“Microsoft approached us and told us that the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit would help us with our inventory. It’s a great tool—it really is.”

Brian Gibb, IT Manager, Carousel Industries

After two years of growth through acquisition, Carousel Industries wanted help preparing for its upcoming Microsoft Enterprise Agreement renewal. The company worked with Universal Management Solutions to undergo a Software Asset Management (SAM) Baseline engagement using the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit to gather inventory data. Carousel Industries reconciled assets obtained through growth, while also updating its licensing strategy.

Business NeedsCarousel Industries has provided tech-nology services to enterprise customers across the United States for 20 years. In 2009, the company entered into a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, part of Microsoft Volume Licensing. Not long after entering into the agreement, Carousel Industries experienced a period of sig-nificant growth through acquisition. In just two years, Carousel Industries doubled its employee count to reach its current size of more than 1,150 employees; three quarters of these employees are remote workers.

In early 2012, Carousel Industries began planning for the Microsoft licensing renewal process. Brian Gibb, IT Manager at Carousel Industries, was aware that he needed a better understanding of the company’s IT environment and assets. “One of our biggest concerns was that we had grown tremendously through acquisi-tions and new hiring,” says Gibb. Many of the company’s acquisitions came with hardware and software assets, and the company’s IT team had a difficult time keeping track of so many new assets. “We needed to get an understanding of our current assets,” adds Gibb.

Further, Carousel Industries had not used a standard asset management program to monitor new assets, track acquired hard-ware and software, or approve and deploy requested software. “We were trying to dig through our homegrown system to try to

track all of it, and to figure out how many copies of this and that and everything else was out there,” says Gibb. “We were running into difficulties.”

Finally, company processes for acquiring new software and hardware assets for employees caused delays and cost pro-ductivity. “There was a lot of back-and-forth to get a new user set up,” says Gibb.

SolutionAs Carousel Industries approached the Enterprise Agreement renewal date, Gibb anticipated that there would be expenses involved for the True-Up license recon-ciliation process. Gibb was pleased his Microsoft account manager approached with the suggestion that Carousel Industries participate in a complimentary Software Asset Management (SAM) Baseline inventory engagement.

Dell, the Microsoft Large Account Reseller for Carousel Industries, introduced Gibb to Universal Management Solutions (UMS), a member of the Microsoft Partner Network with SAM competency, to conduct the SAM Baseline inventory. UMS held a few conference calls to make introductions and go over the SAM Baseline process. UMS then helped Carousel Industries prepare to deploy the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit. MAP is a highly secure and agentless inventory tool that can be deployed on a single server to

Customer: Carousel IndustriesWebsite: www.carouselindustries.com Customer Size: 1,150 employeesCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: IT servicesPartner: Universal Management Solutions

Customer ProfileBased in Exeter, Rhode Island, Carousel Industries is a technology solution con-sultant providing enterprise customers with design, implementation, and main-tenance services for communication networks.

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

Services− Microsoft Enrollment for Application

Platform− Microsoft Enterprise Agreement− Software Asset Management

Baseline Technologies− Microsoft Assessment and Planning

Toolkit

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit: www.microsoft.com/casestudies

Microsoft Software Asset ManagementCustomer Solution Case Study

Technology Consultant Handles Growth, Updates Licensing Strategy with SAM

gather inventory information through a network database.

“Microsoft approached us and told us that the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit would help us with our inventory,” says Gibb. “It’s a great tool—it really is.” Carousel Industries particularly was pleased that the tool would help the company con-firm what software was deployed on the computers used by its many remote workers.

The tool ran scheduled scans to account for computers that connected through the company’s virtual private network at various times throughout the week. The scanning period lasted approximately two weeks.

After the inventory was completed, Gibb was unsurprised to learn that the company’s inventory data was outdated and needed to be corrected. Further, UMS and Dell provided guidance on the optimal Volume Licensing program for the company.

BenefitsCarousel Industries enjoyed solid benefits from the SAM Baseline inventory process, including:

Firm grasp on software obtained through acquisition. Absorbing multiple companies with 10 to 90 employees at a time can be difficult. “The biggest benefit of the SAM Baseline was getting an understanding of what software had been transferred through the acquisitions,” says Gibb.

Confidence in the inventory results. “It is a great benefit to be certain that the numbers we came up with are real,” says Gibb. He feels confident that having accurate inventory numbers will be helpful the next time Carousel Industries acquires another company.

Cost savings through new licensing agreement. After completing the SAM Baseline inventory, Carousel Industries worked with UMS and Dell to determine the most beneficial Volume Licensing program for the company moving forward. The inventory data was used to illustrate how Carousel Industries could benefit financially from not only renewing the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement but

also adding an Enrollment for Application Platform for the company’s Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 licenses.

Improved asset management policies. With the inventory completed, the IT team took advantage of the opportunity to review and update some of the com-pany’s asset management policies. Hardware and software are now deployed based on job requirements. And Carousel Industries has begun tracking its asset management in order to keep the inventory information current.

Time savings for end users. With the new asset management policies in place, employees at Carousel Industries no longer have to wait to obtain approval for specific software and hardware. “When a new computer is requested,” says Gibb, “all necessary software is determined ahead of time and it is a more efficient process for the end user.”

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published July 2012