At a glance
Company
UK-based global energy company
Industry
Oil & Gas
USU solution
The Challenge
“Just renew it, I have the budget!” This was the software strategy of many business units as this global EU-based energy company grew. Business units owned their software budgets and managed their renewals, resulting in duplicate contracts and unnecessary costs. There was added complexity due to the sprawling global structure of the organization. And a broad range of software products were used – including expensive specialist software – each with its own complex licensing metrics. The SAM team needed to significantly reduce the spend, including for software audits as the company was “paying what the vendor thought” they should.
The Solution
USU Software Asset Management was implemented. The SAM team established processes to engage stakeholders to get the right data into the tool. The top 20 software vendors were onboarded first, and 40+ data sources gave a clear global compliance view. The USU solution gave a clear view of software ownership, software usage and contractual terms. This data helped the SAM team to cut out duplicate costs and establish processes around purchasing. As part of their cloud transition, the team also migrated five custom-built data centers to the cloud, reducing their overall software spend and maturing their SAM processes.
The Results
Managing software ownership and vendors in a single “pane of glass” has helped the SAM team to overcome many internal obstacles. For several years after implementation, the company saved $10M per annum. This success includes cutting out duplicate spend, “unlimited use” and automatic renewals. They also identifiy cheaper alternatives to top-tier vendors like AWS and Microsoft. Using the USU solution has also improved the company’s audit readiness, and lets the SAM team and Procurement proactively manage contracts and vendor relations together.
