IT Asset Management Risk Remediation | Webinar Recording

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Anglepoint:

Welcome to our “4 Steps to ITAM Risk Remediation” with ABB and Anglepoint. We’re so happy to have you all joining us today. Before we begin, there are a few housekeeping items to go over. This webinar is being recorded, and we will send out the link to everyone about a week from today.

As we listen to our presenters, we encourage you to use the Q&A feature to ask any questions you may have. We hope this webinar answers many of your questions, but if others come up, feel free to use the Q&A button.

Lastly, as we get started, we’d like to remind you that the Magic Quadrant report from Gartner is out, and you can download it at anglepoint.com/mq.

We’re excited to have you here today! Now, I’d like to introduce Sarah Marriott, a director here at Anglepoint, who will be helping with today’s webinar. Sarah, thank you for joining us. And a special shout-out to Sarah, as she recently won the ITAM Review’s Consultant of the Year award! With that, I’ll pass it over to you, Sarah.

Sarah Marriott:

Thanks so much, Kirsten! I appreciate the shout-out, and thanks to everyone for joining today. Welcome to this very special webinar, “The Four Steps to ITAM Risk Remediation.”

I’m particularly excited about this topic because it touches on the core of everything we do in ITAM. How do we ensure that our recommendations — whether they involve remediating risk, realizing cost savings, or avoiding costs — are actually put into action?

I’m sure we’ve all faced frustrations where risks are raised but no action is taken. Or even worse, reports are created just for the sake of it, and no one reads them, let alone takes action. Today, I’ll be speaking with two wonderful people from ABB, Hery and Andrzej, about how we’ve partnered to overcome these challenges and drive real change at ABB.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Sarah Marriott. I’m a Director at Anglepoint and have worked across the world in many different roles. I’ve bought and sold software, overseen technology procurement, and even written some code at a cloud company. Since joining Anglepoint almost five years ago, I’ve worked in a few different capacities.

I started as the Global Practice Leader for Specialty Licensing, where I was responsible for service delivery across hundreds of non-top-tier publishers like VMware, Micro Focus, Dassault, Autodesk, and many others. I then moved into Client Success, overseeing our largest managed service clients across various work streams, helping improve their ITAM maturity. Now, I’m in Account Management, where I manage the strategic direction of clients across EMEA and APAC.

Today, as I mentioned, I’m thrilled to be joined by two people I’ve worked very closely with over the last few years. Hery, would you like to introduce yourself?

Hery Rason:

Yeah, sure! Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Hery, Senior ITAM Manager and Global IT Asset Management Lead at ABB. I’ve been with the company for about eight or nine years, but I’ve been in the ITAM space for over 15 years. And joining us today is Andrzej. I’ll let him introduce himself.

Andrzej Skrundz:

Hello, everyone. I’m Andrzej, from Krakow, Poland. I’ve been with ABB for almost two years and with ADCET for nearly five years. I started my journey somewhere else in the Service Desk but eventually moved to ADCET. I’m the Process Manager for the Discrimination Process at ABB right now. That’s one of my roles, among many others, but it’s the main one, and that’s what we’ll be talking about today.

Sarah Marriott:

Wonderful! Well, thank you both for joining us and for sharing your insights with our audience today.

As for today’s agenda, we’re first going to talk a bit about the context and the ABB-Anglepoint partnership. We’ll then do a deep dive into the process itself, followed by a discussion of the impact and some of the results we’ve seen since implementing the risk remediation process. Finally, we’ll move to the Q&A.

As Kirsten mentioned at the beginning, if you have any questions that come up, please feel free to type them into the Q&A box so we can answer them at the end. We also have a few poll questions, so keep an eye out for those. Let’s start with the first one now.

What area of ITAM is the highest priority for you right now? We have quite a few options to consider. There are many risks, and probably some we don’t even know about yet. I’m sure there are some unrealized savings as well. Perhaps there’s limited visibility around cloud spend, or concerns about data integrity, with no one trusting the data. Maybe you’re dealing with manual processes, or it’s more people-based — struggling to recruit and retain experienced staff.

I’ll give you all a moment to think about that… Interesting! Okay, it looks like we have a bit of a mixed bag. Some concerns about risks, some around unrealized cost savings, but the biggest result is no one trusts the data.

Interestingly, we had a slide earlier that highlighted these and other concerns, and “no one trusts the data” has consistently been one of the most common issues. It makes sense, because if you don’t have data you can trust as your foundation, it’s really hard to make informed decisions.

Hery, Andrzej, do you have any thoughts on these polling results?

Hery Rason:

Yeah, I have to say I’m a little surprised, but not entirely. There’s so much data to gather from colleagues around the world, and sometimes it’s overwhelming, while other times it’s sparse. So, it can be really challenging to trust the data. But it’s more than just that. I think we’ll be able to share some insights on how to go from not trusting the data to collecting it properly and building that trust.

Andrzej Skrundz:

I couldn’t agree more, Hery. And it’s also about those risks we don’t know about or the unrealized savings we haven’t yet uncovered.

Sarah Marriott:

Absolutely. I think most people would agree. If you can’t trust the data, then you’re facing what I call the “black hole of death” — the unknown unknowns. You don’t even know what risks are out there, and that’s a dangerous place to be.

You don’t even know what those cost savings or opportunities are. So, how do we start at the foundational level to be able to trust the data? What’s the defined action plan to achieve that crucial first step? Only then can we proceed with risk remediation on a broader scale and realize those unrealized cost savings.

Alright, let’s move on to the first point. I’ve included a few happy photos of us together over the years. Hery knows I love to include photos on slides—it’s amazing you still let me take pictures of the team! But starting from the beginning, Hery, when you initially built the SAM program, what do you think was the primary reason executives gave the green light to engage with Anglepoint for a broader SAM managed service program?

Hery Rason:

Well, it comes down to the skill sets within your company, whether it’s ABB or for those of you joining us today from places like France, Spain, Poland, or Switzerland. When you assess the skill sets within your organization, you reach a certain point where you realize there’s more to software asset management (SAM) and hardware asset management (HAM) than what your team can handle.

As competent and excellent as your internal colleagues may be, there’s just an overwhelming amount of information to process and understand. This is where services, like those provided by Anglepoint, come into play. In a sense, you’re not just buying a service—you’re buying time. Time that you don’t have to develop the skills required, and yet you’re under pressure to deliver.

So, when you don’t have the skill sets, you need to find a different way to get the job done. Anglepoint is one of those companies that helps with that. We’ve been working with them since… when was it, 2020?

Sarah Marriott:

From the very beginning.

Hery Rason:

Right. So, we started working together about a year and a half to two years before COVID, but even before that, we were already discussing potential collaborations months in advance.

The journey begins with you as SAM practitioners or IT asset management professionals looking in-house to assess what’s most important and determining whether you can deliver with the skill sets you currently have. Once we did that assessment, we realized we had to look outside—we had no choice, because we didn’t have all the required skill sets internally.

Some of the people in the pictures you’ve shown have those skill sets. And why not go to where the expertise is? There’s no shame in asking for help or contracting for services. You either have the skill sets in-house and work to develop, enhance, and bring the whole team together, or you focus on key areas where you need support, then partner with others to handle the areas that are more challenging.

Sarah Marriott:

Exactly, and the most common feedback we get from clients revolves around capacity and the need for specialist expertise. Our approach is always built on a partnership mindset. We work as if we’re embedded in the team, and it’s great to see when, during presentations, people can’t tell who’s from ABB and who’s from Anglepoint. We all come together as one team to push forward, improving ITAM maturity, remediating risk, and realizing optimization opportunities.

When we first came on board, ABB was going through several changes. One major shift was the introduction of what’s known as The ABB Way. Essentially, the operating model shifted from a centralized to a very decentralized approach, where business areas and divisions were empowered to make decisions about their business strategy, with full P&L responsibility.

This meant the role of the global ITAM team changed as well. We transitioned from decision-makers to enablers, ensuring the business areas had all the information they needed to make decisions for their divisions, countries, or whatever segments they were responsible for. Crucially, if a business area decided to accept certain risks, that was their decision to make.

Harry, when The ABB Way was first introduced, and considering that many industries globally are trending toward decentralization, what did you find most challenging in adapting your approach to work with the business in line with this new model to remediate risks and drive change?

Hery Rason:

One of the biggest challenges, given the size of ABB—we’re operating in over 40 countries, with four business divisions, and more than 105,000 employees (at one point, over 130,000 employees) with over 200,000 devices—was the need for strong governance. In IT asset management, we start with governance: policies, corporate governance, and corporate procedures.

As we began to understand and embed The ABB Way within our teams, we also needed to develop a corporate procedure that aligned with this model. This included defining how we would manage our assets, reduce risks, and maximize opportunities. We also needed to figure out how to deploy our methodologies and train people to manage assets at their level, in line with their specific roles.

It wasn’t just about establishing a governance and process framework—we had to make sure it was flexible enough to work across the board at a corporate level while also being adaptable for the business areas and countries. Each region had its own needs, so we had to ensure the model worked for them without over-engineering or over-complicating things.

When a country’s asset manager or software asset license manager comes into the picture, the goal is to have a streamlined process for managing software, defending against audits, measuring, and optimizing. As we move forward, our colleagues in the business and countries become more familiar with these processes, enabling them to manage their own areas effectively. They can replicate what’s been done at the corporate level but adapt it to suit their business or country’s needs.

This journey puts us in a position where we can act like high-level consultants who come in to support requests, audit defense mechanisms, and optimization strategies. We have skill sets that are not only above average but sometimes far beyond that.

In some of the pictures you’ve shown, there’s Sarah with the ABB logo in the background. These are two of our colleagues in Spain. When we started this journey, they weren’t with us yet, but we brought them in because of their specialized skills that we wanted within ABB. So, we’ve hired additional people, and they’ve brought in new expertise.

In the bottom-left picture, I’m standing in the middle with the Anglepoint sign. The gentleman in the red sweater represents one of our main business units, and he’s a key player for me. He helps translate what we’re doing at the corporate level into the business units. That’s crucial—it’s always about governance, policies, processes, and communication. And I can’t stress enough the importance of communication. Sometimes you’ll feel like you’re over-communicating, but then someone might come to you and ask, “Why haven’t we heard anything about this?” You need to keep that line of communication open to build strong relationships.

In the last picture, we see Zarra Leonte and others, including Nishant, working in the engineering area. They are collaborating with one of our colleagues in Spain, Leo, who is a fantastic guy—always coming up with ideas and lending a helping hand. He works closely with the Anglepoint team, sharing knowledge and seeking support when necessary.

Leo is also part of our internal initiative, Race to Care, and he actually won a competition involving over a thousand ABB members. He was recognized by the CIO for his ideas and approaches that, while they may not seem groundbreaking, saved ABB a significant amount of money. His contributions have been recorded as part of our risk management process, showcasing how we manage and accept risks effectively.

This entire journey is about having your team, working with them, supporting them, and fostering a back-and-forth relationship. You can’t do it alone—you need your team because there’s just so much to manage, and things are constantly changing. We’ll be talking about some licensing issues shortly, and I can almost guarantee the model will change next week, and again next year. Everyone in these pictures is constantly improving, training, communicating, and sharing their knowledge. They’re also openly critical when necessary, and that’s important—it’s not just about agreeing all the time. Sometimes you need to ask tough questions, respectfully but assertively, to ensure everything makes sense.

And when you do that, you also gauge whether the person you’re speaking with understands you as a counterpart. Don’t hesitate to do this when talking to vendors or salespeople. If they don’t understand what they’re selling or talking about, it’s crucial that you, as a SAM manager, do. If you don’t get it the first time, it’s only going to be harder to understand later.

Sarah Marriott:

Absolutely, I couldn’t agree more. I want to emphasize the point about education and building relationships with stakeholders. At ABB, we work with hundreds of stakeholders across the world, in all time zones, business areas, and divisions. We help with everything from data collection to risk remediation to demand forecasting, or whatever the topic might be.

In the beginning, it was challenging because many people didn’t know who we were—“Who is the SAM team?” they’d ask.

Why are they knocking on my door, asking me to spend hours collecting data, or pushing me to change my business model because I need to upgrade old software, remove something I shouldn’t have installed, or pay for licenses I haven’t bought but am using?

Investing time in creating a solid foundation with the SAM corporate procedure, and building relationships with stakeholders, is crucial. If you don’t focus on that foundation first, by the time you come asking for data or flagging a risk, they won’t care—and they’ll continue to ignore your emails. And that’s not the outcome we want.

I also appreciate the challenges from the BAs’ perspective, especially with the changes in the operating model. They’re now responsible for these new ITAM-related tasks on top of their existing jobs. That’s something many people can relate to in their careers as they find themselves involved in IT asset management. We need to be respectful of their time and, as you said, Harry, make sure they understand what we’re here to do and how we can benefit them. At the same time, we need to understand what’s business-critical for them and how we can support and enable their operations, whether they’re engineers or in other roles.

Alright, let’s move on to our second poll question: What is the primary driver for your organization’s risk remediation efforts? Is it regulatory compliance, data security and privacy, cost optimization, or external audits?

The results are pretty balanced—interesting! I didn’t expect that, but let’s break it down.

Hery Rason:

What’s fascinating here is how close the two top answers are to what’s happening in the technology world today. As we shift from traditional licenses to subscription-based models and web applications, we’re always asking: Are we optimizing costs? This especially comes up with SaaS applications, like M365. At some point, people will start asking themselves, Are we overspending? Do we really need everything we’re paying for? That’s where cost optimization comes in.

But data security and privacy are right up there as well, especially when you’re operating globally, like we are, with 105,000 employees spread across different countries. For example, in Switzerland, you could personally be liable for up to $150,000 in case of a data breach. That’s the reality we face today—data security and privacy are non-negotiable.

As we move further into the cloud, containers, and Kubernetes, performance might improve, and we’ll get better at understanding costs. But data security and privacy will always be critical because, if you’re not secure, then no matter what you’re doing with licenses or costs, you’re constantly exposed to high risk.

That’s a core message at ABB. We’ve faced challenges in our InfoSec infrastructure over the years, so we’ve had to significantly bolster our security. Now, when we talk about cost optimization and regulatory compliance, it’s integrated into the conversation. These issues aren’t separate—and they can’t be, especially in IT asset management. There’s always a paragraph about security and privacy in the terms and conditions, and that becomes even more important when you’re dealing with named user licenses. That person’s name isn’t the company’s property, so you have to safeguard it.

Sarah Marriott:

Exactly—it’s interesting to see the range of drivers for risk remediation, but no matter what the motivation, all these factors are critical. They all contribute to the broader importance of remediating risk, not just for ITAM, but for the business as a whole.

Alright, let’s get into the details. We’ve got a pretty busy slide here, so I’ll walk you through what this process looks like, and then Andrjez will jump in to explain the parts he manages, as Anglepoint delivers certain components of this process.

There are parts of the process that ABB manages, but we’re always in lockstep, helping each other and ensuring we move forward together. We use this framework at Anglepoint for all our managed service clients as part of continuous service delivery. Of course, each client has unique nuances, and we’ll show how Ondrej manages this for ABB in just a second.

To orient you to the slide, let’s start with the center. You’ll see the people and stakeholders represented by different colored columns, which indicate various teams we work with—procurement, security, cloud center of excellence, and the different business areas and product owners. Typically, the operational team, which you see in the middle column, should have representation from each of these business areas, which is why the colors are diverse.

Then we have the SAM service, which is in the middle and shown in grey. I’m not sure why it’s grey—clearly, we’re important and should be a more exciting color—but we’ll roll with it. So in that grey section, you’ll find both internal resources and the managed service provider. This forms our core team.

Above this, you have the steering committee, which includes executive representation, also shown in different colors. Anglepoint often acts as the governance administrator for this steering committee, helping oversee the process.

At a high level, if we zoom out, we focus on measuring and delivering reports, like a risk and opportunity assessment. The risks identified are then registered and prioritized by the steering committee within the internal GRC tool, which you can see in the bottom right-hand corner.

Simultaneously, all of the related recommendations are registered in Elevate, where they are tracked regularly. Information is segmented by business area, including device names and other critical details. This data is essential for follow-up reports, which may be delivered at different frequencies—IBM could be quarterly, Microsoft profile use monthly, a green IT report every six months, and OpenText annually—depending on client priorities.

We measure changes and celebrate the wins the team has worked on collaboratively since the previous report. Now, focusing on the top right-hand corner, this process begins with the initial effective license position (ELP) or whatever report we’re working on at the time, alongside the risk and opportunity assessment. At Anglepoint, we capture financial summaries and actionable recommendations.

We collaborate with our clients to turn potential savings into realized cost savings and cost avoidance. While this process often revolves around publisher ELPs, it can also focus on SAM tooling, green IT, FinOps, or ITAM program transformations. Regardless of the role, the report always includes actionable recommendations.

Once that report is delivered, Andrzej will review the PowerPoint, and we register these risks into the GRC.

Andrzej Skrundz:

Exactly. Based on the report, I meet with the GSAM team. They have a good understanding of the situation and often provide helpful insights. We’ve also invited Anglepoint to join these meetings if they have additional input.

I enter the risks into our GRC tool, grouping them by vendor. For each vendor, there may be multiple scenarios, or just one, based on the report’s findings. Each scenario outlines the problem—what the issue is, the risk statement, and information about which business area is most impacted. Since ABB is decentralized, it’s not always clear which area will be affected the most, but we assess that.

We determine the priority based on three factors: the financial impact, the likelihood of occurrence, and the velocity—how quickly the risk could affect us. Based on those three factors, we determine the priority level. While we aim to address every scenario, we recognize that some risks are larger and more urgent than others.

For each risk scenario, we establish a response. Based on the recommendations from the Risk and Opportunity Assessment Report (ROAR), each scenario is accompanied by one or more responses. A response outlines how we will manage the risk—essentially, the tasks needed to mitigate it. Every response is attached to its scenario, and we then determine key details like the due date and assign an owner responsible for carrying out the task.

I track the progress of each response, monitoring its status—whether it’s in progress, implemented, or pending action. We meet monthly to review these responses, but the cadence may vary because some risks might require immediate action, while others have a longer lead time. Not every risk follows the same timeline, so we adapt our reviews accordingly.

In the GRC tool, we focus on high-priority risks. However, Elevate, the tool provided by Anglepoint, is much more detailed. As Sarah mentioned earlier, Elevate contains a larger set of tasks beyond the high-level ones tracked in GRC. After each ROAR, Anglepoint creates tasks in Elevate, and during meetings, GSAM and I assign these tasks to the appropriate people—whether they are from the business side, infrastructure, or elsewhere.

Once the tasks are assigned, I track them, acting a bit like a “policeman,” ensuring things are moving forward.

Sarah Marriott:

GRC policeman, right?

Andrzej Skrundz:

Yes, exactly. I monitor the progress, send out notifications, and escalate issues to the business if necessary, in coordination with GSAMs. In Elevate, we track everything—sharing files, notes, and progress updates. When a risk is remediated and the task is completed, we close it, but only with supporting evidence. If the task isn’t finished, it remains open.

If we need to share files or documents, we do so in Elevate, ensuring everything is documented for future reference. The real proof comes when the risk no longer appears in the next ROAR, signaling it has been fully addressed.

Sarah Marriott:

Exactly—that’s what we all aim for! So, Andrzej, you’re basically Mr. GRC, right? We joke about it, but you really are the go-to person for GRC, tracking all the registered risks. You’re right that not all recommendations are financially driven. For example, we might suggest assigning a product owner or making preparations for the next contract negotiation—these aren’t always “risks” in the traditional sense, so they don’t need to go into GRC, but we still track them in Elevate to ensure they are managed through to completion.

We reserve GRC for high-impact items. So, who at ABB has access to GRC?

Andrzej Skrundz:

Management—primarily higher management—has access. While anyone can request access, it’s not something that everyone needs to track. The GSAMs have visibility into GRC, but they can’t make changes. That’s my responsibility. Recently, even C-level management has been looking at GRC to see what’s going on and to track progress.

Sarah Marriott:

It’s so important and critical that the CIOs from each of the different business areas, as well as the core IS CIO, have visibility and actually review the data. This visibility allows them to see the categorization of risks into critical, high, medium impact, etc. If I’m in one business area and I notice a high risk that hasn’t been addressed, I can see which team member is working on it. This visibility ensures that issues can be tackled promptly and effectively.

Andrzej Skrundz:

Yes, with respect to escalation, having that visibility is crucial. It allows us to provide data and insights necessary for addressing any issues. If escalation is required, the relevant information is readily available.

Sarah Marriott:

I agree. Unfortunately, escalations are sometimes necessary, and you’re in a pivotal role as the middle person. You handle the GRC aspect while working closely with the GSAM (Global Software Asset Manager), who aligns with various publisher workstreams like Microsoft and engineering apps. The GSAMs work with different business areas or stakeholders, ensuring they have the necessary information and understanding to act on recommendations.

From a GRC standpoint, you review things on a monthly basis. This less frequent but comprehensive overview helps you maintain a high-level view of all detailed actions tracked in Elevate and ensures we stay on track without missing anything.

As Andrzej mentioned, Anglepoint’s SME will transfer all recommendations into Elevate, regardless of their size. Elevate is our proprietary project management tool used during our engagement cycles. It handles data requests, adds stakeholders, and features automation for processing large datasets efficiently and accurately.

We use Elevate for numerous reasons, including tracking tasks and actions across hundreds of ABB employees who have access. Access restrictions are in place to ensure that only those who need to see specific tasks can view them. This is important for data privacy and ensuring the project accurately reflects ABB’s responsibilities.

There are groups by topic in Elevate, and we can track progress over time. Before publishing a rule, we work with the global SAM to confirm the responsible person and the timeline for completion. Andrzej, you reconfirm this during your GRC discussions when updating the GRC tool to ensure alignment. This helps in setting clear responsibilities and accountability.

It’s crucial that task owners have all the necessary information to make informed decisions. Each task in Elevate includes instructions and options (A, B, C) if there are different approaches available. This empowers the task owner to choose the best course of action according to their strategy, rather than dictating a specific solution. Ultimately, an option needs to be selected and acted upon, ensuring progress and effective risk management.

So, we’re working together with all the different people and teams, as represented by the different colors on the page, to ensure that progress is made on a daily and weekly basis. Another key component of this process that Harry mentioned earlier is the SAM procedure document.

A few years ago, we rewrote the SAM policy and procedure documentation to align with the ABB way. This includes a detailed RACI matrix outlining who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for each step of the process, from data collection to stakeholder confirmation through to risk remediation and cost savings opportunities.

Essentially, this means that once a risk owner is assigned according to the RACI and aligned across the board, they are obligated to act on it. They can choose to remediate the risk or accept it and register it in the GRC tool. It’s crucial to empower the business units, as not everything is feasible or practical. As Andrzej mentioned, different risks are prioritized differently, and everything needs to be documented. During the next ELP (Effective License Position) and ROAR (Risk and Opportunity Assessment Report), we will reassess and celebrate the successes and actions taken to address risks from the prior period. As Hery likes to say, what happens between the ELP and ROAR is what really matters.

Let’s move on to our third poll question: Where do you track risks and optimization opportunities today? Do you use a GRC tool, a SAM tool, a manual spreadsheet, or do you not have a formal tool for risk management?

It’s interesting to see that most people either use their SAM tool for tracking risks or manage it manually. This isn’t too surprising to me personally. The tool that ABB has developed is quite effective for capturing this information formally, though it may not be available in every organization.

Moving to the next slide, we want to discuss the impact of these tools. We set up the education piece, and I’d like Andrzej to share how having Elevate and the GRC tool has impacted his interactions with Business Analysts (BAs) and the Berkel Levels app managers in terms of risk remediation. Has it made it easier to convince them to act?

Andrzej Skrundz:

Yes, it has made a lot easier for me. The visibility provided by Elevate and the GRC tool is crucial. We can track risks and see their priority levels. If a risk is categorized as high, it naturally catches our attention. We have monthly meetings or meetings aligned with the ROAR cycle, depending on the case.

In Elevate, I don’t have to search for the person responsible because they are already assigned. Notes are added, and notifications are sent, so everyone responds accordingly. This centralized approach is very helpful; it eliminates the need to sift through numerous emails, which can often lead to missed information. Everything is consolidated in one place, which I highly recommend for efficient management.

Sarah Marriott:

And Hery, how has this process changed your conversations with executives? Has it made it easier to secure budget, headcount, or improve visibility into what’s happening?

Hery Rason:

For me and potentially for the company, what matters is that between the ROAR and the next ELP, there are continuous operational activities that are monitored and challenged to drive improvements. This is where our service truly adds value. When you make these changes and act as a change enabler, it impacts the bottom line. For instance, Andrzej mentioned risks and how they’re managed—this directly influences operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Everybody’s using Microsoft products, right? It’s easy to overlook their life cycles. When a product’s life cycle is nearing its end, you often hear about it two years in advance, but many companies still don’t act on it right away. They think, “Oh, we have another two years or five years,” because it’s going to go extended. However, from a financial perspective, if you wait until the last minute, you might miss out on investments that could have been addressed earlier by being proactive.

In your ELPs and ROARs, if recommendations suggest changes that could be made now, it often turns out to be less risky and more cost-effective. For example, if the recommendation is to move from a standard license model to an enterprise license model once you reach a certain threshold, you could optimize your costs more effectively. This is where discussions between you, as an ABB representative, and the consultants or SMEs from Anglepoint become crucial. Working together to explore your options can lead to worthwhile investments and recognition.

When you successfully propose these changes to your CIOs, they recognize your expertise and the value of your proposals. This recognition doesn’t come in the form of a trophy but rather in the form of credibility. This credibility helps when convincing others, even though you still need to justify business sense, ROI, and timelines. Building that credibility through effective service and remediation work is essential.

Sarah Marriott:

I agree. We have a photo here of the Driving Change Award given to Dominica Franca at ABB for her commitment to advancing ITAM maturity. Earlier today, a Global SAM Manager mentioned that, for the first time, they can speak to anyone in the business about significant topics because of the visibility into ITAM’s importance. This is a huge accomplishment. Despite the challenges, our partnership has proven that effective ITAM is not only possible but can lead to impressive results.

In other client implementations, people have received promotions and cash bonuses for cost savings achieved. The personal satisfaction of pointing to tangible results and seeing progress made is invaluable.

As we wrap up, I want to extend a big thank you to everyone. The key to success is working together, leveraging available tools (even if it’s just a spreadsheet), and using Elevate to track recommendations to completion. By driving towards business outcomes and maintaining continuous service delivery, we unlock the full value of ITAM for the business.

Thank you so much for your participation. We will follow up with answers to your Q&A questions, and I’m happy to have further conversations if needed. Have a wonderful rest of your Thursday, wherever you are in the world.