TIMETOACT is part of

Continuous support through SAM Managed Service Support

TIMETOACT creates transparency and compliance in licensing and license requirements at FUNKE

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.

Initial Situation:

  • Diverse and extensive licensing models, low internal resources
  • No point of contact for licensing issues 
  • Poor reporting options, risk of negative audits

Solution:

  • Managed Service Support by TIMETOACT for optimal license management, transparency and compliance

Added value:

  • Permanent overview of license and user inventory, semi-annual recommendations for action by experts
  • Simple and intuitive overview of the history of all license and user data to plan license management based on data
  • Cost optimization by avoiding unnecessary license purchases and early detection of unused license expenses

We decided in favor of TIMETOACT because the experts convinced us with their expertise and suitable services. We are very happy with this decision, because everything is running as we hoped.

Sven Degenhardt Head of IT Governance & Services FUNKE

Professional license management with the help of TIMETOACT Experts

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.

Continuous SAM Managed Service for Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and IBM (including ILMT)

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

Insight into the Power BI dashboard (demo data)

Monthly dashboards on license status using Power BI:

Power BI is a tool from Microsoft for data visualization. It provides FUNKE with detailed reporting on license and user data, which highlights gaps in licensing in particular. The great advantage is that Power BI can be used to record historical data in order to observe the development of licenses over time. This gives FUNKE a precise overview of its license requirements, which provides an optimal basis for subsequent license negotiations.

Effective License Position (ELP) twice a year

With the semi-annual ELP, FUNKE receives a comparative report between the license inventory (purchased licenses) and the user inventory (used licenses). The SAM experts summarize this license inventory and provide recommendations for action on how to optimize licenses and resolve incompliance.

Insight into the presentation of license usage in Power BI (demo data)

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.

We regularly receive an overview of our license balances and are thus much more flexible in our license design. Everything works great - and even outside the line, questions are always answered on time and in full.

Katharina Müller IT License Managerin FUNKE

Operation of the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT)

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.

The consulting provided by TIMETOACT is good all around and we exchange ideas regularly - also on extra topics. We are very satisfied.

Sven Degenhardt Head of IT Governance & Services FUNKE

It is great to exchange ideas with our friendly and always reliable partners at FUNKE. We work together in a collegial manner and are in regular contact

Simon Pletschacher Team Lead Licensemanagement Consulting TIMETOACT

FUNKE is one of the leading employers in the media industry. From online portals to newspapers and magazines to radio and podcasts - the diversity of its titles, brands and genres is unique in the German media landscape. FUNKE employs around 700 journalists and 3,800 media professionals.

Feel free to contact me!

Simon Pletschacher
Team Lead SAM, ITAM & FinOps TIMETOACT Software & Consulting GmbH
Contact
Referenz 6/1/23

Managed service support for central platform stability

To ensure the quality, availability and performance of the platform at all times, TIMETOACT supports N-ERGIE as a managed service partner.

Referenz

HOCHBAHN Managed Services

A high-performance and transparent IT forms the basis for being able to react quickly to new requirements. The IT specialists of TIMETOACT GROUP take over the managed services for the entire IBM WebSphere platform of Hamburger Hochbahn AG (HOCHBAHN).

Referenz 10/4/21

Support for IBM software licenses and ILMT for GLS

TIMETOACT not only takes over the support of the ILMT for GLS IT Service GmbH and assists with the compliance of license requirements, but also advises in the future on questions regarding licensing and license acquisition.
Referenz 10/29/21

Standardized data management creates basis for reporting

TIMETOACT implements a higher-level data model in a data warehouse for TRUMPF Photonic Components and provides the necessary data integration connection with Talend. With this standardized data management, TRUMPF will receive reports based on reliable data in the future and can also transfer the model to other departments.
Referenz 6/1/21

Continuous license support pays off

If IBM software is used, the compliance-conforming use of the IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) plays a decisive role. TIMETOACT ensures compliance with IBM regulations for a city administration in North Rhine-Westphalia and continuously monitors the correct licensing.

Teaserbild IT Service Management Beratung
Service

IT Service Management – Optimal support for IT processes

IT should be customer and service oriented. We help you implement effective and efficient IT service management
Headerbild zu Managed Services
Service

Managed Services & Support

Our Managed Services ensure that applications are operated for you with a holistic understanding of infrastructure, licenses, support, applications and the corresponding expertise. This is done regardless of whether the application is to be operated at a hyperscale such as IBM Cloud, Google, AWS, Azure or onPrem.

Checkliste als Symbol für die verschiedenen To Dos im Bereich Lizenzmanagement
Blog 2/1/22

License Management – Everything you need to know

License management is not only relevant in terms of compliance but can also minimize costs and risks. Read more in the article.
Referenz 3/28/22

24/7 support guarantees stable operation of the intranet

The experts took over the operation of HCL Connections in the fall of 2020 and have since ensured the fail-safe stability of the platform.

IT Demand Management Teaser
Service

Demand Management – Clarity on IT needs

We help to determine your effective IT needs, e.g. for workstations with Microsoft Office 365. Save money by only buying what you really need.
Referenz

Central Capacity Management for Sunrise

Know what's coming: TIMETOACT simplifies and centralizes Sunrise's network capacity management.
Logo Jira Service Management
Technologie

Jira Service Management from Atlassian

Enable developers, operators, and other teams from different departments to collaborate and improve their service management responsiveness. Respond quickly to incidents, requests, and changes, and provide your customers with an optimized service experience.
Headerbild IT Asset Management
Service

IT Asset Management – Reducing Costs and Risks Sustainably

We help customers to increase the transparency of IT assets in use, identify potential savings for hardware and software, and avoid compliance risks at the same time.
Referenz 10/25/22

Interactive online portal identifies suitable employees

TIMETOACT digitizes several test procedures for KI.TEST to determine professional intelligence and personality.
Headerbild IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT)
Technologie

IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT)

The IBM License Metric Tool (ILMT) is provided free of charge by IBM to ensure monitoring of IBM software in virtualized environments.
Teaserbild zu Lizenz- und Vertragsoptimierung.
Service

License and contract optimization

Based on the license analysis, we check the feasibility of potential savings from both a technological and commercial point of view.

Headerbild zu Microsoft FinOps
Service

FinOps Microsoft - Microsoft Cloud Cost Optimization

TIMETOACT offers license management and compliance consulting in the Microsoft area, as well as technical consulting (e.g. on the use of Azure Services).
Referenz 5/11/23

N-ERGIE bypasses costly IBM audits with IASP program

The management of IBM licenses poses challenges for companies. By participating in the IASP program, N-ERGIE Aktiengesellschaft avoids time-consuming IBM license audits.
Referenz 8/24/23

Less risk and cost for HDI with ISO/IEC 19770-1

HDI AG was the first end-user organization worldwide to be certified according to ISO/IEC 19770-1 in February 2023. TIMETOACT GROUP accompanied HDI with ITAM maturity analyses, identification and implementation of optimization measures as well as in obtaining the certification.
Headerbild zu Incident Kommunikation Management
Technologie

Incident communication management

Statuspage allows you to keep track of the status of individual system-relevant components as well as a history of past incidents. Our self-created solution also allows you to connect various monitoring tools and query them in specific cycles. The component failure automatically generates an e-mail to your ticket system.