Case Study - Solution to the Software Asset Management (SAM)

Case Study - Solution to the Software
Asset Management (SAM) Client
Baleno Easily Controls the Software
License and Avoids Legal Risks by Using
Software Asset Management (SAM)
Country or Region: China
Industry: Clothing
"Thanks to the SAM practice, we now have a better understanding of what kind of
Client Material
The Baleno brand was established in 1981. It was
originally an Italian brand and began operating in
Hong Kong in the 1980s, before later expanding
to mainland China. Baleno has expanded
significantly in cities from Guangzhou, Hong
Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai to Taiwan, Wuhan,
Changsha, Heilongjiang, etc. It also has offices
and stores in Singapore and the Middle East.
licenses and how many licenses we really need. It has helped us simplify our future
budget plan, reduce the maintenance and management burden on the IT department,
enhance internal control, and avoid legal risks caused by the licenses."
—— Glory, Computer Department Manager, Baleno Holdings Limited
Case Study Overview
Business Conditions
By December 2009, the company had over
4,000 of its own and other kinds of stores in and
outside China and had over 15,000 employees.
It has grown rapidly over the past fourteen years.
Baleno wants to obtain comprehensive and clear
license usage figures for certain areas of China
and to implement its software licensing plan
safely, in the hope of optimizing costs.
As a result of its clear development objectives and unique marketing strategy, Baleno
continues to grow rapidly. Its business scope extends from mainland China to Hong
Kong, Macao and Taiwan, South East Asia, and the Middle East. In order to strengthen
its market share, Baleno Holdings Limited has developed its own franchise, which has
dramatically increased both its store coverage and its profits. The company has grown
rapidly over the past fourteen years. It has over 4,000 of its own and other kinds of stores
in and outside China, and by September 2009, Baleno had over 15,000 employees.
Solution
Baleno hired SoftwareONE, a Microsoft SAM
Service qualified company, to implement its
software asset management project. It can now
obtain accurate software asset inventory records,
which reduces software license management
risks, avoids legal risks, and is beneficial to the
company's internal control policy.
Baleno Holdings Limited now has over ten different brands. The six most famous Baleno
Holdings Limited brands are as follows: Baleno, S&K, I.P.ZONE, BAMBINI, Baleno
Attitude, ebase, and Y'PAY MORE.
As business increased, the IT software demand was constantly updated. As time went
on, the company found it more and more difficult to track both its software usage and the
number of existing software licenses. In view of licensing requirements, Baleno decided
to hire SoftwareONE (Microsoft's global account reseller) to implement its software asset
User Benefits
Enhanced Budget Control
management (SAM) service. Through the SAM baseline service, SoftwareONE resolved
Baleno's key licensing issue and made its license management and development plan
more effective.
Reduced IT Maintenance and Management
Software Asset Management (SAM)
Software Asset Management (SAM) is a project that helps users optimize their technical investments. Software is classed as an asset. Every company needs to know what
assets it has and what it needs in order to determine the process and policy to be applied to current and sustainable development and to track and maintain its software
applications.For more information, please go to: http://www.microsoft.com/china/sam
Burden
By installing and applying the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) tool kit,
More Confidence in Internal Control
SoftwareONE collected Baleno's weekly computer usage data and generated both a
Better License Management Optimization
clear software asset list and a detailed software asset management plan (SAM). This
helps Baleno effectively control its software budget, enhance the company's internal
control, and avoid the legal risks caused by software license management (SAM).
More Information
If you would like to receive more information about Microsoft products and services, please call the Microsoft client hot line on 800-810-7722
or go to the Microsoft (China) website: http://www.microsoft.com/china
If you would like to receive more information about Software ONE, please call +(86) 2151873622 or go to their website: http://www.softwareone.com
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Case Study - Solution to the Software
Asset Management (SAM) Client
Business Demand
Client Benefits
Since its establishment in China thirty years ago, Baleno clothing
assigned a two-man team to support the SAM project for Baleno.
has become very famous. With its headquarters in Guangzhou, it
After several rounds of discussions, SoftwareONE drew up an
SAM, Baleno solved its longstanding collection and tidying up
has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing,
implementation plan and a schedule that confirmed the collection
problems, saved on the cost of software purchases, and was also
Xi'an, Tianjin, Nanjing, and Shenyang. Baleno pays a great deal of
method for both software license usage and data storage and
given a decision which helped support future budgets. It is now fully
attention to both its brand and its IT structure. Furthermore, the staff
application. While Baleno provided the necessary staff, hardware,
competent in terms of its software license management.
at Baleno are very interested in software enhancement and using
and software support, SoftwareONE introduced best practices,
genuine software. Over the past few years, Baleno has consistently
including the SAM process and confidentiality.
improved its office environment and business systems. It now uses
different versions of Windows, Office, SQL, and its server operating
Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit
system. As a result of purchasing various types of software and
Deploying the asset collection toolkit Microsoft Assessment and
having a large number of branches in different areas, software asset
Planning (MAP) at the company. This collects weekly usage data at
management has become more and more difficult.
the company. Regardless of whether the computers are controlled by
"We hope to clarify the usage figures for the software licenses but
so far we have failed to get a clear and accurate result for this, "said
IT Manager Glory. In order to meet the development requirements
of our key business, Baleno has to purchase software and licenses
After finishing SAM implementation and obtaining accurate licensing
data, Baleno decided to choose the appropriate batch license
agreement. "There are so many licensing solutions at Microsoft.
You can give yourself a headache if you compare all of the different
purchasing methods. It is a waste of our time carrying out any other
research,” Glory said. "The consultants from SoftwareONE are
Enhanced Budget Control
very professional with regard to licensing. They provided the best
Baleno can optimize its existing license numbers and allocate
solutions according to our company's needs, and we benefit a great
future requirements; SAM can provide better budget control for
deal from this. So we finally chose Core CAL as a supplementary
Baleno, whether it is working on short-term projects or a long-term
solution to meet our needs within a particular period."
development plan.
the domain or the working group, MAP is able to collect the required
Strengthened Internal Software Control Management
software usage data, provided the computers are connected to the
Baleno is confident in its use of genuine software and internal
Internet. After collecting the data, SoftwareONE integrates, filters,
control; SAM can authorize its own software assets accurately. Glory
and registers the data, creating statistics according to Microsoft's
said, "Before SoftwareONE provided me with this information,
licensing instructions; and generating a detailed Effective License
I had estimated that we might need more licenses, but now these
Position (ELP) report.
unnecessary costs can be avoided. This money has been spent on
from different suppliers every six months. The absence of an
Better License Management Optimization
Thanks to the professional team's assistance in implementing
Enhance Your Knowledge of SAM
Through the SAM implementation process, Baleno has come to
understand this more accurately, including the benefits SAM can
bring and its implementation process. Baleno is now looking for an
appropriate asset inventory tool. "We tried some small tools that we
developed before, but they were not suitable for us. SoftwareONE
gave us lots of suggestions. I would now like to try some other tools
our real needs."
effective software asset and license tracking system makes the
purchasing process more and more difficult."As time goes on, we are
Enhanced Software License Usage Status Monitoring
Reduced IT Maintenance and Management Burden
unable to figure out the usage status for the actual software assets. I
The Effective License Position (ELP) report showed a large number
According to the accurate asset record provided by the SAM base
of superfluous licenses and a few missing licenses; i.e. the report
line, Baleno can now prepare for the influence on its employee
showed that Baleno used too many office products, e.g. Office XP,
turnover rate fluctuation. Regardless of whether Baleno is increasing
Office2003, Office2007, and Office2010, Standard and Professional
or reducing the number of its employees, the migration of licenses
versions. According to the license usage instructions, SoftwareONE
will meet the company's needs, reducing the IT department's
integrated both the upgrade and downgrade for the above Office
maintenance and management burden.
am worried about the licenses for some projects, which might hinder
my budget plan," said Glory.
from the collection. Since our stores are located in different areas, we
need a tool to collect and manage the company's environment and
provide decision support on a periodic basis. This will be the trend in
future," said Glory.
versions. As a result, it found that Baleno still had some of the latest
Office licenses left.
Solution
"I am a little bit surprised. I thought the licenses for the new versions
were not enough. Now the software can be upgraded for some
users, which will save us some budget expenditure next time,"said
Glory. "I am quite satisfied with this result as it has clarified our
After detailed evaluations of both the software management
current situation. Now the software licensing situation is under the
qualification and the capability of SoftwareONE (Microsoft global
company's control. "Before finishing the SAM project, SoftwareONE
account reseller), Baleno decided to hire SoftwareONE to implement
also provided a software asset management optimization evaluation,
its national software asset management (SAM) project. SoftwareONE
a normal service reflecting the company's SAM work process and
administration.
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