By
Jyoti Tejpal
Maintain repository of assets Visibility into how they are connected to each other with CMD Easily identify critical assets Analyze impact of incidents & change
Records IT proposals Service impact analysis Asset management Compliance customers has MSP’s Financial organizations Educational institutions Govt organizations
On-premise & cloud-based ITSM solution Streamlines Workflow processes Asset management Follow-up scheduling Reporting Billing Enables IT professional to do more
Configuration Management Database CMDB Software provides organizations with tracking IT assets and checking how these assets are related to one another. CMDB software solutions offers help in managing IT inventory and software licensing, calculating return on investment (ROI), standardizing methods for changing control, and monitoring IT metrics.
Logistical control: Helps to create a central pool of all IT assets and their inter-dependencies, companies can readily get help in measuring and analyzing the effects that a change in one system will have on other related systems. Hardware and software specifications are tracked to help in facilitating the rapid deployment of either new system implementations or upgrades.
Licensing compliance: CMDB software is specifically designed in tracking the quantity and types of licenses for software assets in an organization. In doing so, organizations can effectively comply with licensing structures for real time deployed technologies and help in prediction of the cost of additional licenses.
Accurate ROI calculations: It helps to analyze usage metrics. CMDB software provides businesses to more effectively assess the ROI of their hardware and software investments.
Change management: Ensureing the use of standardized methods and procedures for handling changes in IT infrastructure.
Configuration management: Establishing the accurate configuration of an IT asset based on design and operational specifications. Ensuring IT assets to help perform consistently to meet required benchmarks.
Asset management: Enabling users in tracking and managing IT inventory.
Device auto discovery: Periodical scanning the network and executing predefined actions on discovery.
License management: Tracking and organizing the number of licenses available to or potentially needed by the organization.
Performance monitoring: Monitoring and measuring relevant metrics to assess the performance of IT resources.
Knowledge management: Systematically managing knowledge assets for the purpose of creating value and meeting tactical and strategic requirements.
Most CMDB apps in the market are priced on a “per user, per month” basis or as an annual license. Pricing for CMDB software are hard to find on seller websites but based on available information you can always contact sellers directly for the most accurate pricing information. A higher-priced premium product include additional features.
Overall cost vs. day-to-day operational costs: Whereas IT Asset Management (ITAM) software is used for tracking and projecting an IT asset’s cost over its life cycle mostly for accounting purposes, CMDB software generally focuses on the day-to-day operation of an organization’s IT configuration – mainly checking how changes in the operating environment will affect other systems. Some products provide functionality for both ITAM and CMDB. A clear prioritization of long-term IT goals help you in selecting an appropriate product for the organization.
Auto discovery: While most CMDB programs have fields for recording version numbers of software used by an organization, some go a step further by proactively searching an organization’s infrastructure for out-of-date versions, and then performing upgrades automatically ensuring that versions match the desired configuration scheme. Auto discovery will also help in detecting the presence of illegal or unlicensed software on the organization’s IT infrastructure.
CMDB software will increasingly depends on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning with automated version control: AI will continue further in automating the CMDB space. AI will not only track and compare IT configuration information across a business, but it will also use algorithms to determine and implement the optimal configuration schema without user input. Considering that 68% of small businesses will be adopting AI in some respect over the next one to two years, even the smallest of businesses will need CMDB with AI to stay competitive.
Fines levied for the use of unlicensed software can be crippling for small businesses: The Business Software Alliance (BSA) does not discriminate between small businesses and large enterprises when it comes to penalizing software license infractions. In some cases, the BSA has even levied fines of up to $150,000 for copyright infringement, and that trend is likely to continue. While protecting your organization with the auto discovery technology of a CMDB suite, you get help in avoiding steep fines.
