Shipping giant in-sources IT asset management to save millions

As more and more ERP vendors find it difficult to sell new licenses they are resorting to audits to make up the numbers. Aivars Lode Avantce

Shipping giant in-sources IT asset management to save millions

Møller-Maersk has signed a new multi-year contract with Flexera Software

By Antony Savvas | Computerworld UK | Published 14:48, 18 January 13

Shipping and logistics giant Møller-Maersk says it has now got its IT asset management (ITAM) in order and has saved "millions of dollars" in the process.

The Danish-based multinational has operations in 130 countries and employs over 100,000, with revenues of $56 billion (£35.2 billion).

Previously ITAM had been outsourced to a managed service provider, but Maersk decided to bring its ITAM programme back in-house, to gain improved visibility and control over its hardware and software assets at the corporate level, and across all of its lines of business.

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The company believed it was overpaying for some software and also at risk of vendor license audits. Maersk therefore wanted to mitigate the financial and reputational risk associated with software license non-compliance.

Maersk signed an agreement with Flexera Software for a multi-year project to implement an internal IT asset management programme, using the FlexNet Manager Suite for Enterprises system.

The company formed a group-wide asset management team and put in place a project plan to focus on five key software vendors and deliver consistent quarterly results.

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Less than a year after partnering with Flexera, Maersk said it had realised multi-million dollar savings for two key software vendors, and that 95 percent of its IT assets were now managed.

Also there is now corporate-wide, as well as business unit transparency, for those assets, said the company, with the ITAM programme becoming a "trustworthy source of critical information" across the group.

Luis Peluffo Johansen, Maersk global head of IT purchases and assets, said: “Our annual true-up with one of our key software vendors was the proof point for our revamped ITAM programme.

"The zero dollar true-up cost (extra money paid for software used), in sharp contrast to the millions of dollars paid each year previously, showed how powerful it is to have accurate asset information at your fingertips.”