The Haufe Group is a great example of a successful transformation process. In two decades, the medium-sized business has transformed from a publishing house into a software company. The Haufe group is also pursuing digital change in license management. Given the large variety of software products used by the Haufe Group in their numerous worldwide offices, a continuously updating overview of all licenses and usage is indispensable.
The Haufe Group impresses Microsoft in an audit
In just a short period, the project team was able to implement and roll out the USU license management solution, along with scanners. Additionally, more than thirty pre-existing processes were optimized. Based on the license overview, the Haufe Group was able to implement more beneficial licensing models in a friendly Microsoft audit.
IT architectures are not isolated applications! During the USU installation, service desk colleagues learned about the data it generated. Cross-function data use was achieved as a result.
Ramona Knäble, License Manager in the Haufe Group
At a Glance
The Organization
Haufe Group
Industry
Software company
Employees (2017)
Approx. 1,900 employees
Turnover (2016)
343 million € (June 2017)
Website
www.haufegroup.com
Service
Implementing an integrated license record for software products used in the Haufe Group, using relevant license metrics, including connecting and monitoring cloud portals.
About the Haufe Group
The Haufe Group is a corporate group headquartered in Freiburg with 19 branches worldwide. Its service portfolio extends along the three 3 essential trade axes - people, organization and technology/systems and consists of e.g. specialist information and portals, specialized software, as well as seminars and advice on staff and organizational development for businesses.
Project Milestones
- License record for all Microsoft products using relevant license metrics
USU ManagedServices will support next steps
Even after the successful platform implementation, the project will continue. Plans are in place to onboard other software publishers and through it all, USU Managed Services will continue to support and guide the Haufe Group.
Project Objectives
- Create automated license records
- Address financial risks
- Reuse licenses instead of buying new ones
- Cost optimization through designing the best possible contracts
- Strengthen negotiating position with increased transparency
- Improve data quality
- Support for process optimization
Why USU?
- Very effective Proof of Concept support
- Specialist expertise available during license processing
- SAM solution is self-explanatory and has intuitive user guidance
- SAM solution, consulting, and services from a single provider
- The highest level of service and customer focus
- Quick response times in every project phase
High degree of SAM maturity with the USU solution
After implementation, the Haufe Group now has a clean overview of their licenses and usage within the USU solution. The business has taken an important step towards ensuring compliance and as a result, has achieved a high degree of maturity in license management in the shortest possible time.
Along with the SAM projects, the Active Directory was redesigned, a project which benefits the whole Haufe Group due to improved data quality. Furthermore, colleagues from the service desk gain added support through more information such as device details, main users or Bios versions.
This new accuracy ensures license use is standardized and uniform. This also makes employee on- and offboarding easier and directly benefits the service desk.
Connecting and monitoring cloud portals USU Software Asset Management solutions used:
License Management
Discovery
USU Managed Services
SAM Consulting and Audit Support
SAM Training Sessions
A cross-functional team ensures success
For the implementation, a License Manager position was established in order to review and evaluate concerns related to license management. At times, the project team was composed of up to 10 employees. Alongside the Project Manager (the License Manager), there was a Senior Developer, Legal Counsel, a Requirement Engineer, a Process Manager and a Technical Lead. Putting together a cross-departmental team contributed significantly to the success of the project. USU was part of the team and provided a Technical Consultant, a Project Consultant and a Service Technician.
A full license overview after two months
USU Software Asset Management was implemented after a brief exploratory phase and a Proof of Concept in November 2016. The platform was the only solution that met the Haufe Group’s demands for the most up-to-date technology, and the USU Team impressed with their detailed specialist knowledge in license processing. A license overview was available after only two months. Since then, theUSU solution has ensured that, for example, the Microsoft licenses that are in use are available and updated daily. Thus, it guarantees that no licenses are allocated unnecessarily or unlawfully.
Do you know your license situation?
USU quickly provides you with a full license overview. The platform covers all major vendors including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP, and accurately calculates complex metrics for servers, clients, mobile, and cloud. That’s how our SAM tool can find up to 30% savings for large enterprises.
More about license management here
Digital change with daily license data
An analysis of the license situation and a review of Miss Marple, the license solution used by Haufe, revealed that an ongoing, meaningful license overview could not be created. The business decided to modernize its Software Asset Management (SAM) system to create ongoing, automated, and sustainable license transparency. They also decided to include all subsidiaries in the modernization process, and to document and optimize a multitude of processes.