Friday, November 20, 2015

Software, the consequences of the cloud. Contracts and licenses in the viewfinder – Corcom

 The consequences of the cloud. While the market for good-software (Program licenses purchased by companies) in Europe is between 50 and 60 billion Euros (the “software used”, ie the sale of software licenses to third parties, matters very little, stops 150 million), the EU focuses on the cloud. By 2020, 1.5 million new jobs with the cloud, it will be worth 160 billion, in fact 1% of European GDP. Cloud, ie the software as a service, change the cards in the hands of large producers.

 Seeking to retaliate with the end user companies with growing aggressiveness in the market, with some vendors that are real “punitive missions” turning audits in a business emergency that can become very expensive. It is doubtful that it should be so. “There is almost always room for negotiations – says Anna Maria Italian, lawyer P4I -. Although it may seem hard to approach vendors when they audit, in case of disputes, the vendor has more interest to close in a settlement that not to go to court, as evidenced by the fact that in Italy the litigation generated by this type of dispute It is very low; does not exist for the sale of licenses. ” The phenomenon, however, is complex. “Compared to the past – says Pasquale Dongiovanni, PA purchasing management, purchasing goods and services It, Consip – when every administration had to go to the office and check purchases on paper, we have made great strides. It has changed and in this pre-purchase administrations now have access to several lists comparing different offers. Compared to a few years ago, then, today there are tools that can change the approach to the expense of the software. “

 What determines, however, the current complexity? “There’s been a change over the years – says GianPietro Caputo, Managing Director SoftwareONE Italy – the concept of cost of software. From the sale of licensed physical box and installation CD, we arrived to a model in which there are more physical objects to be counted, the licenses pass from the web, cloud and virtualization have presented different perspectives. The concept of the cost of the software have been taken to remove from the actual expenditure. Vendors make contracts more stringent audits and want to know what software is actually used. For companies the hardware is easier to manage, but it is the smaller part of IT spending. The software is more complex and requires a more efficient approach.

 With the governance of software licenses in the company is managing well to the subsequent audit of the vendor. ” It does not end here. “Among the issues of asset management software – says Gaetano Scebba, ie the Group’s Bees – underline two. The first is related to the ordinary license, which is carried forward with the contract renewals but is always the same and that, for example, can not predict the parking space or the cancellation of the licenses. With some vendors today do not have the opportunity to put a number of licenses in the parking lot (eg. SAP) but in case of changing them with those of other products. Instead, the sharing of costs of licenses, actually counting stations is the part less than that of the modules. And this has an impact on costs because. “

 The answer, says Gabriele Fagg, legal P4I and Adjunct Professor at the MIP Polytechnic Italian, is simple: “The protection of the program also passes from processing of case law, as well as applicable regulatory requirements. Recall, for example, that, in 2012, the EU Court of Justice has recognized that the contracts of license indefinitely are actually trades. This means that, once sold a copy of the program, vendors lose the right to prevent the subsequent sale. ” Not all roads are open, though. “The cloud – says Simona Simoni, IT architectures of the Italian Railway Network – is definitely a transformative opportunities of the market, which enables savings and efficiencies. Not everyone is possible though: managers of national critical infrastructure have received indications of use, for safety reasons, only services in the cloud provided by structures located on Italian territory, or at least European. As pointed out the lawyer Fagg is not a constraint but a European regulatory regulatory option. “

 As observes Claudia Nardelli, head of purchasing ICT at the Purchasing Services and ICT Terna Rete Italian, “there are some problematic aspects, among others, in the management of software and in compliance with contractual large vendors. One is the problem of disposal: in many cases it is in fact possible to partially divest products that are no longer used. This, especially at a time when the business market is struggling and trying to make efficiency even in the PA, may be an obstacle in the cost optimization that even restricting competition. Some modes contractualist vendors are likely to close the market rather than open it. ” “The problem – says Francesco Colasuonno, executive office” Demand and digital processes “Inail – is also the government’s spending. But the basic question is one that is difficult to answer. There are benchmarks, metrics, models of return on investment, to support the creation of an organizational response and process policies, rules and objectives of cost savings? How much do? What are the best ways? Within the investment pays for itself? Are open questions. “

 However, as Alexander says Colasanti, SAM manager SoftwareONE, “tying projects to a SAM Roi is misleading, because it is very difficult to calculate. There are studies by Gartner and other analysts on this issue, but only accounting approach is simplistic. ” Some have followed this path. “We made – says Carlo Fishing lines, asset management license, Telecom Italy IT – an internal project of Software Asset Management (SAM). Our strategy has been to start from the high phase, analysis, and later by the tool. Before the people to create the process of governance and then they decided the tool, given the complexity of a large company like Telecom Italy. One element that has become clear is that it was necessary to manage the licensing with initial priority on the main suppliers, to address more structured control. The interesting part, however, is that, when the project started, it was estimated the benefit not only based on ROI, but also on the quality perception occurred with respect to the semi-annual risk avoidance and management of risk, if any trade show. ”

 

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