; emphasizing security at each stage of the software development life cycle. It integrates security with DevOps by addressing issues as they emerge within Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) pipelines. In traditional software development, the process followed a “waterfall” model - a sequential system, divided into phases. The output of one phase forms the input of the next. Different teams following a traditional waterfall model typically work independently with the model often introducing security testing only during the last stages. The process results in several changes until the product complies with the recommendations of the security team. The endless changes and patches make the development process longer and more expensive.
In a DevOps environment, developers and operations teams work side by side throughout the entire process of developing, deploying, and managing applications – and security is a consideration the whole way though. The nature of DevOps is continuous, with constant collaboration and iterative improvements throughout the entire lifecycle. Teams that practice DevSecOps release deliverables more frequently, with higher quality and stability and increased security. By increasing the frequency and velocity of releases, DevOps teams improve products rapidly and with integrated active security audits and security testing, the end result reduces the compliance issues faced by all organisations.
*To be continued in Part 2*
Eileen O’Mahony
,
General Manager, WM Promus
*For more information, please contact us for a free consultation. (Tel: +44 (0) 20 3946 6226 | Email: [email protected] )
Move out of your own way!
Earlier this year I joined my local gym.
My intention was to get up, bright and early, go to the gym and work out.
This lasted three days!
I doth my cap to all of you gym-goers out there – genuinely well done!
But, I hated it. At best I pretended to look active – but my heart wasn’t in it.
It felt like a chore.
I needed to do something – to begin to tackle my physical health, but this wasn’t it.
So, I started to think about the insights that I share with my audiences…
(By the way, taking your own advice is the toughest thing to do, right!?
We know this to be true, think of the times you give those closest to you AMAZING advice – do you do it yourself?
Do you *#%$….no, you don’t!)
I talk about ‘emotional connection’ and how that can help us achieve positive transformation.
Music, for example – have you ever been walking or driving along and a song made you cry, angry, laugh, sad or happy?
We can use this ‘hack’ to work in our favour – so I decided to apply the same logic to my gym situation.
What have I always loved doing?
Swimming
Why don’t I do it anymore?
Body image
That’s the truth – you know you will always get honesty from me, without any filter – I was terrified of getting my body out, semi naked – in public!
In life, in business – we can tell ourselves something enough that it feels like the truth.
It becomes a comfort zone, a limiting belief.
So, one morning – feeling courageous – I turned right for the swimming pool instead of right to then gym.
I got undressed.
I became very anxious.
Took a deep breath.
I shuffled out to the pool area.
And…
No one cared!
You see, the only thing that was stopping me – was me.
Since then, I have found my confidence, I get up early every morning through CHOICE, I go swimming, talk to friendly, like minded people, I start my day very well & I ENJOY it!
It’s the sweet spot between what is good for me, what I enjoy, what I am emotionally connected to & what I CHOOSE to do!
As I often say when I am Speaking…
‘we have all of the answers we’ll ever need, we just need to ask ourselves the right questions – then move the hell out of our own way!’
Today – my fitness is vastly improved, my waistline is reducing and I am feeling GOOD!
So, what are YOU telling yourself?
Where is YOUR sweet spot when creating transformational change?
You DO have all the answers you’ll ever need.
You just need to move out of your own way!
ITSM community reunites at SITS
Over 3500 visitors attended SITS – The Service Desk & IT Support Show, which took place at ExCeL London on the 10-11 May 2023.
Alongside a diverse seminar programme, 60+ ITSM vendors and cutting-edge start-ups demoed the newest IT service solutions and answered visitor’s questions, helping them find the right solutions.
“It’s been an eye-opening experience”
Event Director, Alice Fulton said “The atmosphere at SITS was brilliant, the show was buzzing with people keen to update their knowledge and explore the different supplier offerings.”
Alice continued “We were overwhelmed with the response from exhibitors, with 60% of exhibitors rebooking for next years’ event. Bring on SITS 2024!”
“’A must if you’re looking for an ITSM tool or just interested in the latest cutting-edge technology”
Visitor Quayen Mang said, “There is so much here that you wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere. Everything you need is here and you can get live demos, it helps you make the decisions quicker. It’s great to build connections too.”
A wide range of vendors from across the world exhibited their services at SITS, including Freshworks, Hornbill, ivanti, ManageEngine, TOPdesk, HaloITSM, IFS Assyt and AnyDesk. Visitors could catch up with current providers and compare their developments with other ITSM tools.
“Super intuitive technical sessions with top innovators!”
Loell Wolfries, Founder & Collaboration Coach at Art of Teams said “My session went really well, everyone was very engaged and I was so happy to have a full room. It’s really important to attend SITS so you can jump outside of your comfort zone, it’s easy to get caught up in the operations and day to day of what you're doing. To hear different perspectives helps to widen your view, you never know what you’re going to learn and how you can apply it to your work.”
The show hosts the only free ITSM programme in Europe, which consisted of 60 educational sessions across 4 theatres. The seminars were delivered by a carefully curated group of top speakers from the ITSM world, who covered everything from agile ITSM and AI to neurodiversity and mental health. Visitors were also welcome to join Breakfast Briefings and Hot Topic Workshops, where they gained tangible ideas and practical advice.
Visitor Zinal Shah commented “Not only is it a day out of the office, it’s an insight into all of the service providers here. The key thing for me is understanding how organizations are adopting new technologies and reaping the benefits.”
"It is a great show, relaxed atmosphere and a varied choice of exhibitors with something for everyone"
SITS, The Service Desk & IT Support Show, is back 14-15 May 2025 at ExCeL London. Find out more here: www.servicedeskshow.com
Meet the brand: ALVAO
Introducing ALVAO, who will be exhibiting at SITS. Get to know about about their interesting start and what they're looking forward to at the show.
What do you do?
ALVAO ITAM is a comprehensive IT asset lifecycle management solution that tracks and manages all IT assets from acquisition to disposal, providing complete transparency and accountability. Additionally, the software includes an automated Microsoft 365 optimization report to identify inefficiencies and save costs related to licensing.
How did you get started?
ALVAO started 24 years ago when two IT students helped one of their fathers to solve a problem with car fleet reservation, management, and tracking. The solution quickly evolved into an asset management software that grew into a mature Hardware Asset Management (HAM) and Software Asset Management (SAM) solution. As the company grew, the need for a compatible ticketing system arose, which presented a new challenge for the company. Windows 95 was a new technology around that time, and we were excited to build a system around it. That's how our focus on Microsoft started. For over 20 years, ALVAO has focused on providing IT Service Management (ITSM) and IT Asset Management (ITAM) solutions, helping over a thousand companies during that time.
What are you looking forward to most at SITS?
This is a great opportunity to engage with customers and industry professionals face-to-face. It's a chance to receive immediate feedback on our new features, as well as discuss and confront the latest trends in IT Service Management and IT Asset Management. Last but not least, we can showcase our solutions and compare them with industry leaders.
Why should visitors come to your stand?
Heading to SITS 2023? Don't miss out on ALVAO's booth and the chance to discover their comprehensive ITSM and ITAM software designed specifically for Microsoft 365. The seamless integration of ALVAO's mature solutions makes adoption easy and provides everything you need in a single platform, maximizing the benefits.
While at the booth, make sure to check out the brand new functionalities, including a Teams integration that allows operators to create tickets directly from a Teams chat and view an employee's availability status.
Another exciting new feature being introduced is the integration of ChatGPT, which offers immediate advice and a quick summary of the problem being addressed, significantly improving efficiency for both the operator and requester.
Meet the ALVAO team at stand 225 at SITS, The Service Desk & IT Support Show, on 10-11 May 2023 at ExCeL London. You can now register for your free ticket here.