Continuous support through SAM Managed Service Support

Professional license management is required to ensure software compliance. TIMETOACT supports and supervises FUNKE Mediengruppe within the scope of a SAM Managed Service for Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and IBM (incl. ILMT). Monthly license reporting with Power BI and internal audit checks now enable full transparency, continuous compliance and avoidance of unnecessary costs.

Extensive license models, different terms of use and a multitude of license agreements make it difficult to keep track of software and licenses in use. Since the media group's internal resources were not sufficient to optimally support license management, FUNKE decided to call on the support of TIMETOACT. Among other things, this was to reduce the risk of negative audits. After an open and independent tender, the choice fell on TIMETOACT, which convinced with the best price-performance ratio.

• The core requirement for SAM Managed Service Support was to use appropriate tools to continuously monitor the licenses and obtain more transparency about their use. This should avoid unnecessary costs and ensure compliance at all times. In addition, the media group needed better reporting options and a point of contact for licensing issues.

After a short onboarding phase of four weeks, regular operation of the SAM Managed Service started at the end of 2022. This comprises two core elements

The media group receives these reports for the manufacturers defined in the scope: Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and IBM. In addition to this regular operation, the SAM experts also take care of operational SAM by being available to FUNKE as contact persons for questions and problems. The SAM helpdesk communicates primarily via tickets, but exchanges can also take place in person.

One of the vendors defined in the scope is IBM. In order to provide the best possible continuous support for IBM licenses, the TIMETOACT experts put the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) into operation at FUNKE. FUNKE receives a monthly license status report and quarterly compliance snapshots.

With the monthly reports, FUNKE has full transparency about the licenses used and user numbers, as desired. This ensures that the media group only buys the licenses that are actually needed. License compliance is ensured at all times with the semi-annual internal audit procedures or ELP, which avoids potential costs in the event of audits. FUNKE Mediengruppe also benefits from the SAM helpdesk, which always has experts on hand to answer questions about SAM.