Glossary

A managed Kubernetes service offered by Microsoft Azure to manage containerized applications.

A fully managed container orchestration service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to manage containerized applications.

A managed Kubernetes service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) to manage containerized applications.

A set of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate with each other. One piece of software can request services or data from another, and receive responses, without needing to understand the internal workings of the other system.

The process used to get software onto devices of relevant users with ease. This involves creating a package of files for each type or piece of software that a company uses.
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Application portfolio management tools typically refer to software that’s designed to discover and keep track of different applications that a company uses for its systems and processes.
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A grouping of cloud instances that are scaled as a single entity by adjusting the number of instances in the group to meet changing demand.

A feature that automatically adjusts the number or size of computing resources up or down based on demand.

Application portfolio management reduces the complexities of your information technology asset management (ITAM) processes, simplifying the entire management process by identifying and removing unnecessary applications from your IT infrastructure.
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A workload optimization strategy that strategically allocates containers (such as Kubernetes) to nodes within a cluster to maximize resource utilization and minimize waste.

Connection and correlation of assets that meet the needs of a segment of the business that has its own plans, metrics, income and costs. Each business unit owns, implements, and manages assets to create value for customers in the form of goods and services.
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A software development practice that automates code integration, testing, and deployment to accelerate software delivery.

Cloud cost optimization refers to the process of efficiently managing and reducing the expenses associated with using cloud computing resources.
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Cloud migration refers to the process of moving digital assets such as data, applications and workloads from on-premises infrastructure or existing cloud environments to a different cloud service provider or cloud platform.
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A configuration management database, or CMDB, is an organization-wide database created as a reference for technology assets, also known as configuration items (CIs), and their contextual relationship information in the IT estate across various business functions. Technology assets typically include hardware and software, but increasingly may include additional hybrid technology.
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A standard unit of cloud software that encapsulates everything needed for an application to run, including code and all its dependencies. Containers have a smaller footprint than virtual machines because containers share the host operating system's kernel, while virtual machines each have their own kernel. As a result, containers can start and stop faster, and they use fewer resources.

Cyber Security Assessment and Management (CSAM) involves a range of practices and strategies, all aimed at protecting an organization's digital assets from various cyber threats. As organizations delve deeper into the digital realm, understanding and implementing effective CSAM practices is crucial for their security, efficiency and overall success.
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Data normalization is a systematic approach to refining and structuring raw IT data, transforming it into a consolidated, categorized listing of hardware and software. This process ensures uniformity, accuracy and streamlined IT asset visibility, enabling organizations to derive actionable insights, make informed decisions and maintain a clear view of their IT landscape. It's a cornerstone for achieving optimal IT governance and risk management.
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DevOps is a cultural and organizational philosophy that aims to bridge the gap between software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) teams. It emphasizes collaboration, communication, and automation throughout the software development lifecycle, enabling teams to build, test, and release software rapidly, frequently, and reliably.

Effective license position (ELP): A reconciliation of your current license entitlement against your current software consumption.
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End of life (EOL) signifies the predetermined date after which a product will cease to receive full support from its vendor/manufacturer. Recognizing EOL is essential as it indicates the phase where products might become outdated, potentially posing security and operational risks. It's a critical milestone in the lifecycle of IT products, impacting both strategic planning and operational efficiency.
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End of support (EOS) marks the designated date when all formal support for a product by its vendor/manufacturer concludes. It’s the final stage of a product’s lifecycle, and it can expose organizations to vulnerabilities, inefficiencies and potential compliance issues, underscoring the importance of proactive IT management. EOS is also sometimes referred to as end of service.
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‘Enterprise IT’ refers to the structures and services designed for the operation of large-scale business. For large companies, understanding the components of enterprise IT infrastructure is like studying a blueprint for their digital success.
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FinOps is the practice of optimizing cloud costs through collaboration between finance, operations and engineering teams. FinOps helps organizations manage cloud spending effectively, aligning spend with business goals and optimizing resource allocation.
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A managed Kubernetes service offered by Google Cloud to manage containerized applications.

A service that monitors the availability and performance of applications, services, or underlying infrastructure. Cloud providers often offer built-in HCS (e.g., Amazon CloudWatch). HCS is critical for monitoring the health of individual microservices and ensuring proper communication between them. Kubernetes, for example, utilizes health checks to manage container states and reroute traffic as needed.

This guide will provide you with an overview of the key software-as-a-service (SaaS) trends, how those relate to SaaS management challenges and resulting capabilities organizations should consider as they look for SaaS management platforms. This guide can also provide you with key talking points when discussing the need for a SaaS management platform with your organization’s decision-makers.
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The practice of managing and provisioning computing infrastructure (like servers, networks, and databases) through machine-readable configuration files rather than manual processes. IaC leverages automated to enable faster deployments and reduce errors.

A virtual server in the cloud, typically referring to a computing resource like an Amazon EC2 instance, or a Virtual Machine (VM) in Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform.

The end-to-end tracking and management of IT assets to ensure that every asset is properly used, maintained, upgraded and disposed of at the end of its lifecycle.
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An information management (IT) process flowchart is a strategic outline of what is in your IT infrastructure, how it’s being utilized and what needs to be retired. This flowchart helps streamline your IT assets, improve their operational efficiency and control their costs.
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The process of digitizing all asset management tasks so that operators and users can manage all of their assets and IT processes in a single platform.
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IT governance frameworks are established sets of guidelines, best practices and standards that can be used to design, implement and manage IT governance. When applied with the right IT asset management solutions IT governance frameworks can help organizations reduce risks, optimize strategies and enhance performance.
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IT modernization involves a wide range of tasks including the assessment and organization of your existing IT infrastructure, as well as the identification of areas that require upgrading. You need a well-designed IT modernization strategy outlining key goals, available resources and timelines necessary for your modernization project.
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IT infrastructure faces numerous risks and threats, including insider threats, external threats and advanced continuous threats. Fortunately, an IT asset management system can help identify IT risks and threats in your infrastructure allowing you to keep them at bay.
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IT spending efficiency is best achieved through strategic planning, regular reviews and investing in the best tools. As companies look for ways to increase their standing and surpass their competitors, understanding the nuances of IT spending and its optimization is more crucial than ever.
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IT and OT are two important technological components of any organization. While they seem similar, especially in how they benefit operations, there are some key differences between the two.
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IT visibility is the ability to have a comprehensive, real-time insight into an organization's entire IT estate. This encompasses everything from traditional on-premises hardware and software to cloud-based services, applications and the vast array of interconnected devices known as the Internet of Things (IoT). This clarity ensures that businesses can proactively manage, optimize and secure their IT resources, fostering informed decision making, risk mitigation and strategic alignment with business goals.
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ITAM and CMDB are important services for managing IT assets in an organization. They offer critical details about your company’s IT assets. Each service serves a specific purpose and offers unique value to an enterprise.
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IT Asset Management (ITAM) is responsible for tracking and managing IT assets, and IT Operations (ITOM) deals with the processes required for maintaining and delivering IT services. Understanding the roles and interactions of these two structures is a key strategic advantage in a technology-driven market.
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An open-source tool for creating and managing Kubernetes clusters on cloud platforms, primarily by using the command-line interface (CLI).

Kubernetes, often abbreviated as K8s, is an open-source Kubernetes is a container orchestration tool designed for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

A system that distributes network traffic across multiple servers or services, improving availability, performance, and scalability, as well as security and fault tolerance.

A Kubernetes term for a physical or virtual machine that functions as a worker in the Kubernetes cluster. It is responsible for running the workloads, which are encapsulated in Pods.

A Kubernetes term for a group of nodes within a cluster with similar configurations. Node pools are used to manage and organize nodes, allowing for different configurations to be applied to different workloads or environments within the same cluster.

A standard pay-as-you-go virtual server in the cloud (like an Amazon EC2 instance) that you pay for by the second or hour with no long-term commitment.

A commitment to use a specified cloud resource (such as a virtual machine) for a fixed term (e.g., 1 or 3 years) at a lower cost than an on-demand instance. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) all offer Reserved Instances (or similar models) to help customers save money by committing to using specific cloud resources for a set period. AWS calls them Reserved Instances, Azure uses the term Azure Reserved VM Instances, and Google Cloud offers Committed Use Discounts.

An optimization technique that matches cloud resources to actual workload demands, ensuring applications run efficiently without over- or under-provisioning. Rightsizing aims to find the right balance between performance and cost by adjusting resources like CPU, memory, and storage.

A combination of factors, including the move to remote work and the need for organizations to respond more quickly to business objectives, has led to a rapid acceleration of SaaS spend. Because SaaS software is easy to try, buy and implement, the procurement of these applications is no longer centralized within IT but has spread throughout the organization. This combination of increased spend and decentralized procurement has led to an explosion of shadow SaaS.
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Like a Reserved Instance, a Savings Plan offers a discounted price (vs. on-demand) for a cloud resource in exchange for a commitment to a cloud provider. Rather than committing to usage, Savings Plans require commitment to spending a specified number of dollars per hour, typically over a 1-year or 3-year term.

‘Shadow information technology’ (IT) refers to any software, hardware or IT resource used on an enterprise’s network without knowledge, approval or oversight from individuals in charge, such as members of a company’s IT department.
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The business initiative for actively governing and automating procurement, usage and deployment of software licenses and subscriptions.
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Before you receive a notification of an audit from a vendor, it’s crucial to have effective hardware and software asset management processes in place to make sure that your license compliance positions are current and accurate. This will reduce the time required to prepare for an audit and reduce the risk of submitting inaccurate data as evidence which can lead to elevated audit settlement figures.
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Software vulnerability refers to a weakness or flaw within a software application that can be exploited by malicious actors to compromise the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the system, data or network on which it operates.
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A discounted cloud instance offered by providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud which can be interrupted (claimed by the provider) with short notice or no notice at all. A spot instance can cost up to 90% less than the same instance purchased on-demand.

A node (a machine or compute instance) that stores and utilizes information from previous interactions to influence subsequent responses or actions. Managing state can introduce complexity in terms of data consistency, synchronization, and scaling

Technology value optimization (TVO) involves increasing the return and reducing the cost of information technology (IT) costs. This requires fueling better-informed, data-driven decisions and proactive management of spend and risk to maximize value from technology investments.
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The most common types of software licensing models include perpetual, subscription based and open-source. Each of these models comes with unique terms and conditions binding and protecting both the provider and the user.
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Software-based emulations of physical computers on top of a physical computer's hardware, allowing a physical computer's resources (CPU, memory, storage, etc.) to be divided and shared among multiple virtual machines. A special software layer called a hypervisor manages the VMs and allocates resources from the host machine.

Asset management is a key part of today’s hybrid work environments. There are three main asset management types: hardware asset management, software asset management and cloud asset management.
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There are several types of asset management, such as software asset management, hardware asset management and cloud asset management, among others. Each kind deals with a certain facet of a hybrid environment and comes with its own asset management software.
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Every software comes with a license agreement you must accept before installing it. These licenses are only valid for a certain period. So, one of the main concerns for many software users is what happens when your software license expires.
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A perpetual software license is a permit to use the software forever without recurring renewal fees. In most instances, a perpetual license doesn’t have periodic payments unless you want to upgrade it or access support and maintenance services.
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A software license agreement (SLA) is a legal agreement between a software developer or vendor and a user that defines how the program should be used. It contains the terms and conditions of acquiring, installing and using the software. This agreement safeguards the interests of the developer, vendor and user while ensuring that every party remains compliant.
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An asset management plan is the tactical outline of how an organization manages its assets resourcefully, including finances, buildings, IT resources and equipment over a specified period to realize its objectives. It ensures the effective use of resources while minimizing costs and risks.
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Application portfolio management (APM) is a framework for managing enterprise IT software applications and software-based services. The goal is to balance the portfolio for optimal performance, risk management and return on investment.
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Asset management software is a digital tool designed to help companies track, maintain and optimize their assets, ranging from equipment to machinery to IT resources. By automating these processes and centralizing the information, businesses can maximize efficiency while reducing costs and operational disruptions.
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Asset reliability software is a digital program designed to monitor, manage and optimize an organization’s assets for enhanced performance, reliability and longevity. These assets include machinery, buildings, IT systems and other resources that are essential for the smooth running of the organization.
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SAM methodology is the practice of SAM and includes key strategies such as procurement and inventory, license management, usage tracking, compliance monitoring and risk management.
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SAP Asset Management is a software designed to track and maintain an organization’s assets throughout its lifecycle. It’s a resource that works to ensure optimal asset use and performance.
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A human-readable format often used for configuration files that define infrastructure as code, and for exchanging data between different programming languages. YAML is designed to serialize data structures, such as lists (sequences), dictionaries (mappings/hashes), and scalars (strings, numbers, booleans).