SAM Credentials Need To Evolve To Reflect Competency, Not Instant Certifications

It never fails to astound me that asset management practitioners can be transformed from "I just got this job" into proficient(?) software asset management professionals in as few as one or two days of training. I'm further blown away that a majority of our industry training programs include an "instant" short-term memory exam as part of their certification schedule.

Do me a favor & check my math. It looks like the typical training session can be completed in an average of two business days. These sessions probably include multiple breaks for coffee, tea, lunch, & (I hope) at least a 2.5 hour exam. If I'm correct in my calculations, the actual time-on-task for today's certified SAM practitioners churned out by the typical 2-day program is less than 7 hours. I hate to even consider the time-on-task for a single day program.

Based on all this, it would seem to me that we're actually killing our credentials by popping out people who know just enough to get themselves & their enterprises into what an ancient Chinese knowledge expert dubbed as "interesting" SAM operational times. (Yes, I know they didn't phrase it quite that way.)

Here's how we approach the typical SAM certification problems with the training & credential programs from The Institute for Technology Asset Management:

• Our SAM credential has been broken down into Software and copyright compliance Assurance (SCCA) and Software Asset Management (SAM). Between these two, the candidate receives more than 29 hours of actual time-on-task training broken into approximately 39 individual focused self-paced sessions.
• We are not proprietary in our programming. We focus on openly available competencies that practitioners can easily apply specifically to their SAM (and IT) environments. Nothing is hidden.
• We have broken out the classic SAM training program into brief self-paced on demand sessions that can be taken singly or as a bundle.
• Via this individual session delivery, we can deliver significantly more time-on-task than ANY alternative program in the industry.
• When the basics of the certification are delivered online, we can eliminate the costly & disruptive travel aspect.of typical SAM programs.
• The Institute also provides an "open source" style knowledge base (in the form of our easily acquired Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge (TAMBOK). Through this simple TAMBOK practitioners and enterprises alike can gain a comprehensive view of the actual needs of asset management infrastructure.
• What's more, The Institute provides third party tracking of your training portfolio via a SCORM Compliant industry standard Learning Management system.
• Also, the SAM-related exams are free-standing and can be completed at any time after fully completing the coursework. This provides candidates with plenty of time to study and translate their knowledge from short-term memory into their more stable long-term memory. Result? Candidates learn and remember more than ever before.

I'll cover additional differentiators for Institute credentials in follow-on posts. For now, recognize that The Institute is moving SAM & ITAM credentialing into the next generation of credibility - for practitioners, as well as for those who hire credentialed SAMs / ITAMs. 

To look over the range of Institute Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA) and Software Asset Management (SAM) credential programs, click HERE

sign in to the LMS (Learning Management System) [ It's Free] and review the course content.  Each session has a brief printed introduction and the live sessions last from 30 to 90 minutes.

Any questions, please let me know.

Put a Stop to Standards & Best Practices for Profit!

I must be really missing the boat on all the so-called standards and best practices relating to software asset management, copyright compliance / anti piracy, and technology asset management. I was under the (evidently mistaken) impression that standards were designed by people who actually DO the work to help other people become more effective at doing the work. (Wow... Now, there's a serious disconnect.)

Recently I've been reviewing standards and best practice programs as references to a series of professional development seminars, and (once again) I discovered that a majority of  these "aids" are NOT what we would expect them to be. Here's my list:

1. Many standards are apparently being developed by representatives of the technology industries as not so subtle pressure to "buy our products" or "buy our services" instead of helping practitioners gain competencies.
2. In many cases, standards and best practices have very little resemblance to what real people do in the real world. Rather, the standards development teams represent massive corporations that can afford to apply large well-qualified teams to implement highly complex and lengthy solutions.
3. Instead of being based on the experience of practitioners, many standards or best practices are being blatantly developed to provide a proprietary income to a specific group or organization. This severely limits competition as well as locks practitioners into the proprietary programs.
4. Along with the proprietary perspectives are the incredibly unrealistic costs being applied to standards and best practices - costs that the majority of enterprises simply cannot afford to pay.
5. I've also seen multiple standards and best practices that, rather than being based on genuine practitioner experiences, have simply taken advantage of openly posted materials downloaded from the Internet and merely re-written by the standards or best practices editors into their own proprietary packages.
6. And, finally, all too many asset management standards and best practices are attempting to shoe-horn asset management into the technology, services, or other enterprise functions to add to the responsibility realm of technicians rather than building the profession itself.

It's time to put a stop to this kind of activity in the SCCA, SAM, ITAM, and IT Portfolio Management fields. The Institute for Technology Asset Management invites you to become part of its unique open source standards, best practices, and professional development programs - programs that real people and real enterprises can actually afford. As usual, the Institute was the first in the industry to put the power of standards and best practices into the hands of actual front line practitioners, rather than merely convert the agendas of the software industry into a revenue stream version of pseudo-training coupled to over-night certifications.

The Institute does not take money from the software industry players - either via corporate memberships or sponsorship. Instead, we work directly with individual practitioners to build the asset management professions, standards, and practices. Our Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge (TAMBOK) is based on the competencies needed to genuinely DO the work of an asset manager - and the book is freely available online at a price you can afford. (In fact, we're working on the next TAMBOK release. Want to become a reviewer? Sign up now.)

The Institute's professional development programs are the only non proprietary programs in the industry that are based directly on asset management competencies - openly available competencies that have been proven by people working the front lines of asset management - rather than what the software industry wants you to know.

Of the six training options for software asset management, the Institute is one of only two that are not being driven by the software industry, their associates, or hired guns. Of those two, we are the only non profit program that is genuinely driven by practitioner member expectations.

Maybe its time you took a look at The Institute for Technology Asset Management.

IT Asset Management Standards Lack Backbone - #1

For over 7 years I have been researching the "state of information technology asset management" (ITAM / TAM) and I have discovered some very distressing trends. The most discouraging trend is this:

Truly effective ITAM  initiatives are the exclusive domain of prosperous enterprises in developed countries.

The reasons for my perspective? How do we create & support a professional framework that few enterprises and individual practitioners can genuinely afford? The typically available of solutions, best practices, and options for managing business technology assets are altogether too costly to purchase, implement, train for, and maintain for the vast majority of enterprises that genuinely need the results. Some of these standardized solutions are so complex to implement and manage that most enterprises have neither the in-house talent nor the consulting budget to get them operational, let alone managed on a day-to-day basis.

What's more, many of the so-called ITAM best practices on the market today are kept within a serious proprietary strangle-hold by suppliers or groups that have locked them down via copyright or business process patents.

Don't believe me? Simply go out and price an end-to-end ITAM or SAM solution for your enterprise. (You can't afford it.)

It's my mission, and the mission of The Institute for Technology Asset Management to over-turn this self-serving trend and put business technology asset management  and software asset management back into the hands of the average ITAM and SAM practitioner - accessible for the average enterprise. We're focusing on building a credible profession of software asset managers, IT asset managers, and IT portfolio managers. Our core deliverables are long term and strategic in nature: the cost-effective, common sense-based professional development processes, procedures, and best practices that can be used by a majority of enterprises, in a majority of industries, in a majority of countries around the globe - without the crippling budget hits.

It may take us a while but, with the support of practicing asset managers, and the enterprises who are searching for qualified professionals in the ITAM/TAM/SAM and TPM fields, we think our comprehensive approach is the one that the profession desperately needs. Care to join us?

Software Asset Management Tools

When it's time to purchase automated technology asset management software, it's also time for a little reality orientation. Vendor hype aside, there is no silver bullet tool that will deliver miraculous value for peanuts. To gain maximum ROI from any IT asset management software acquisition you need to identify and prioritize which tool to purchase, in what order, and establish your preferred functionality criteria.

When it comes to automated information technology asset management tools you will always gain the best bang for your buck by starting with a quality discovery tool. The discovery tool enables your IT asset manager and/or software asset manager to conduct a hardware and/or software audit in minutes (compared with hours and days using the hand audit processes). The IT asset management discovery tool usually operates on a server, auditing systems when they are started at the beginning of the work day, or according to a pre-set schedule. (But, with many, can also conduct local or online audits of systems.)

Caution: Not every technology asset management software product can be used to discover both hardware and software. While some tools may be adjusted to function in both capacities, a tool that isn't designed for both hardware and software can be a complete disaster. What's more, many tools cannot be tweaked to add new items to the discovery search - a serious problem when you decide to audit for illegal music or MP3 files.

When setting your functionality expectations, consider the following:

• How difficult is the product to install / implement? Can your internal team perform the implementation or will you have to bring in an expensive provider team?
• How difficult is the product to manage / administrate on a day-to-day basis? Can your existing personnel do the work or will you be forced to hire a dedicated technician? Is training cost-effective and will it cover your unique needs?
• Can the product be set to "manage by exception"?  This means that, once you have established your configuration audit baseline, the product primarily searches for changes to that baseline - quicker and more cost-effective.
• How easily does the product generate reports? What pre-designed reports are included? How difficult is it to produce a customized report? Are reports developed around a common source, or is the process proprietary?
• How easily and accurately does the tool discover hardware? Can your personnel adjust the scan for a specific hardware item?
• How easily and accurately does the tool discover software? Can your personnel adjust the scan for a specific range of software titles? Can it scan for products belonging to a specific copyright holder (a MUST during a license compliance audit)?
• Does the product contain, maintain, and accurately update an internal software product and copyright holder dictionary against which it compares what it discovers? How frequently is this database updated?
• Will the database accept data covering legacy applications - those that were written in-house or are otherwise not on the typical software publisher roles?
• Can the product be used to discover "rogue" products such as those MP3s mentioned earlier, or video/movie titles, graphics, fonts, or even games? (Do not try to convince me that none of your systems has any of the items on that list - they do...)
• And the beat goes on...

Want more? There are other considerations to bring into the picture. We haven't discussed licensing terms and conditions, or volume purchasing agreements, or any of a wide range of details - but do you get the picture?

Need any questions answered or additional information? Check out the Knowledge Briefings on the BizTechNet.org web site. Interested in bringing in one of our experts to consult or provide advice? Interested in getting supplier-agnostic training in how to deliver effective technology asset management or software asset management value? Contact our training division at TAMinstitute.org.

Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge - TAMBOK

I'd like to present the industry's first Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge - the TAMBOK. You can find it by clicking on the link below, but please take a moment to read this brief introduction.

I've been in the technology asset management industry for over twenty years. Fair warning: I rarely talk about “me” but, today, for this purpose, I’m giving you my personal/professional perspective. Here’s where I’m coming from…

In 2000, I designed and delivered two of the first professional certification programs in our industry - one for Software Asset Management and another for Technology Asset Management. For over twelve years I have been developing and delivering collegiate-level programs in Negotiations, Buying Technology Assets, Project Management and other related business topics. However, in 2004 I found myself forced to take a step back and to view the asset management professional development industry from a new perspective. I've spent nearly half a dozen years in intense study of credentials and of the credentialing processes used by some of the top professions - and I have been highly disappointed in the existing certification programs in our field.

We need a paradigm shift
Frankly, fewer than 5% of technology asset management-related training programs I’ve reviewed are performing an effective job of establishing and building our profession. Don't get me wrong: As a sort of "training wheels" beginning, we've produced some decent certifications over the past eight or so years - but we STILL haven't kicked the proprietary supplier/product habit. The vast majority of our training and certifications have been designed by, and in many cases are still delivered by, partners, pals, and allies of the very industry suppliers that created the financial and liability needs to establish technology asset management systems in the first place.

I think it’s well beyond time that we converted our professional preparation into a supplier- and product-agnostic process – one genuinely designed and developed by practitioners, FOR practitioners – a program series that is based on academic methodologies (Think Bloom’s Taxonomy) and shaped to help you obtain and retain professional career employment by delivering serious business value to the enterprise. This is the main reason why I worked with other asset managers to create the industry’s first non profit organization specifically focused on helping asset management professionals: The Institute for Technology Asset Management. It’s also why we’ve chosen to formally document our profession in the Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body Of Knowledge.

TAMBOK = What you need to know
So... Here's what I've done. I've spent the last five years working with over three hundred business professionals, academicians, and asset management practitioners to re-envision our collection of certificates into a serious credential program - one based on a publicly available Body of Knowledge as well as a credible credential preparation program of study. Together, we have built this Guide to the Technology Asset Management Body of Knowledge (TAMBOK) to accurately reflect the skills you need to perform well in the fields of Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA), Software Asset Management (SAM), Technology Asset Management (TAM/ITAM), and Technology Portfolio Asset Management (TPM).

Understand that the copy of the TAMBOK currently available - the Third Edition - is the culmination of a series of short, yet comprehensive, reviews to bring together the major components of a credential series that not only speaks to what you KNOW, but more importantly, speaks to what you can DO with that knowledge. The major components include the following:

• Four Life Cycle Process Groups
o Procurement
o Distribution
o Operations &
o Governance

• Six Practice Areas
o Portfolio Management
o Business Management
o Financial Management
o Risk Management
o Contract Management &
o Project Management

• And Over Fourteen Applied Competency Areas
o Think about focused applied capabilities in topics such as Negotiations, Audit Methodologies, License Management, Documentation Management, and others.

We've come a long way with these professions since I first developed and implemented the knowledge infrastructure of my former association. After extensive research and development, our working group determined that we need to take the next step of converting the traditional certification process from a few hours of lecture followed by a memorization test to a credible credentialing process that mirrors the success of such credentialing programs as those provided by the Project Management Institute, the AICPA, the Contract Managers Association, and others. (There is an extensive list of organizations from which we drew samples, guidelines, and advice in the TAMBOK Appendix.)

That next step begins with a formal Body of Knowledge - the TAMBOK - on which we can build and evolve a solid foundation of applied capabilities. The TAMBOK is not a derivative work that attempts to bend technology skills into a new service added on to the responsibilities of enterprise technicians. Instead, this is an entirely new perspective of capabilities to be applied to the Business side of the Technology Portfolio.

And, to further clarify the potential of the TAMBOK, we’ll soon be presenting a Knowledge Briefing Series of how "What you know," is converted into "What you can actually apply," which translates into "The value you can deliver with a significantly more credible credential."

We'll be the first to admit that the TAMBOK isn't perfect - it's a work in progress. But this document IS the first supplier- and product-neutral effort by a credentialing body in our industry to bring order from chaos and to place your cost-effective Professional Development Blueprint in your hands where it belongs.

The TAMBOK is available HERE.

Comments are welcome - as are qualified practitioner volunteers to help evolve the next release.