Isle of Wight NHS Trust Saves £250K from Software Optimization Across Their Hybrid IT Environment

At a Glance: 

• £250K saved from license optimization with Xensam’s Active Usage data.
• #1 security score in the region from enhanced detection of vulnerable installations with deep scanning from Xensam’s Xearch agent.
• Reporting time down from 3 weeks to 3 hours and 30 seconds with Custom Reports.
• Fast time to value with initial configuration complete in 1 week and instant access to data.
• Optimized cost management via the Cost Center and customizable cost data.

The Customer

Isle of Wight NHS Trust is an acute and ambulance health care provider based on the Isle of Wight in the UK. The Trust was established in 2012 as the only fully integrated provider of health services, delivering care to an isolated offshore population of 140,000 on the Isle of Wight.

As an NHS organisation supporting around 4,700 users, including employees and partner organisations, who onboard and off-board within their unique healthcare software, their IT environment is a highly complex hybrid infrastructure

Lack of Reliable and Centralized Software Inventory Across a Hybrid IT Environment 

Before finding Xensam, the NHS Trust used a combination of non-SAM SCCM tools and spreadsheets to track their software applications. Mark Hamilton, the Trust’s Senior Technical Specialist, knew this tedious work was a big-time waste for the organization, and he began searching for a comprehensive tool to support their SAM functions and data collection. 

“During software license audits in the past, it used to take us up to a month just to collect the necessary data we needed.” 

They began trialing various tools that solved some problems in their IT environment, but their scope was too limited, particularly considering their high cost. None provided the winning combination of both extensive, reliable inventory and granular application utilization data. And then they found Xensam. 

“We needed better inventory, more centralized data, and a tool that was actually ITAM specific.” 

£250K Saved with Active Usage Data 

For Marcus Garman, the NHS Trust’s Digital Infrastructure Programme Manager, the stand-out feature of the platform was the Active Usage data. 

“Before Xensam we knew what we had, and where it was, but not if it was being used. We searched the market, and there was no other platform that could provide us with information on actual application usage down to the minute like Xensam.” 

Since adopting the Xensam platform, the NHS Trust has experienced a total transformation in managing its IT environment. A far cry from tracking applications manually, they now have more than 200 software vendors recognized across 6,000 end users and have been able to save approximately £250,000 by cutting underutilized licenses by tracking both total usage and actual usage of applications. 

“If Teams were running in the background all day, other platforms would’ve told us that it was being used all day. With Xensam we can drive significant cost savings by tracking how much applications are actually being used.” 

With Xensam’s Active Usage data, they discovered that their nursing staff under-utilized much of their Microsoft 365 packages and were able to downgrade to E1 licenses instead. 

“With Active Usage, we discovered that some specifically requested applications had actually been used for a grand total of 2 minutes!” 

They are now able to prepare for each renewal cycle of major applications like Microsoft and Outlook by examining trustworthy data and making informed decisions that drive tangible cost savings. 

Custom Recognition of Unique Software Applications and URLs 

In addition to their gains from Active Usage data, the NHS Trust has benefitted from precise software recognition. 

“The automatic inventory worked really well, but Xensam also gave us quick recognition of unique healthcare-related software.” 

They use several unique healthcare software applications, and with the simple submission of an email request to the Xensam Support Technicians, these unique applications were inventoried within hours. This was also the case with several custom websites that the NHS Trust used. By simply sending the URL, these unique sites are now inventoried, tracked, and managed accurately. 

“A few emails with the technical team always solve any challenge we have. Queries are answered quickly and thoroughly by the Xensam Support Technicians.” 

Fast Time to Value with 1 Week for Initial Configuration 

The NHS Trust achieved a quick rollout of Xensam’s platform, installing agents across their environment and completing the initial configuration of their API and Cost Center within 1 week. This allowed them to begin gathering data from across their environment almost immediately, giving them access to a comprehensive and accurate picture of their software. 

“Setting up the platform was so easy. The initial configuration took us 1 week.” 

Reporting Time Down From 3 Weeks to 3 Hours and 30 Seconds 

Another outstanding benefit the NHS Trust has experienced is the time saved from streamlining their workload. Their Senior Technical Specialist, Mark Hamilton, used to spend 3 weeks on their annual reports, painstakingly collecting data from across their IT environment, writing the report, and double-checking data to control for human error before presenting it to upper-level management.

Now, generating Reports and Custom Reports takes place with the click of a button, cutting their report time from 3 weeks down to 3 hours to organize the appropriate data, and 30 seconds to generate the report. They are currently planning on setting up a monthly meeting with their Finance Department to report on the total cost of software and hardware throughout the organization.

“We can speak with upper-level management with confidence now because we know we can trust that the data in our reports is accurate.” 

#1 Security Score Within the Region 

The NHS maintains extremely high-security standards and gives their entities security scores annually. Since using Xensam, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has been awarded the top security score in their southern region. The deep scan conducted by Xensam’s agile agent has detected old software that’s been unused for years, old versions of SQL and other apps, as well as legacy apps that remained undetected from disuse - conveniently displayed in the Security Center. 

“With Xensam we find vulnerable installations and what device or folder they’ve been hiding in. We’re picking up things that haven’t been detected before.” 

Customizable Cost Data to Support Unique Organizational Structure

Because the NHS Trust is part of a government entity, they are in the unique position of having much of their software sponsored by government funding. This would normally create a difficult cost-tracking situation for ITAM professionals to manage, but Xensam allows them to auto-select the cost of software to reflect actual spend. Should there be a time when their situation regarding certain applications changes, they can reset their system to reflect out-of-the-box pricing for selected software instead of the government-sponsored cost. 

Conclusion

With the holistic optimization that Xensam provides across even the most complex IT infrastructures, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has been able to significantly optimize their IT environment. From £250K saved in license optimization using Active Usage data, to informed preparation for renewals, they’ve been able to right-size their application infrastructure, minimize cost, and ensure compliance. Armed with trustworthy data, they’re confident to share and report on their findings across departments, facilitating collaboration and making SAM data work for the entire organization. With security gains from detection of previously unseen apps, their trust has been awarded top security performance across the region, demonstrating the holistic optimization that can be achieved when software assets are expertly managed. 

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