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14/09/2026 10:09 am
TL;DR: Software asset and license management is shifting from inventory control to a governance layer for cost transparency, compliance, and hybrid IT visibility, according to Efecte’s summary of techconsult’s PUR 2026 benchmark. The practical implication is that SAM now has to operate as part of broader IT operations, not as a standalone audit function.
NHIMG editorial — based on content published by Efecte: Rated by users, named a Champion, what the PUR 2026 really means for Matrix42
By the numbers:
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts.
Questions worth separating out
Q: How should teams evaluate software asset management beyond license tracking?
A: Teams should evaluate SAM as a governance capability that ties ownership, usage, compliance evidence, and lifecycle actions together.
Q: Why does hybrid IT make software asset governance harder?
A: Hybrid IT increases the number of systems, contracts, and usage patterns that must stay aligned.
Q: What breaks when software asset data sits in a silo?
A: A siloed SAM model breaks cross-functional visibility.
Practitioner guidance
- Reframe SAM as a governance control Define software asset management outcomes in terms of ownership, compliance evidence, and operational accountability, not just licence inventory.
- Connect SAM records to lifecycle workflows Link asset ownership to joiner-mover-leaver processes, offboarding actions, and service ownership changes so records stay current as software and teams change.
- Test platform integration before you standardise Validate whether the SAM tool can exchange data with service management, endpoint management, and automation layers without manual reconciliation.
What's in the full article
Efecte's full article covers the market and benchmark detail this post intentionally leaves at the governance level:
- The PUR benchmark scoring model across company rating and solution rating, including how users separated innovation from product performance.
- The category breakdown that shows how 46 vendors were evaluated and how 29 reached Diamond status.
- The analyst commentary on why integrated platform approaches matter in daily IT operations.
- The customer-facing examples and webcast context that explain how users interpret SAM value in practice.
👉 Read Efecte's PUR 2026 analysis of software asset and license management →
Software asset management maturity: what practitioners should re-evaluate?
Explore further
14/09/2026 10:10 am
Software asset management is becoming a governance control, not a back-office record-keeping function. The article reflects a broader market shift in which software visibility, compliance, and cost control are being treated as operational governance outcomes. That matters because the same control logic increasingly applies across software, identities, and access entitlements. Practitioners should stop treating SAM as a periodic audit task and start treating it as part of the control plane.
A few things that frame the scale:
- Only 5.7% of organisations have full visibility into their service accounts, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
- 80% of identity breaches involved compromised non-human identities such as service accounts and API keys, according to the Ultimate Guide to NHIs.
A question worth separating out:
Q: Should organisations prioritise SAM integration over standalone reporting?
A: Yes, when the goal is control quality rather than static compliance evidence. Standalone reporting can show what is recorded, but integration determines whether asset changes actually trigger review, remediation, or closure in the day-to-day workflow.
👉 Read our full editorial: Software asset management is becoming a governance control
