IMPLEMENTATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF SAM STRUCTURES IN COMPANIES PART TWO

HERE: SERVICE QUALITY, THE INTERACTION OF ITSM & ITAM

Ensure compliance economically. This is a strategic goal for a SAM organisation. But how does the SAM organisation contribute to IT service quality?

Initial situation

Our Licence Manager is assigned a high-priority incident ticket in which a user (also on behalf of their department) complains that they no longer have access to a production-critical software application. Error message: “You do not have a valid licence key”. In short, the production lines are at a standstill! In the meantime, other IT specialists have been entrusted with troubleshooting.

The Licence Manager investigates the process from a licence management perspective.

What has happened?

The software and service contract in question was subjected to a regular needs analysis 6 months ago before the contract was extended. The requirement was confirmed by the department. No contract adjustments were necessary. As the budget was also secured, the process was forwarded to Purchasing for further action. The software product manager (PP) was involved in the process as defined. The goods receipt, updated sources and licence key were confirmed 3 months ago. The invoice was instructed for payment. Receipt of payment was confirmed by the manufacturer. Data updated in the SAM tool.

What went wrong here?

The Licence Manager does not take long to identify the service gap. The goods receipt was not forwarded to the person responsible for the product. Now you could say, why didn’t the PV get in touch? But that would not be helpful.

There is a gap in the service understanding and service process that needs to be closed. ITIL offers a solution framework for this.

ITAM and ITSM belong together

By now it is clear that the ITAM world has arrived in the ITSM world. Or vice versa. Documented in the latest version of ITIL 4.0, ITAM has been incorporated into one of the 34 practices (source: ITAM Channel, Jasper Oestergaard).

What does this mean for SAM?

SAM is not exclusively responsible for the topics of licence compliance and their economic provision. SAM is also involved in maintaining operational readiness and ensuring service quality. There are a number of other supporting topics here. More on this later.

In short: ITAM and ITSM benefit from each other’s input.