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Summary

Business challenge

Compliance solutions provider Complinet has enjoyed rapid growth over the past four years. This has, however, led to an increasingly complex software estate. Ad hoc procurement and a lack of global licensing agreements meant that renewals and ongoing management was time-consuming. This – coupled with elevated licensing costs – meant that Complinet was unable to budget effectively for expansion.

Computacenter solution

To ensure it achieved the best value from its vendor agreements, Complinet partnered with Computacenter’s software licensing experts. Computacenter conducted an Effective Licence Position (ELP) review and a Software Asset Management (SAM) workshop to help Complinet embark on a consolidation exercise. This included helping Complinet to co-terminate 10 piecemeal agreements, and recommending best-practice processes.

Results

Complinet is now able to provide its staff with access to the latest software packages. It can also budget effectively for future requirements, and expects to achieve cost savings of up to 15 per cent once all Computacenter’s recommendations are implemented. Increased efficiency in software asset management also means that Complinet can meet audit requests more easily, which will be crucial to achieving ISO 27001 accreditation.

Customer profile

Helping financial services firms comply with confidence
Complinet is a leading provider of risk and compliance solutions to the financial services community. The company’s software helps firms to minimise their exposure to risk by providing information that helps link live external events, such as regulatory developments, with internal policy management and anti-money laundering activities.

Founded in 1997, Complinet’s customer base now includes 80 per cent of the world’s top financial services firms. The company has expanded massively over recent years, from approximately 40 staff in 2004 to around 250 employees based at four offices and other remote sites at the beginning of 2008. Today more than 100,000 compliance and legal professionals in the finance sector rely on Complinet to comply with confidence, operate efficiently and control costs.

Business challenge

Cost-effective software licensing for a global and expanding workforce
Working in the fast-paced financial services sector, Complinet’s staff need access to the latest technology – both for software development and general administration purposes. Rapid growth and the company’s global presence had led to a number of challenges associated with providing this access, particularly around software licensing.

Until recently, the organisation was too small for enterprise-level software agreements, so licences were procured as and when they were required by Complinet’s IT department. These licences were then managed via a number of spreadsheets.

Although this method was effective initially, as the company grew, the lack of centralised agreements meant that ongoing management was very time-consuming. As Lisa White, Network Manager at Complinet, explains, “Managing renewals was particularly problematic. Each software licence expired on a different date, which made it difficult to track renewal dates and the overall procurement process was inefficient.”

The global nature of the company added to this complexity – and overall costs. A laptop built and configured to be compliant with licensing agreements in the UK may not be compliant should the user move to Dubai. As a result, Complinet frequently had to purchase multiple licences for the same software.

In addition to concerns over high licence costs, Complinet was unable to budget effectively for the future. Although the company had a good understanding of its software estate, pricing plans vary massively from vendor to vendor, which made it very difficult for Complinet to ensure it was getting the best licensing deal.

Computacenter solution

Licence review and consolidation
Complinet was already working with IT services and solutions provider Computacenter to meet its hardware needs. Following the success of this relationship, Complinet called on Computacenter’s licensing experts to help optimise its software assets.

In the first instance, Computacenter conducted an Effective Licence Position (ELP) exercise to establish Complinet’s licence entitlements across 10 key vendors. Computacenter’s specialists reviewed Complinet’s existing agreements to identify if they could be consolidated into global licensing schemes, which would offer a better price band and easier ongoing management.

This programme of consolidation involved co-terminating Complinet’s 10 piecemeal agreements for a range of vendor solutions, including Red Hat, My SQL and VMware.

“Working with Computacenter made the review and consolidation process far more straightforward,” comments Lisa. “Its software licensing team comprises of specialists for each vendor, so it had the contacts and knowledge to make sure we achieved the most effective pricing plan for our needs, while taking into consideration our plans for future growth.”

In addition to reducing expenditure, the new agreements include software maintenance, which means that every Complinet user is able to access the latest version of each product, as Lisa explains, “We were running up to five different versions of the same product, which led to issues with deployment, security and even compatibility. With our new licensing structure, our staff do not have to endure the outdated functionality of legacy software releases.”

Following the ELP, Complinet also decided to source its Microsoft Enterprise Agreement through Computacenter and participated in a Software Asset Management (SAM) workshop. “The workshop helped us put in place best practices for effective ongoing software management,” comments Lisa. “Although we were already using audit trail software, Computacenter introduced us to a best-fit software management package that was more suited to the size and type of our environment. This product includes a tool for identifying under-utilised licences, which would help to reduce costs even further.”

Results

Improving cost control and simplifying compliance
Complinet is now able to ensure that it has the best software licensing agreements for its needs. “We’ve spent six months getting to this point, but we won’t over-subscribe again,” comments Lisa. “Computacenter’s input has been vital, and will continue to be, in ensuring that our licences meet our current and future requirements.”

By consolidating its licence agreements and simplifying ongoing management, Complinet will achieve:

• Cost savings of around 15 per cent: Complinet estimates that it could save in the region of 15 per cent on its annual software bill once all recommended changes have been implemented.
• Improved budget management: Complinet is now able to calculate the cost per head of employing new staff in terms of software licences based on their department and location. This is crucial for budgeting the cost of expansion and making effective business decisions.
• Greater staff satisfaction: All users are now provided with the latest software, which not only makes their lives easier, but also improves security and simplifies deployment.

These factors are particularly important to Complinet as it is currently undergoing ISO 27001 accreditation for information security management. “The ability to prove software licensing compliance is an essential part of meeting ISO 27001 standards. In the case of an external audit, we now have all the necessary information to hand,” comments Lisa.

Compliance is naturally high on the agenda due to the nature of Complinet’s business. As Lisa confirms: “Our role is to help financial services firms ensure compliance with industry regulations and regional legislation. We need to lead by example. If we were to fall short on our own compliance obligations, our reputation would suffer. By working with Computacenter, we can safeguard software licensing compliance without excessive expenditure.”