Hang Ten with HCL…..

Hang Ten with HCL.  News on the grapevine is that HCL are wasting little time in seeking to make good on their purchases of IBM titles from last year. (see our blog IBM & HCL – just who owns what?) US marketing material from HCL is reaching the in-boxes for Big Fix users promoting patching and hot fix installation modules for Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 (clients must have a Microsoft Extended Support Update in place).

Not being part of the IBM catalogue (obviously!) additions to these Big Fix catalogues comes at a five-figure premium, and are annual fixed-term licences – per Operating System.

Microsoft are terminating standard support for Windows 7 & Windows  Server 2008 on 14th Jan 2020. HCL are therefore riding the wave of apathy for those organisations that don’t take a strategic view of their IT estate.

SAM Charter has long been an advocate of IT estate scoping (knowing what it is you manage) and taking that knowledge to an application-based level; all in accordance with ISO 19770-1: 2017.  What might the roadmap to strategic vendor management look like?

Hang Ten with HCL – The processes

Governance Process:  Defines that a commercial relationship must be proactively maintained in line with the technical needs of the business

Create & Maintain a SAM Plan Process:  What steps are required to accurately reflect the usage of that vendor’s technology.

Create & Maintain a Supported Software Catalogue:  Dynamically refreshes the list of software required to service the business

Software Rationalisation Process:  Drives a functional assessment of titles to rationalise the software estate by classification. (E.g., how many types of Unix Servers do we really need?).

Links above will guide you to the SAM Charter You Tube channel where we have walk-through videos of these processes.  If you outlay five-figure sums for patching then this was a decision you took. Not something you reacted to via a last minute dead line.

The ITAM Accelerate Process Kit can be purchased here, showing IT strategic and operational integration.

Would you trade in SCCM for Big Fix?  Thoughts welcome below…..

 

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