The ITAM Roundup: 12/15/24
📰 News
Innovative AI: A Conversation with EY’s Michael Casey and Gaurav Rastogi
EY’s Michael Casey and Gaurav Rastogi discuss the company’s use of generative AI in ERP implementations on Insights for IT Negotiations, highlighting tools like EYQ and NVIDIA-powered agents to enhance productivity and streamline communications. They emphasize the importance of adaptable architectures, human oversight, and data privacy in maximizing AI’s benefits while mitigating risks. EY’s innovative approach positions them as a leader in leveraging AI to transform business processes and prepare for future advancements.
John Belden
TeamViewer buys 1E, which detects PC software problems, for $720M
TeamViewer has acquired U.K.-based 1E, a company specializing in detecting and resolving software issues on desktop PCs, for $720 million in its largest acquisition to date. The deal, expected to close in 2025, will strengthen TeamViewer's presence in the North American market and expand its offerings in intelligent endpoint management. 1E, with $77 million in annual recurring revenue primarily from enterprise customers, will see its CEO, Mark Banfield, join TeamViewer's board as chief commercial officer.
Mike Butcher
Citrix goes shopping in Europe and returns with gifts for security-conscious customers
Citrix has acquired two European companies, deviceTRUST and Strong Network, to enhance its security offerings for its platform. deviceTRUST provides security solutions that assess device contexts and behavior to prevent unauthorized access, while Strong Network offers customizable cloud development environments for developers. These acquisitions, aimed at bolstering Citrix’s zero trust and hybrid security capabilities, will be integrated into Citrix's platform to provide more secure management tools for its users.
Simon Sharwood
Prepare to Opt Out of New Outlook Starting in April 2026
Microsoft will begin transitioning enterprise customers to the "new Outlook" for Windows in April 2026, entering the Opt-Out phase where customers can either accept the update or block it temporarily. The Cutover phase, expected by early 2028, will mandate the switch, with classic Outlook being removed from Microsoft 365 Apps but remaining available as a separate download until 2029. Microsoft has outlined this timeline to help enterprises prepare for potential compatibility issues with the new Outlook.
Rob Helm
2025 Cloud Predictions: Legacy Cracks, AI Growth, and an Edge Boom
In 2025, the cloud industry will see transformative shifts as enterprises move away from rigid legacy providers toward distributed, edge-powered architectures that prioritize low-latency performance and adaptability. AI's growth and the demand for seamless compute environments across data centers, edge sites, and multicloud setups will drive organizations to adopt flexible, open strategies tailored to their workloads. Companies embracing these changes will gain operational agility and a competitive edge, while those resistant to adapt risk falling behind in an increasingly dynamic and distributed cloud ecosystem.
Ari Weil
Broadcom says VMware is a better money-making machine than it hoped
Broadcom's integration of VMware has exceeded expectations, with VMware's costs significantly reduced and margins soaring, driving substantial growth in Broadcom's software division. The company forecasts major expansion in its silicon business, especially in hyperscale XPU accelerators, targeting a $60-90 billion market opportunity by 2027. Additionally, Broadcom's AI-related chip sales grew 150% year-on-year, contributing to a 51% year-on-year increase in quarterly revenue, signaling strong financial health and a promising outlook for future growth.
Simon Sharwood
Google dips into enterprise-ready agentic AI with Agentspace
Google Cloud has launched Agentspace, an early access service designed to help enterprises create and deploy AI agents capable of answering complex questions, making proactive suggestions, and taking action based on company data. The platform, which allows customization for tasks such as research and content creation, has been adopted by companies like Deloitte to unify scattered information. This move is part of a broader push by AI providers, including Google, Microsoft, and AWS, to meet increasing enterprise demand for agentic AI tools, though challenges related to governance and security remain.
Lindsey Wilkinson
6 enterprise technology predictions to watch in 2025
In 2025, enterprise technology will see a significant shift, with executives focusing on more selective use of generative AI, prioritizing high-ROI use cases. As part of cost optimization efforts, enterprises are expected to consolidate IT service vendor contracts with their largest providers and push for consumption-based pricing models, especially for data and AI services. Additionally, hyperscalers will continue their infrastructure buildouts to support AI workloads, while agentic AI is anticipated to double the workforce, further advancing the maturity of enterprise generative AI strategies.
Roberto Torres
'Big' ITAM News For 2024
In 2024, significant events in ITAM included Flexera's acquisition of Snow Software, which was expected to drive innovation in the field, and the FinOps Foundation's update to its framework, adding Licensing & SaaS to optimize cloud cost management. Notable achievements included the Dutch Police receiving ISO 19770-1 certification for ITAM maturity and the FTC suing Adobe for misleading subscription cancellation terms. Other key developments were Thoma Bravo's acquisition of USU, Walmart settling an e-scrap disposal case, and the retirement of Microsoft's ‘Get Licensing Ready’ website, prompting concerns about maintaining Microsoft Licensing knowledge.
Jennifer Carr
📖 Tips
Shine a light on shadow licensing: How to rightsize your ServiceNow environment
ServiceNow’s licensing complexity and inaccurate data in its Subscription Management Application make rightsizing challenging, despite the platform’s broad adoption. Flexera’s SaaS management tools offer a more comprehensive approach, providing accurate usage data, license compliance insights, and cost-effective allocation strategies, helping organizations optimize licenses and reduce technical debt. By leveraging historical usage trends and identifying inactive users and custom application usage, Flexera enables better forecasting and significant cost savings for ServiceNow environments.
Hayley Salyer
How LicenseQ optimized our client’s Microsoft True-Up
LicenseQ helped a Dutch housing association optimize their Microsoft True-Up process, achieving ~5% cost savings and ensuring compliance by identifying discrepancies between their license usage and entitlements, such as reducing excess Dynamics 365 licenses. Using the LicenseQ Hub and manual analysis, they provided tailored recommendations and ongoing insights to improve license management and strategic decision-making. Impressed with the results, the client engaged LicenseQ for continuous support, including their upcoming Enterprise Agreement renewal.
Floris
Practical Sentinel: Operationalizing Health Monitoring
Microsoft Sentinel users must actively monitor their environment using the Sentinel Health feature, which tracks issues in analytic rules, automation rules, and data connectors but requires manual enablement. While the health logs help identify problems like failed automation runs or data ingestion issues, they don’t fully cover all components, such as playbooks, and some errors lack sufficient detail for resolution. By integrating health data into workflows, creating incidents, and leveraging custom KQL queries, teams can address critical issues and improve operational efficiency, although gaps in the feature remain a challenge.
Thijs Lecomte
How Mirgor Saved 2,500 Hours in Manual Work With InvGate Asset Management
Mirgor, an Argentinian tech and manufacturing leader, transitioned from manual spreadsheet-based IT asset tracking to InvGate Asset Management, saving 2,500 hours annually and achieving significant efficiencies. Within three months of implementation, Mirgor automated 80% of operational tasks, integrated real-time reporting for 85% of their 3,500+ assets, and streamlined processes like asset assignment and contract management through integrations with Jira and Intune. This overhaul, supported by InvGate’s partner ORKOS, allowed Mirgor to unify IT management, improve decision-making, and focus on higher-value activities.
Natalí Valle
Top 10 Microsoft Azure Cost Optimization Tips
This guide outlines 10 practical tips for optimizing Microsoft Azure costs, such as right-sizing resources, implementing auto-scaling, and leveraging reserved instances for predictable workloads. Other strategies include using Azure Hybrid Benefit, optimizing storage tiers, turning off idle resources, and employing Spot VMs for cost-sensitive tasks. Additionally, tools like tagging, Azure Cost Management, and lifecycle management policies help track expenses, allocate costs, and automate savings while ensuring efficient cloud spending.
Fredrik Filipsson
🐛Bugs & Exploits
Citrix shares mitigations for ongoing Netscaler password spray attacks
Citrix Netscaler devices are being targeted in widespread password spray attacks, overwhelming systems with a surge of authentication attempts and failures originating from dynamic IP addresses. To mitigate the impact, Citrix recommends measures such as enabling multi-factor authentication before LDAP, blocking pre-nFactor endpoints unless essential, and using a web application firewall (WAF) to block low-reputation IPs. These mitigations apply to NetScaler firmware versions 13.0 or newer and are unnecessary for customers using Gateway Service.
Lawrence Abrams
