The tool was the bottleneck
The company builds digital transformation programmes for Fortune 1000 clients. Its own software asset management ran on a legacy tool that kept getting in the way:
- Long periods of downtime during system updates, with the tool inaccessible throughout.
- Incomplete software reporting, which pushed the team back into spreadsheets and hours of manual work to produce the reports they wanted.
- A third-party tool required for agent deployment, and no true agentless option for the server environment.
- Limited ability to track hardware warranties.
The team spent long stretches checking deployment data and reworking it by hand. Add daily downtime for maintenance and batch updates, and they were fighting the tool that was meant to be helping them manage hardware and software.
What they wanted instead was automation and flexibility: no more analysis in spreadsheets, and one place to see and control every hardware and software asset.
Tested before committing
A demonstration showed what control and visibility across hardware and software together looks like. The team moved quickly from there, testing the SAM capability themselves before they committed to it.
What made the difference
- Native network discovery and device inventory, so nothing sits outside the picture.
- Built-in distribution of agent and agentless technology, covering routers, printers and switches.
- Advanced automation out of the box, which removed manual reporting into static worksheets.
- 99.9% uptime, ending the maintenance windows and system lock-outs.
Moving to a full implementation took no time. Discovery and agent/agentless deployment are native and standard, so the team had confidence in the coverage from the first day. The connection into their SaaS applications gave them visibility and control of their Microsoft 365 environment as well — something the previous tool could not do at all.
Reporting they can rely on
With the inventory trusted, the team put Certero’s built-in reporting and analytics to work. They build dynamic, reliable ELPs, graph key business data and set alerts on the metrics that matter, all inside the platform. The laborious spreadsheets went with it.
Lock-outs from data maintenance windows are a distant memory. Reporting reaches deeper and returns faster, and non-compliance and unused licences surface immediately, which takes out risk and cost at the same time.
They now do ITAM and SAM differently, and with confidence.