Global Logistics Org and Their $250k Broadcom Risk Remediation Success

This global logistics client has a large and complex IT environment supporting a high number of employees, and the resource constraints in IT make it difficult to identify and vet software applications accurately. This meant there was a lack of confidence in what information was readily available to the ITAM and IT Procurement teams to enable optimal management of software renewals that arise. One such software vendor was Broadcom, who is known to be one of the toughest publishers to negotiate with. The client needed to see where they stood with this publisher, so they contacted Anglepoint’s Specialty Licensing team. The client’s speedy action to engage with experts avoided over $250k in unbudgeted spend with Broadcom.

This Anglepoint client wanted a proactive stance with their Broadcom estate to remediate potential risk. Broadcom was a high audit risk, and the organization wanted to be prepared and forecast its renewal requirements to negotiate from a position of strength. There was a lack of confidence in the data they had for Broadcom, leading the organization to feel that reported numbers were inaccurate, but they couldn’t be sure. The environment was growing, but they didn’t know if they would need to purchase more licenses. They weren’t quite sure what the risk looked like with this software publisher, and they had limited bandwidth to fix the situation. This realization was the catalyst to engage expert resources to support their team. They didn’t want to damage their budget with an unwanted and costly software audit. Their resources were focused on a planned implementation of ServiceNow SAM Pro, and they needed accurate data and skilled experts. As a Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ Leader, the client knew that Anglepoint was best suited to help with the implementation and provide support with additional bandwidth and expertise.

Anglepoint’s SAM Specialty Licensing team worked with the client’s SAM Analyst and created a customized plan to review the organization’s Broadcom entitlement position. They divided the remaining deliverables into smaller ELPs (Effective License Positions), allowing quicker feedback via the Risk & Opportunity Assessment Report (ROAR). This would mean a much faster resolution of any required remediation.

The required documentation was gathered with the product owners to provide the Broadcom ELP. The process clarified the perception of the license position of various products. One particular product appeared to be over-utilized, but the client felt that this was not the case. Using existing tools and measurements, they determined that they were not over-utilized, but needed help identifying users who were no longer using the product. This was also the case with several other products identified as underutilized.

This was an avoidable risk that once remediated, would substantially reduce potential costs. Although delivering this work was within the client’s capabilities, they needed an extra pair of hands to complete critical tasks and remediate risk.

The client started with an excess license usage of 6.4%. Once right-sizing the environment was completed, they found they were under-utilizing 4.1% of their entitlement. Rather than the initial suspected product increase of 6.4%, they now have enough licenses to cover most of the license growth for the next two years. The organization doesn’t expect to have to purchase Broadcom licenses before 2025.

Anglepoint continues to operate as a trusted partner for this client and is looking to ready ServiceNow SAM Pro to help them understand potential shortfalls in near real time. To ensure their usage is properly accounted for and optimized, Anglepoint experts continue to have regular cadence meetings to review publisher product usage and measurements.