Flexera One Migration Success with ABB, Anglepoint, and Flexera

Key Takeaway:

ABB partnered with Anglepoint and Flexera to successfully migrate their FlexNet Management Suite to Flexera One, enabling real-time decision-making across stakeholders.

As a technology leader in electrification and automation, ABB is enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future. The company’s solutions combine engineering expertise and software to the way systems are manufactured, moved, powered and operated. Building on more than 140 years of excellence, ABB’s 105,000 employees are committed to driving innovations that accelerate industrial transformation.

Facing ITAM Complexity

For the last four years, ABB has been working with Anglepoint to establish an effective ITAM program leveraging FNMS as the foundation. The program, led by ABB’s ITAM team in partnership with Anglepoint, provided SAM managed services for key software publishers and tooling services, while also developing and maturing policies and procedures. To mature the implementation of FNMS, a significant investment of time was spent on stakeholder awareness, education, and top-down strategic direction mandating the installation of FNMS agent on all devices within the environment.

Following the lessons learned from the FNMS implementation, ABB’s requirements matured in the context of an increasingly complex and fast-changing hybrid environment. Their applications are dependent on assets and data that resides within multiple environments with de-centralized teams using flexible licensing models. With an increased focus on minimizing financial, security and license compliance risk, while optimizing existing software investments, it became critical to have real-time visibility into trustworthy data across the entire enterprise.

Meeting Stakeholder Needs for Real-Time Data

When considering migrating to Flexera One, ABB gathered requirements from key stakeholders across various Global teams and from within the Business Areas to understand what would add value to each user group. Key stakeholders highlighted the need for trusted data, SaaS visibility, chargebacks, and tools to optimize investments and manage overconsumption. Their feedback guided the migration to ensure value for all user groups.

Feedback included:

“We want data we can trust”

“We want to optimize products”

“We want to chargeback users”

“We want to have all our SaaS products visible”

“We want to use this as a source to cross reference data”

“We want be aware of over-consumption”

“We want to use data to modernize, to optimize on our investments and to better negotiate and save on renewals.“

Why Flexera One Was the Right ITAM Solution for ABB

With such a large and complex environment, ABB wanted to explore the benefits of moving to Flexera One to empower the Global, Business Area and Division teams by providing real-time trustworthy data across the entire IT asset management (ITAM) estate. ABB needed to strengthen their contract negotiating position, minimize potential compliance risks and reduce administrative overhead.

The tool needed to be user-friendly and serve as the single source of truth globally for hundreds of stakeholders. Flexera One would enable these stakeholders across ITAM, global teams, and Business Area and Division teams to make informed decisions based on reliable data to drive to business outcomes, and the platform needed to be flexible enough to meet the reporting requirements of the de-centralized organizational structure.

The Flexera One Migration Plan

ABB, Anglepoint and Flexera collaborated to prepare a plan for the Flexera One migration and post-implementation support.

Due to the scale of the project, ABB, Anglepoint, and Flexera each deployed project managers assigned to ensure that all team members were on track with assigned tasks.  These teams worked together to establish and execute the migration plan which included both technical preparation requirements and the cultural aspects to engage all stakeholders throughout the journey.

A few key elements of this plan included:

A Communications Plan for executives and for new and existing Flexera users
Assessment and documentation of the existing FNMS environment that was then updated after migration
User Training Plan recorded for future use: Flexera One ITAM for FNMS Users, Flexera One for new Flexera users, IT Visibility User Training, and SaaS Manager Training
User Support Plan including Open Door sessions for all Flexera users to ask questions of Anglepoint’s technical experts, and ticketing system to raise troubleshooting requests

Quick Business Wins and Achievements

Fundamentally, Flexera One’s ITAM, IT Visibility and SaaS Management modules, have enabled the right people to have access to the right data on a real-time basis, reflecting the decentralized organizational structure. For the first time, have people within different divisions or countries had access to this type of information and the insights needed to act on it.

With the migration to Flexera One complete, ABB was able to achieve significant business outcomes within weeks.

These included:

Trained 50 users in Flexera One with dedicated trainings for existing FNMS users to highlight the key differences between FNMS and Flexera One, and for new Flexera users to navigate the new platform. These users now have access and have begun creating their own reports.
Promoted the benefits of Flexera One and importance of trustworthy data to executives and all stakeholders. Spreading the awareness ensured the support needed for stakeholders to make informed decisions through the Communications Plan. This indicates a cultural change that highlights the importance of ITAM at ABB.
Fully automated coverage analysis reports in a self-service model, saving money on Tableau licenses.
Improved data quality and time previous required to clean and maintain the data has reduced.
Removed the time and cost to manage the backend server infrastructure because Flexera One is Cloud-based.
Reduced reconciliation time significantly and increased the reliability of the reconciliation.
Identified potential optimization opportunities for Adobe by leveraging SaaS Manager, which will become part of standard reporting through Anglepoint’s Managed Services.
Aligned ITAM with the ABB corporate from Good to Great framework by moving from an on-premises platform to the Cloud.

Rapid ROI Through PowerBI Reports

A critical example of Flexera One’s impact is the Power BI report on inactive users for Adobe using the SaaS module created within weeks of the migration. This report identified potential optimization based on inactive users, and Users License Product Configuration optimization reviewing users with redundant licenses. This small step completed in a very short time frame showcased quick wins regarding ROI on ABB’s migration.

Since the creation of this report in Flexera One, ABB now regularly shares optimization reports as part of the ongoing ABB & Anglepoint Risk Remediation & Optimization management process. These reports play a vital role in managing risks and identifying optimization opportunities across the business on a detailed level. Similar reports leveraging Flexera One’s data will be created for workstreams across Anglepoint’s SAM Managed Service to ensure that these reports are understood and then actioned by the business to realize results.

The newfound visibility with Flexera One transforms their raw data into actionable business intelligence. Stakeholders can now make informed decisions that deliver successful ITAM outcomes aligned with ABB’s mission.

The Move From Good to Great

The migration from FNMS to Flexera One represents moving from Good to Great by transitioning from the more static on-premises solution in FNMS, to a Cloud native platform that removes the overhead of managing the backend infrastructure. This shift has provided ABB with visibility into real-time, trustworthy data across their hardware assets, software licensing and cloud consumption. With Flexera One, ABB is better equipped to drive resource-efficiency. The newfound visibility with Flexera One transforms their raw data into actionable business intelligence. Stakeholders can now make informed decisions that deliver successful ITAM outcomes aligned with ABB’s mission. By optimizing license and cloud resources allocation, and gaining insight into carbon emissions across the estate, ABB can improve both cost management and sustainability.

“Fundamentally, Flexera One’s ITAM, IT Visibility and SaaS Management modules have enabled the right people to have access to the right data on a real-time basis and enact The ABB Way. Flexera One, after the successful implementation, is now a strategic platform that’s supports the entire organization enabling data driven business decisions.”

Sarah Marriott Director, Anglepoint

Cultural Transformation and ITAM Adoption

In addition to the operational benefits of cost savings, optimizations and risk management, there have also been significant cultural wins within ABB. Existing FNMS users have felt well-informed about the migration, including changes to existing functionality and the new features available in Flexera One. As a result of the Communications plan and training plan, users who previously engaged with Flexera for their specific use cases are now more engaged and proactive.

Employees who had never used Flexera before are now actively requesting access to the Flexera One platform, eager to leverage its benefits. Previously, only 20 people had access to FNMS, and this was mostly ABB’s SAM and Anglepoint team members. However, now there are 150+ users and counting! This widespread adoption indicates a cultural change within ABB as employees seek to use Flexera One to its fullest potential and work collaboratively to better manage their IT environment.

Thanks to the hard work between ABB and Anglepoint’s team members, ABB was recognized as the “Trailblazer of the Year” in the 2024 Flexera Technology Intelligence Awards.

Flexera’s Trailblazer of The Year Award

Thanks to the hard work between ABB and Anglepoint’s team members, ABB was recognized as the “Trailblazer of the Year” in the 2024 Flexera Technology Intelligence Awards. This outstanding achievement recognizes an organization that has successfully implemented Flexera One into their strategy within the past year and demonstrated quick time to value for their organization. It is a fantastic industry recognition of the strong partnership between ABB, Anglepoint and Flexera, where teams worked together to deliver outstanding business value and drive cultural changes within ABB.

Ongoing Partnership For Continued Success

Anglepoint is an embedded partner within ABB, providing ongoing support to Flexera One users by answering questions, troubleshooting and maximizing coverage. Our technical and software licensing experts work together to leverage more data and dashboards available in Flexera One as part of Anglepoint’s ongoing SAM Managed Services. The primary focus is on driving adoption and training within the Business Areas, ensuring Flexera One is the single source of truth.

Anglepoint is eager to help organizations, both simple and complex, achieve ITAM success through successful ITAM tool implementation, migration, and ongoing managed services. Our team is equipped with the expertise and knowledge to facilitate seamless integrations and deliver measurable results for your ITAM program across all software publishers.

Nationwide’s IT Asset Management has experienced significant change over the years as software license estates have grown from just software and servers to the cloud, adding layer upon layer of complexity to the organization that now has a workforce of over 17,000 employees.

To address the changes to its IT estate, Nationwide engaged with various managed service providers, taking the view that they could outsource the responsibility and accountability of SAM to a trusted partner. In the same vein, various tools that were seen as the ‘silver bullet’ were implemented. Despite their best intentions, they weren’t organized internally as a team to make these partnerships and tools work effectively for them.

Nationwide had already experienced painful IBM audits that resulted in unbudgeted spend, and a suboptimal IBM estate which needed to be rectified.

The lack of a mature structured ITAM Management Framework meant that resources within the team were in a constantly reactive state. ITAM and IT Procurement didn’t have a strong working relationship and operated in silos. Cross-functional requests were often met with a defensive response because neither team understood clearly why the requests were being made. The organization holds a vast amount of confidential information, and this compounded the situation as there were security concerns about what this information was being used for. Opportunities to share knowledge, appropriate data, and valuable information to drive positive outcomes were often missed. This lack of internal communication also impacted the relationship with IBM, and Marie was concerned that if Procurement spoke to the publisher, it was possible that an audit could be triggered when the wrong information was unwittingly imparted due to the lack of knowledge about compliance. Nationwide had already experienced painful IBM audits that resulted in unbudgeted spend, and a suboptimal IBM estate which needed to be rectified.

ITAM & Procurement Grow a Stronger Relationship

Marie explained how Nationwide moved ITAM and IT Procurement functions into a well-managed, cohesive, and proactive relationship. This began with a process of communication and education, and both teams started to understand more about how the other operated and realized that, through sharing information and working together more collaboratively, they would become more effective. This allowed the ITAM team to understand how the procurement team functioned on a more granular level and provided them with the data they needed. As renewals approached, they established exact requirements so that the right products were purchased in the right way and with the right volumes. Procurement began to understand the importance of the governance and optimization the ITAM function delivered and provided the team with the documentation and contracts, allowing them to manage the software effectively knowing what they could deploy and where they could deploy it.

The trust between the two teams grew and ITAM and Procurement started working together on optimizing Nationwide’s software estate. This trust became invaluable as it led to a journey that would free up resources and optimize Nationwide’s IT spend. Most importantly, this would mitigate the risk of costly audits.

Nationwide Confronts the Complexities of IBM Licensing

Marie recalls her team navigating two IBM audits, each taking about six months to complete. With so many teams across such a huge organization, trying to track down the information required in the audit response and who would need to provide it was extremely time-consuming. Valuable resources were taken away from day-to-to-day business tasks to build the response, leaving the team in a constantly reactive state. As a result, the outcome of each audit was less than favorable and required a negotiation process that would subsequently define the IBM renewal. This prevented the careful forecasting of usage and only buying what was needed. Instead, the settlement was met by increasing the products and volumes to satisfy IBM and ensure compliance.

Marie explained that despite her experience with IBM, the constant changes to the publisher's licensing terms meant that they were continuously trying to stay abreast of the correct usage of products while carrying out all other ITAM responsibilities. Managing deployment, changes to the environment, and ensuring it was all being collected correctly by ILMT was becoming overwhelming.

The amount Nationwide was spending with IBM was spiraling because the reactive state of management of the environment left substantial large agreements in place without a clear understanding of what was actually needed, both now and in the future. Trying to achieve either a cost-neutral or cost-down outcome was impossible as new projects would land requiring more products.

Team Discussions Lead to an IASP Solution

Procurement now understood what the ITAM team encountered each time there was an audit and ITAM understood how this ultimately affected the IT budget. The lack of resources and expertise to support these audits and proactively manage this publisher had become a challenge, and both teams knew they needed a solid solution.

Nationwide’s Senior IT Procurement Manager, Ros Davies, spoke with IBM about the possibility of a ‘no audit’ clause to be added to their contracts. IBM suggested the IASP program, explained the benefits, including the audits exemption, and provided a list of approved partners. This was put to Marie as a solution, but with her experience and understanding of how IBM operates, she understandably had reservations. The program looked like it would be embarking on an uncomfortably close and overly transparent relationship that would feel like an ongoing audit. It sounded like IBM would have a complete and constant view of their IBM estate and that a partner would act as an extra set of eyes, alerting IBM of any non-compliance. She envisaged each situation where servers are spun up by the software developers, leaving them instantly non-compliant and unable to remediate. On first impressions, the only solution this provided would be simplifying the procurement process, and it looked like a very costly solution to the problem.

The strong relationship and understanding between ITAM and Procurement meant mutual respect for any apprehensions and an appreciation of requirements. They explored the program more extensively and realized the overall value this program could deliver if they were working with the right partner, and if both teams were involved in the partnership. Marie's initial concerns were dispelled, and she entrusted Ros’ Procurement team with finding and engaging with the right IASP partner. Ros and her team had a clear understanding of the role that ITAM performed within Nationwide, and understood the failings of previous managed service partnerships. They knew what would be required from the new partnership and that the decision wouldn’t be solely based on the cost. Marie was confident in Ros’ ability to communicate the progress of the provider evaluation and engage with the best IASP provider to meet their needs.

Anglepoint is Chosen as the Independent IASP Provider

The Gartner^® Magic Quadrant^™ for SAM Managed Service Providers showed Anglepoint as a strong contender for this partnership. Although they were a relatively unknown American IASP provider in the UK market at the time, they were the clear leader in their field. Nationwide needed a provider to partner with that would have aligned goals and be incentivized by outcomes that met with their focus on cost optimization and reduced risk, not the sale of IBM software.

The partnership was formed, and the process took about six months to implement fully. Anglepoint’s expert team worked closely with Nationwide to ensure engagement with all the right people across the organization through weekly updates and continuous reporting. A gap analysis of ILMT and SAM tooling ensured that all the IBM data was being gathered and that there was a clear centralized view of the IBM estate. Anglepoint embedded itself within Nationwide, working as an extension of the ITAM and Procurement teams and providing extra resources and IBM expertise, acting as both a consultant and partner. Nationwide followed IBM’s best practices that Anglepoint recommended and now operates in complete compliance with the risk of painful audits eliminated. Nationwide has now outlined a clear roadmap for IBM, forecasting future use and empowering the best possible commercial and contractual outcomes for renewals.

The IASP program requires the client to provide usage reports every six months. Anglepoint delivers reports every quarter to Nationwide so that a close eye is kept on the IBM environment, meaning Nationwide is ready and prepared to submit the usage reports.

Anglepoint’s services have gone above and beyond the requirements of the IASP program and offer an extra layer of optimization recommendations and remediations to help keep firm control of the IBM Spend. The relationship has created a better management perception of the ITAM and Procurement teams as the partnership means budgeting is more accurate and favorable. Rather than engaging with management every few months, reports are provided regularly, ensuring any requests that are made are delivered with confidence and more likely to be approved. ITAM and Procurement are more respected as improved business functions.

Today, Nationwide has a well-managed IBM estate, a strong relationship with Anglepoint as their IASP provider, and a great relationship with IBM. Through this they benefit from additional resources provided by Anglepoint, the ability to plan and budget, and remediate risk as a result of having a compliant IBM estate.

This working relationship with Anglepoint has expanded and now includes many other publishers in a Managed Service. Anglepoint’s laser focus on everything ITAM means Nationwide stays current and offers invaluable benchmarking across the industry. This allows Nationwide to do what they do best and service their 15 million customers worldwide.

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