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Defend against an IBM license audit

Prepare for or defend against an IBM license audit to reduce risk and cost

Receiving notification from IBM of their intention to audit your IBM software license estate is likely to cause additional workload and personal stress, if you are not prepared.  

Do you know how to respond in the event of an IBM license audit request?  Do you have all the necessary data at hand and are confident of your license position?  

If the answer to these questions is ‘no’, you need to act … however you are not alone. 

First things first.  Don’t panic. 

Our IBM license experts have considerable experience in helping organisations prepare for an audit and can support you through an IBM license audit to a successful conclusion, mitigating unbudgeted costs and risks. 

Our expertise encompasses all key IBM products including Security, WebSphere, Spectrum, Tivoli, Infosphere and Cognos.    

Our consultants treat your IBM spend as their own money, driven by a commitment to optimise cost and improve your bottom line.   

IBM License Audit Defence Service Elements 

Our software asset management methodology – Control – underpins all our license consultancy engagements including preparing for or defending against an IBM license audit.  

This tried and tested SAM process delivers financial risk reduction, cost avoidance and removes excessive workload from your business that an audit can create. Within Control, the service elements include: 

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Audit negotiation

Our IBM license experts will support you with audit negotiation strategy and tactics ‘over the shoulder’ or will act on your behalf with the auditor directly to ensure that you are working only within your contractual obligations.

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Audit mitigation strategies

Our IBM license experts will clarify where any perceived license non-compliance may exist and recommend legitimate mitigation strategies to remove.

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Audit validation

Our IBM license experts will be able to validate any points made by an IBM auditor and make recommendations, such as whether to challenge a point and how to do so.

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Diagnosis

A Diagnosis or Health Check is a strategic review of your license estate. It identifies the risks of non-compliance and opportunities related to the management of your software assets.

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Discovery, Baseline and Optimisation

Based on the Diagnosis, we may perform a detailed Discovery and Baseline to determine license compliance. We will highlight areas of risk and propose optimisation and remediation.

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Resolution

If you need to buy licenses or re-negotiate with your software vendor, we can help you create a plan. This can minimise unexpected costs and deliver more benefits, creating a fit-for-future license estate.

IBM Audit Defence Client Example 

By adopting our tried and tested software audit approach, our client avoided a €multi-million financial exposure through legitimate remediation resulting in a massive ROI.  

The total cost of the consultancy provided by Version 1 equated to 0.23% of the total cost avoided by the client. 

Our approach to defending against software vendor audits

Version 1’s software asset management methodology, Control, underpins all our license consultancy engagements including preparing for or defending against a software vendor audit across Oracle, Microsoft, IBM and many more.

This tried and tested SAM process delivers financial risk reduction, cost avoidance and removes excessive workload from your business that an audit can create.

Watch our video

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82% financial risk reduction

Our optimisation expertise helps to deliver financial risk reduction of over 82% on average during audit scenarios

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£17m to £100k

When engaged our customer was facing a bill of £17m but through our help, this amount reduced to £100k

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£5.8m identified risks

During a typical review, we find non-compliance risks of over £5.8m

Talk to us

Contact us to take part in a complimentary IBM license audit defence workshop to kick start your IBM license audit preparation strategy or to offer immediate assistance in the event of an ongoing IBM license audit.