Major software vendors change their terms and conditions to reflect changes in the business climate, and a desire to increase or minimize an anticipated reduction in revenue. That’s what businesses do and at ISAM, we’re not going to judge or condemn these vendors. Our job is to ensure you are aware of these changes, help you navigate them, and offer help to prevent a significant impact on your business. So, what has changed?
IBM has updated its Passport Advantage Agreement (IPAA Version 11). This agreement gives you usage rights to certain IBM programs, within a specified number of deployments within a timeframe. Existing customers will be subject to these new terms and conditions as of May 1, 2023. That’s just around the corner!
There are several updates and the initial change is how updates to these agreements will be communicated going forward. You must subscribe to the IBM terms page as future announcements will be posted there. This is important, so please subscribe today!
At a high level, IBM is putting an increased focus on audits and requiring the use of ‘IBM accepted’ reporting of deployment numbers, with supporting documentation to substantiate. This can be from an IBM Authorized SAM Provider (IASP) program or an “IBM approved” methodology, which could be a combination of tools, documents, and processes. The key here is “IBM approved”, and they can request that you provide this within 30 days. If this seems confusing, ISAM can help you navigate this change and ensure that you use IBM approved methods to manage this licensing change.
Using these “IBM approved” methods is very important. Failure to do so for your subscriptions and support licenses could result in the renewal of those that may have expired. That could be very costly if you aren’t on top of it! You can’t end or cancel your agreement before it expires, but it is possible to set a length of time that correlates to your business need. For future planning, you should count on subscription licensing being the focus going forward.
There is some good news about these changes though. IBM has agreed to allow a migration plan for sub-capacity management subject to approval and has included containers in the Passport Advantage agreement.
Keep in mind two essential focus items for you after reading this article to ensure you are covered with these IBM licensing changes:
David Gemuenden is a Technology Executive who has held pivotal Senior Leadership roles at IBM, Dell, Flexera, Snow, and Livingstone Group. After helping those companies transform their business he has now joined ISAM Group.
His diverse background in Product Management, Software Development, Service Delivery, ITAM, SAM, and Customer Success provides him a unique ability to bridge customer requirements with business realities, resulting in peak organizational efficiency and increased Customer Satisfaction.
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