Leading UK Financial Institution Advances SAM Maturity Through Managed Service Approach
Company Profile
A leading UK financial institution with a complex software estate faced growing challenges in maintaining visibility, control, and accountability across its Software Asset Management (SAM) function. Fragmented ownership, data quality gaps within ServiceNow, and limited reporting capabilities meant that while operational teams were actively managing risk, leadership lacked a consolidated view of licensing exposure and its financial impact.
Anglepoint was engaged to deliver a SAM managed service across the institution’s top 10 software publishers. The engagement combined structured publisher-led delivery, rigorous license position and remediation analysis, and the introduction of a robust executive reporting framework. As the client navigated significant organizational and vendor change – including licensing model shifts, an acquisition, and changes in executive priorities – Anglepoint adapted its approach to maintain alignment.
Through Quarterly Strategic Reviews (QSRs) and a bespoke executive dashboard, leadership gained a clear, consistent view of software risk, cost savings opportunities, data quality, and upcoming contract renewals. This translated technical SAM activity into actionable insight, enabling informed decision-making and stronger governance.
As a result, the organization significantly increased its SAM maturity, reduced audit risk, and delivered measurable financial value. The program enabled the successful closure of audits by SAP and Quest, both with zero findings, an exit from an Oracle ULA with £1.2 million in annual support cost reductions, and the identification of £2.6 million in cost avoidance and £621,000 in optimization opportunities. Operational teams are now better aligned, decision-making is faster and evidence-based, and leadership has a sustainable framework for managing software risk and spend at scale.
The Challenge
A leading financial institution with 17,000 employees and an extensive UK customer base faced an increasingly complex software estate. Software ownership was distributed across multiple teams with different priorities and varying levels of licensing expertise. Compounding this complexity were significant data gaps within its newly implemented Software Asset Management (SAM) platform, ServiceNow, making it difficult to maintain an accurate and consistent view of licensing risk.
While operational teams were actively identifying and addressing risk, efforts were siloed and reactive. This created inefficiencies, misaligned priorities and unclear stakeholder accountability. The organization’s internal SAM team was also under-resourced and overextended – not only responsible for managing the software environment, but also for compliance, day-to-day activities and executive engagement. As a result, leadership lacked a consolidated view of overall exposure, remediation progress, and the associated financial impact. And without a structured reporting framework, it was difficult for leadership to clearly see how day-to-day SAM activity was supporting business value and protecting future budgets.
The organization had been working with Anglepoint – one of only four globally authorized IBM partner SAM providers – since 2022 to initiate an IBM Authorized Software Asset Management Provider (IASP) program. Building on this success, the partnership was expanded to include managed SAM services across the organization’s top 10 software publishers.
The Solution
In 2023, Anglepoint was awarded an initial 12-month contract to deliver a managed SAM service across 10 publishers. This engagement was extended in 2024 under a new three-year agreement. Publishers were selected based audit risk and total spend, with the top ten representing 37.17 percent of the client’s overall software spend.
Anglepoint created dedicated, publisher-aligned teams to ensure a cohesive and targeted approach. Oracle was identified as an immediate priority due to the upcoming renewal of the client’s Unlimited License Agreement (ULA). Across all publishers, the engagement followed a defined structure that included program kick-off, data collection, analysis, and targeted risk remediation activities.
The team conducted a comprehensive series of Effective License Positions (ELPs) and Remediation, Optimization, Audit, and Risk (ROAR) assessments across all 10 publishers, each delivering clearly quantified financial outcomes. Remediation tracking was established in collaboration with Finance, while Procurement and Application Owners were aligned through structured governance.
Anglepoint also performed a ServiceNow SAM Pro health assessment, identified and addressed data quality gaps, and validated VMware data completeness between ServiceNow and vROps. To improve executive visibility, Anglepoint introduced a QSR framework alongside a custom Power Business Intelligence (BI) executive dashboard. Together, these provided leadership with a consistent, strategic view of licensing risk, financial exposure, data quality issues, remediation progress, and upcoming renewals.
Ongoing compliance monitoring was supported through monthly financial alignment meetings, a continuous improvement register maintained by Anglepoint, and a defined internal escalation protocol to ensure timely remediation. Reporting formats evolved over time – from Excel to Power BI and Elevate – but QSR slide decks remained a consistent, trusted source of clear, executive-level insight.
Over the course of the engagement, complexity increased due to vendor and organizational changes. On the publisher side, shifting licensing models and vendor restructuring introduced new challenges, including changes including the split of SAP into SAP Fioneer, and Micro Focus’s acquisition by OpenText, which led to the sale of some business units to Rocket Software. In 2025, the client acquired another major UK financial institution, further changing its operating model. While the core SAM team was retained, Hardware Asset Management (HAM) and SAM functions were separated, and executive leadership and strategic priorities evolved. Through these changes, Anglepoint adapted quickly to maintain alignment, relevance, and value delivery.
Results
- Improved governance and executive visibility: By staying on top of under- and over-licensing.
- Increased SAM maturity: The client achieved, for the first time, a consolidated and strategic view of software spend and risk across its estate.
- Reduced software audit risk: The organization successfully closed two audits, with SAP and Quest, both with zero findings, while it also exited an Oracle ULA, reducing annual support costs by £1.2 million.
- Significant cost optimization: Between Q1 and Q3 2025, the SAM program identified £2.6 million in cost avoidance and £621,000 in optimization opportunities.
- Improved operational alignment: Enhanced cross-functional collaboration and robust reporting enabled faster, evidence-based decision-making.
Significantly enhanced executive visibility into licensing risk and cost exposure through introducing structured reporting and process driven approach to publisher management.