Large International Engineering Organisation

Introduction

The client was a large international engineering company that provides services to both the Government and Private sector.
The client is a long-term client of IBM and has invested many millions in IBM technology over the last few years. They were renewing their IBM Enterprise LicenceAgreement (IBM ELA) in 2024 and called on our help to understand their requirements for the coming 3-5 years and to prepare for negotiations with IBM.
The potential for an early IBM ELA renewal was being suggested to them by IBM.

Their challenge

The client faced a number of challenges in preparation for their IBM ELA renewal:

• They had over 50 products (*see list below) many using non PVU license metrics which require deep knowledge of the product to measure the license usage for.
• The structure of the business meant there were a number of business units and stakeholders that needed to be consulted to determine current and future license requirements.
• The Software Asset Management, SAM team, although very experienced were new to the business. They did not have the historical knowledge from which to start the project.
• IBM requested a software license review for a number of products during the preparation.

Their Objectives

• To understand their initial IBM license position for budgeting purposes
• To update their license position for both PVU and non PVU products.
• To understand their requirements for a new license position renewal.

bedigital Solution

We implemented a staged approach to support the client.

• Initial Risk Assessment
• Internal Audit
• Optimisation
• ELA Renewal Preparation

Each stage generated a constantly improving ELP and Bill of Materials for the ELA renewal.

How bedigital delivered

The initial risk assessment focused on the information easily available. It quickly produced a draft ELP. It also highlighted a number of quick-wins the client could implement to reduce license demand.
The more detailed internal audit completed a review for all IBM products. The focus was on products with a non-pvu license metric. During this phase evidence requested by IBM was provided for their review.
The optimisation stage looked more closely at the product usage and determined the client was over licensed in several areas.
The final stage prepared the client for the ELA renewal. The requirements for all products were verified with product owners and an optimised bill of materials (BOM) was provided to procurement.

Challenges

There were numerous challenges to overcome to deliver a successful project:

• The client had a significant number of products using a Non-PVU metric. To overcome this challenge we issue detailed instructions to the known product administrators and product owners to fill out.
• The initial risk assessment highlighted compliance risks estimated at over £1 million -Reallocation of licenses eliminated this risk.
• The offer of an early ELA renewal from IBM required that all work be completed significantly quicker than originally planned.

Outcomes

• The client was confident of being fully license compliant. Significantly increasing the confidence going into negotiations with IBM.
• Several IBM products were found to be over licensed or no longer required by the business -this equated to over £1 million in products that were not required in the ELA renewal.
• The saving for products not required was available to reinvestment in new IBM products that the business did require.
• The SAM team were trained in IBM licensing and provided with the tools to maintain their IBM licensing position after the project ended.

Testimonials

“It was brilliant working with bedigital on this project. The knowledge and experience they brought was invaluable and upskilling my team has put us on a much stronger footing as we go forward.” – Head of SAM

Conclusion

The project was delivered in a tight timeframe. There was a clear reduction cost, over £2 million, that was both a tactical win for the SAM team and a strategic win for the organisation contributing to their cost reduction target for the year.