By Alex Geuken. May 21, 2021.

How much time do you spend on support and maintenance? How much do you pay a consultant for doing maintenance? How often do you do a health check? With SaaS the key differentiator is that you don’t need your own hardware and software, since your applications run in the Cloud and not in your domain. Software as a service (SaaS) benefits you of over-the-air (OTA); that means your applications are always running on the latest version. You get all updates and new features automatically. This means an ongoing accruing value; your solution is better today than it was yesterday. Example: Last year Xensam delivered 55 releases, 158 new features, and 506 improvements, and our customers didn’t have to do anything to enjoy them; all were delivered out of the box by OTA.

Why is OTA important in SAM?

SAM is an ever-evolving industry; software is driving the whole world. All companies today are software-driven and tech-enabled. The software cost is increasing. The complexity of SaaS (Shadow IT, say), digital transformation, COVID, and working from home make SAM more complex: more data to discover, track, and visualize; more vendors to handle; and more software audits to prepare for. With on-prem software you always need to invest – skilled labor and funds – on your own technical dept. This means you might be up to date with the latest application, vendor, license metric, or changed compliance rules that have been implemented; your focus has shifted from managing the data from your SAM tool to merely managing this tool. Software asset management is about managing software and software is constantly changing; you also need a SAM tool to keep up with the changes.

Technical debt

What is technical debt? In software development technical debt (also known as design debt or code debt) is a concept that reflects the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy (limited) solution now instead of using a better approach that takes longer. Some of our on-prem competitors spend above 80% of their budget on legacy upkeep to keep their ships from sinking. All softwares accumulate their technical dept over time.  Technical debt is a metaphor describing the accumulation of development work across projects. It is quite aptly called a “debt” because it behaves like a real debt. The more you postpone, the more you’ll have to pay for it later. It continues to the point when the system becomes non-maintainable. Usually the development team knows that there is this certain amount of work to do, but it never happens due to a variety of reasons. Technical debt not repaid accumulates “interest”, making it harder to implement changes. Unaddressed technical debt increases software entropy. Technical debt is not necessarily bad, sometimes (e.g., as a proof of concept) needed to move projects forward. On the other hand, some experts claim that “technical debt” tends to minimize the impact, which results in insufficient prioritization of the work needed to correct it.

As a change is started on a codebase, there is often the need to make other coordinated changes in other parts of the codebase and documentation. Changes required but not completed are considered debt, and until paid, will incur interest on top of interest, making it cumbersome to build a project. Although the term is primarily used in software development, it applies to other professions.

Consequences of technical debt

• Can’t upgrade
• Security risks
• Loss in functionality
• Integrations are not supported
• Poor quality
• Delivery delay
• Low maintainability
• Low performance
• Bad code
• Rework (sometimes companies take shortcuts by implementing third-party solutions instead of developing their own code)
• Financial loss
  
  
  
  

  The maintenance you never have to do
  
  

  With on-premise software you have the hassle of upgrading to new versions. This becomes challenging when you have agents or connectors that don’t support the latest backend, and you have to request and update agents and you have to work on the backend back and forth to get the solution to work. With Xensam SaaS solution you never spend a minute on updating your backend; Xensam handles it for you, and all Xensam agents report to any version of our Xupervisor. Use your time to optimize value instead of merely keeping the lights on.
  

  The value of OTA (ongoing value) is sustainable value
  
  

  Besides all the time you save, there is another aspect of OTA. With a SaaS solution and OTA you are always on the latest version, getting the latest functions and features. Meaning, you get a higher ROI. You directly benefit from the new function when the latter releases; if you have an on-premise solution or a partner-hosted solution, you have to interminably wait for the updates. Meaning, you are paying for something you don’t get when needed.
  
  

  The benefits with SaaS:
  
  

  • Ongoing value via added new functionalities out of the box gives you a solution improving day by day; you get a better ROI
  • Always on the latest version
  • No software cost (SQL Server, Windows Server, Java licensing)
  • No need for employees’ training, cost of training, cost of time, and handling support or maintenance
  • No maintenance
  • No hardware
  • No need for consultants to implement, support, maintain, and configure your hardware and software
    
    

  Xensam’s goal is for you to spend fewer hours keeping the lights on of your SAM tool, letting you use the hours for optimization and cost reduction. Let Xensam deliver you the best SAM tool experience via the Cloud and you can focus on managing the data from the tool instead of managing the tool.
  
  

  Do you want to get better ROI out of SAM? Contact us now at info@xensam.com.