How School or Software Asset Management (SAM) Benefits Higher Ed
Today’s college students expect to at least have the option to learn online, and 70 percent even express a preference for doing so over in-person learning, according to the University of the Potomac. This evolution in higher education, along with the ability of students, faculty and staff to use their own devices, has led to an increased need for a single platform or management program from which to control software. This is even more important due to the staff recruitment and retention challenges IT teams face, especially in the realm of security and privacy.
SAM programs ensure software on all devices is university-approved and being used securely and efficiently.
Beyond security, there are a variety of other benefits — financial, logistical and even safety — that come with investing in a school or software asset management program. However, an EDUCAUSE poll showed that institutions aren’t using these programs to the extent they could. Just 1 in 4 institutions reported using a SAM program, according to survey data released in December 2022.
Paige Johnson, vice president of education marketing at Microsoft, which offers the asset management program Intune, says there are a few possible reasons for the lack of adoption. Some management tools, for example, address only the needs of commercial customers, rather than education-specific apps such as learning management systems and discipline-specific software. Others might not see a net positive financial cost-to-benefit ratio, though Johnson says “Intune also provides benefits that far outweigh the costs, and often moving to cloud management offers significant cost savings versus traditional on-prem management products.”
Here are some benefits higher education institutions might enjoy.