Imagine a situation that repeats itself in thousands of companies every quarter. The CFO reviews the IT spending report and sees a line item growing faster than revenue — software licensing costs. They ask the IT department for details and hear answers that raise more questions than they resolve. How many licenses do we actually own? How many of them are actually being used? Are we fully compliant with our licensing agreements? In most organizations, the answers to these questions are based on intuition, fragmented spreadsheets, and good faith — not hard data.
The problem is escalating because the IT landscape has fundamentally changed over the past decade. Software is no longer a simple boxed product with one license per computer. Today’s licensing models are a labyrinth of SaaS subscriptions, processor core-based metrics, cloud entitlements, and legal terms that require specialized knowledge to understand. Add to this the phenomenon of shadow IT, where employees independently purchase and launch applications without IT’s knowledge. The result is financial chaos — companies simultaneously overpay for unused licenses and expose themselves to penalties for licensing non-compliance.
See also
- FinOps for Software Licenses 2026: How to Connect SAM with Cloud Cost Management?
- Building the business case for SAM: ROI and strategic value
- How effective software asset management helps optimize costs and licensing compliance
This is precisely why organizations seeking control over their IT assets turn to enterprise-class platforms that transform this chaos into an organized, measurable process. FlexeraOne is one of the leading platforms of this type — it offers comprehensive IT and software asset management in a single, integrated environment. In this article, we will show what FlexeraOne is, what problems it solves, what implementation looks like step by step, and what real benefits it delivers to organizations that have opted for a professional approach to IT asset management.
What is Software Asset Management (SAM) and why is it critical?
Software Asset Management, known as SAM, is a set of processes, tools, and practices designed to control and optimize the purchase, deployment, maintenance, and retirement of software within an organization. It sounds technical, but in practice SAM answers one fundamental business question: are we spending on software what we should be, and are we doing it in a legally compliant manner?
The criticality of SAM stems from several factors that intensify year after year. First, software has become one of the largest operational expenditures for companies — according to Gartner research, software spending already accounts for over 30% of the total IT budget in the average organization. Second, licensing models have become so complex that even experienced IT administrators cannot manually track all entitlements, metrics, and usage terms. Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, SAP — each of these vendors applies different rules, different metrics, and different definitions of what constitutes license “usage.”
Third, the consequences of a lack of control are very concrete and very painful. A licensing audit conducted by a vendor can result in penalties reaching millions. At the same time, organizations without mature SAM regularly overpay for software that no one uses — a phenomenon known as “shelfware” that can consume 25-35% of the licensing budget. That is money that could fund innovation, product development, or expansion into new markets.
SAM is therefore not an abstract IT process. It is a strategic business function that directly impacts an organization’s financial results. A company that manages it professionally has a competitive advantage — it pays less for the same software, avoids costly audit surprises, and makes informed decisions about technology investments.
What challenges do companies face in IT license management?
Every organization, regardless of size, grapples with a set of challenges that make managing IT licenses without dedicated tools practically impossible. These challenges are not theoretical — they are everyday problems faced by CIOs, CFOs, and IT managers in companies around the world.
The first and most commonly cited challenge is a lack of full visibility into assets. Most organizations do not have a single, reliable source of information about what software is installed in their environment. Data is scattered across spreadsheets, helpdesk tools, procurement systems, and the memories of individual administrators. As a result, no one in the organization can say with certainty how many licenses the company owns, how many are in use, and how many are sitting idle on the shelf.
The second challenge is the complexity of licensing models. Oracle licenses database software per processor core, factoring in virtualization coefficients. Microsoft offers dozens of subscription plans under Microsoft 365, with varying entitlements and restrictions. IBM uses the PVU (Processor Value Unit) metric, which requires knowledge of exact technical parameters of each server. SAP has its own definitions of user types and license retirement rules. Manually tracking all of these rules simultaneously is simply unrealistic.
The third challenge is the pace of change in IT infrastructure. In the world of DevOps and public cloud, new environments are created and destroyed automatically, employees are hired and depart, and teams independently spin up new SaaS tools. Each of these changes impacts the company’s licensing position, but traditional, periodic inventories cannot keep up with the pace of these changes.
The fourth challenge is cost pressure. In times when boards expect IT spending optimization, IT managers must simultaneously ensure licensing compliance (which costs money) and reduce spending (which requires knowing what not to buy or what to reclaim). Without precise data, these two goals are in conflict — fear of non-compliance leads to excessive purchasing, while cost pressure leads to risky savings.
The fifth challenge is audit preparedness. Software vendors — Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, IBM — have the right to conduct a licensing compliance audit at any time, based on contractual provisions. A company that does not have accurate data about its assets is in a defensive position with very limited negotiating room. An audit is not just a risk of financial penalties — it is weeks or months of engaging the IT team in gathering data instead of working on development projects.
What is FlexeraOne and how does it support ITAM processes?
FlexeraOne is an integrated SaaS (Software as a Service) platform created by Flexera, one of the global leaders in IT asset management. The platform combines all key ITAM (IT Asset Management) processes in a single environment — from automated asset discovery, through license management and compliance, to cost optimization and spending planning. FlexeraOne is not a point solution that solves one problem. It is a comprehensive platform that gives organizations full control over the entire lifecycle of IT assets.
FlexeraOne’s architecture is based on several integrated modules that together create a cohesive picture of an organization’s IT assets. The IT Visibility module is responsible for automatically discovering all devices, applications, and services in the infrastructure — both on-premise and in the cloud. Technology Intelligence, based on the world’s largest software catalog, Technopedia, ensures precise identification and normalization of discovered assets. The IT Asset Management module manages the asset lifecycle from purchase to retirement. The SaaS Management module controls cloud subscriptions, and Cloud Cost Optimization helps optimize spending on cloud infrastructure.
What sets FlexeraOne apart from the competition is the scale and depth of its reference data. The Technopedia catalog, which is an integral part of the platform, contains information on over 1.5 million software titles, their versions, editions, and associated licensing rules. Thanks to this, FlexeraOne can automatically recognize even non-obvious software installations and map them to the appropriate license entitlements. This automation eliminates the tedious, manual work of data normalization that, in a traditional approach, consumes weeks of analyst effort.
FlexeraOne supports ITAM processes at every stage of organizational maturity. For companies just beginning their SAM journey, the platform delivers immediate visibility — within the first weeks of implementation, the organization receives a complete picture of its IT assets, often discovering hundreds of previously unknown installations. For advanced organizations, FlexeraOne offers optimization and analytical capabilities that transform asset data into concrete business recommendations.
What features does FlexeraOne offer for software inventory?
Software inventory is the foundation of every SAM program — without accurate data about what is installed and used, all further analysis is worthless. FlexeraOne approaches inventory in a multi-layered manner, combining various asset discovery techniques to create the most complete picture of the IT environment possible.
The first layer is agent-based asset discovery. The Flexera Inventory Agent — a lightweight agent installed on endpoints and servers — collects detailed information about installed software, hardware configuration, and application usage. The agent operates in the background without burdening system resources and regularly transmits data to the FlexeraOne platform. Importantly, the agent collects not only information about installed programs but also data about actual usage — how frequently and how intensively each application is utilized. This usage metering data is crucial for subsequent license optimization.
The second layer is agentless discovery through integrations with existing infrastructure. FlexeraOne integrates with Active Directory, SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager), VMware vCenter, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), and ITSM tools to acquire asset data without the need to install agents on every device. This approach is particularly useful in environments where agent installation is restricted due to security concerns or organizational policies.
The third layer is SaaS application discovery. FlexeraOne monitors network traffic and integrates with identity providers (e.g., Azure AD, Okta) to identify all SaaS applications used by employees — including those purchased outside official channels (shadow IT). This capability is increasingly critical as SaaS spending is growing faster than any other software category.
After raw inventory data is collected, the normalization process begins, during which FlexeraOne leverages the Technopedia database. The system automatically maps thousands of different inventory entries to standardized product records. For example, various name variants — “MS Office 365 ProPlus,” “Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise,” “Office 16 Click-to-Run” — are automatically recognized as the same product and assigned to the appropriate licenses. This normalization is a step that, in a manual approach, consumes enormous amounts of time and generates errors — FlexeraOne performs it automatically, with accuracy backed by a database encompassing millions of records.
How does FlexeraOne help optimize licensing costs?
License cost optimization is the area where FlexeraOne delivers the fastest and most measurable return on investment. The platform identifies savings across several categories, each of which can yield significant amounts.
The first category is the elimination of unused licenses (license harvesting). FlexeraOne analyzes actual software usage data and identifies licenses that are installed but unused — or used so rarely that they do not justify the cost of maintenance. In practice, this means discovering, for example, that 200 out of 800 licenses for advanced analytics software have not been launched in over 90 days. Those 200 licenses can be reclaimed, not renewed, or reassigned to users who actually need them. The scale of this phenomenon is typically surprising — organizations regularly discover that 20-35% of their desktop software licenses are unused.
The second category is license level optimization (right-sizing). Many users are assigned licenses with a higher level of functionality than they need. A classic example is Microsoft 365 E5 assigned to users who only use email and the basic Office suite — an E1 or E3 plan would cover their needs at a fraction of the price. FlexeraOne analyzes actual usage patterns and recommends shifts between plans, generating savings without loss of functionality for users.
The third category is infrastructure optimization. In the context of database licenses (Oracle, SQL Server), the configuration of the virtualization environment directly affects licensing requirements. FlexeraOne analyzes the virtualization topology and identifies scenarios where changing the cluster configuration — for example, dedicating a host for virtual machines running Oracle — can significantly reduce the number of required licenses.
The fourth category is vendor negotiation support. Before a license agreement renewal, FlexeraOne delivers precise data on actual consumption, trends, and forecasts. The company enters negotiations with the vendor armed with hard data — it knows exactly how many licenses it actually needs, which features it uses, and what its growth profile is. This fundamentally changes the dynamics of negotiations, which without such data rely on estimates and information asymmetry in favor of the vendor.
The following table shows typical sources of savings identified by FlexeraOne in the first year of implementation:
| Source of savings | Typical reduction scale | Mechanism |
| Unused desktop licenses | 20-35% of licenses reclaimable | Identification of applications unused for over 90 days and license reclamation |
| Excessive subscription plans | 15-25% M365 cost reduction | Shifting users from premium to standard plans based on usage patterns |
| SaaS duplicates | 10-20% SaaS spending reduction | Elimination of overlapping tools purchased independently by different departments |
| Server license optimization | 15-30% cost reduction | Virtualization reconfiguration and workload consolidation |
| Stronger negotiating position | 10-20% lower renewal prices | Precise usage data as the foundation for vendor negotiations |
What does a FlexeraOne implementation look like step by step?
Implementing FlexeraOne is a structured process that in a typical organization takes 8 to 16 weeks, depending on the scale of the IT environment and the maturity level of SAM processes. The key point is that the implementation does not require an organizational revolution — the platform is deployed iteratively, delivering value from the early stages.
The first step is analysis and planning. At this stage, implementation goals are defined, key stakeholders are identified (IT, finance, procurement, security), and an assessment of the current state of SAM processes in the organization is conducted. An important element is inventorying existing data sources — ITSM systems, configuration management tools, license agreements, and procurement data. This stage typically takes 1-2 weeks and results in a detailed implementation plan tailored to the organization’s specifics.
The second step is platform configuration and data source integration. As a SaaS platform, FlexeraOne does not require infrastructure installation — configuration takes place in the cloud. At this stage, the Flexera Inventory Agent is deployed on endpoints and servers, integrations are configured with Active Directory, virtualization platforms (VMware, Hyper-V), public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP), and procurement systems. In parallel, data about owned licenses and agreements is imported. This stage takes 2-4 weeks.
The third step is asset discovery and normalization. After agents and integrations are launched, FlexeraOne begins automatically collecting IT asset data. The platform, leveraging the Technopedia database, normalizes discovered assets and creates a unified asset register. At this stage, the organization sees the full picture of its assets for the first time — often with surprising discoveries about shadow IT and unknown installations. This stage takes 2-3 weeks, as the system needs time to collect data from the entire environment.
The fourth step is license reconciliation and compliance analysis. FlexeraOne automatically compares discovered assets with owned licenses, taking into account the complex licensing rules of individual vendors. The result is the Effective License Position (ELP) — precise information about where the organization is compliant, where it has surplus, and where it is short on licenses. This stage takes 2-4 weeks and requires collaboration with teams responsible for license agreements.
The fifth step is optimization and process building. Based on data from the previous stages, concrete optimization actions are defined — reclaiming unused licenses, changing subscription plans, optimizing server configurations. In parallel, ongoing management processes are built — who is responsible for reviewing reports, how often license data is updated, what are the procedures for ordering new software. This stage takes 2-3 weeks and is critical for the long-term success of the SAM program.
What benefits does automating IT asset management bring?
Automating IT asset management, as provided by FlexeraOne, delivers benefits at multiple levels of the organization — from operational to strategic. This is not exclusively a tool for the IT department. Its value extends to finance, procurement, security, and the C-suite.
At the operational level, automation eliminates hundreds of hours of manual work. Inventory that previously required engaging administrators for weeks — logging into servers, collecting data, copying it into spreadsheets — now happens automatically and continuously. Data is always current, and reports are generated with a single click. IT administrators reclaim time they can dedicate to development projects instead of routine data gathering.
At the financial level, automation translates into direct savings. When an organization knows exactly how many licenses it owns, how many it uses, and how many it needs, it can make informed purchasing decisions. Automatic alerts about licenses approaching expiration enable planned renewals in advance, rather than reacting under time pressure. Automatic identification of unused assets generates savings without additional effort — the system itself points out what can be reclaimed.
At the compliance level, automation shifts the organization’s position from reactive to proactive. Instead of waiting for an audit and frantically gathering data, the company has continuous visibility into its licensing position. It can proactively correct non-compliance before it becomes the subject of an audit and maintain documentation ready for presentation to auditors at any time. This shift from reactivity to proactivity is one of the most important transformations that FlexeraOne brings to an organization.
At the strategic level, automation delivers data that was previously unavailable. Software spending trends, adoption patterns for new tools, licensing demand forecasts — this information enables CIOs and CFOs to make fact-based decisions rather than ones based on gut feelings. Will migration to the cloud actually reduce our licensing costs? Should we invest in a new platform when the current one is utilized at 40%? FlexeraOne provides the data to answer these questions.
At the security level, automation helps identify outdated, unsupported software or software vulnerable to known security flaws. FlexeraOne integrates asset data with vulnerability information (CVE), enabling the security team to quickly identify and address risks. This combination of ITAM with cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important in the context of growing threats and regulatory requirements.
How does FlexeraOne support licensing audits and compliance?
A licensing audit is one of the most common reasons organizations decide to implement a professional SAM platform. Receiving a letter from a vendor announcing an audit is a stressful experience — particularly when the company is uncertain about its licensing position. FlexeraOne fundamentally changes this dynamic by ensuring continuous audit readiness.
The first element of support is continuous compliance monitoring. FlexeraOne continuously compares installed software with owned licenses and entitlements. The platform knows the licensing rules of individual vendors and automatically calculates the licensing position — whether the organization has surplus or deficit licenses for each product. Compliance dashboards show the current status in real time, and automatic alerts notify when non-compliance appears.
The second element is detailed documentation of the licensing position. When an organization receives an audit notification, FlexeraOne enables generating complete documentation within hours — not weeks: a list of owned licenses, a list of installations, usage data, licensing position calculations incorporating vendor rules. This documentation is critical — auditors appreciate organizations that can quickly provide complete and reliable data, as it shortens the time and cost of the audit for both parties.
The third element is proactive remediation. FlexeraOne not only identifies non-compliance but also recommends specific corrective actions. If the system detects that the company has too few licenses for a specific product, it will indicate the most cost-effective way to remedy the situation — whether through purchasing additional licenses, transferring entitlements from other products, or changing infrastructure configuration. This proactivity allows problems to be fixed before they are discovered by the auditor.
The fourth element is support in post-audit negotiation processes. Even if an audit reveals non-compliance, an organization equipped with FlexeraOne data has a significantly stronger negotiating position. It can challenge the auditor’s findings, present alternative interpretations of licensing rules, and propose realistic remediation plans — all backed by hard data, not guesswork.
It is worth emphasizing that the best audit strategy is a preventive one. Organizations that have implemented FlexeraOne and maintain continuous compliance monitoring are rarely caught off guard by an audit. Moreover, software vendors tend to audit first those customers who do not demonstrate maturity in license management — having a professional SAM platform in itself can reduce the likelihood of being selected for an audit.
What companies should consider implementing FlexeraOne?
FlexeraOne is a platform designed for medium and large organizations operating in complex IT environments. However, there is no single threshold size above which implementation “pays off.” The decision should be based on several criteria that indicate the level of risk and savings potential.
The first criterion is the number and complexity of software vendors. Organizations that use software from several large vendors — Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, SAP, Adobe, VMware — are dealing with many different licensing models simultaneously. The more vendors, the greater the complexity, the greater the risk of non-compliance, and the greater the optimization potential that FlexeraOne can unlock.
The second criterion is the scale of the IT environment. Companies managing hundreds of servers, thousands of workstations, and dozens of SaaS applications cannot maintain accurate asset data without automation. If an organization employs more than 500 people or manages more than 200 servers, a manual approach to SAM is practically doomed to failure.
The third criterion is the presence of hybrid and cloud environments. Organizations that are moving workloads to the public cloud while maintaining on-premise infrastructure face a dual challenge — they must manage licenses in both worlds, taking into account complicated rules for transferring entitlements (license mobility) between environments. FlexeraOne is one of the few tools that covers both environments in an integrated manner.
The fourth criterion is audit experience or risk. Organizations that have already gone through a costly audit know how painful the consequences can be and are looking for ways to avoid a repeat. Organizations that have never been audited but use Oracle, SAP, or IBM software should be particularly vigilant — these vendors are known for aggressive audit programs.
The fifth criterion is pressure to optimize IT costs. If the board expects a reduction in software spending but the IT department lacks data to identify savings, FlexeraOne is the tool that delivers this data within the first weeks of implementation.
FlexeraOne is particularly valuable for companies in regulated sectors — banking, insurance, telecommunications, energy — where compliance is not only a financial matter but also a regulatory one. Organizations in these sectors must demonstrate to internal and external auditors that they have control over their IT assets, and FlexeraOne provides irrefutable evidence to that end.
How much can you save with professional license management?
The question about specific savings amounts is a natural and justified expectation of every decision-maker considering an investment in a SAM platform. The answer depends on many factors — the scale of the organization, the current level of SAM maturity, the structure of licensing expenditures, and vendor specifics — but market data and implementation experience allow for realistic estimates.
Organizations implementing professional license management for the first time typically achieve a 20-30% reduction in licensing costs in the first year. The sources of these savings are usually repeatable. Eliminating unused licenses (shelfware) delivers immediate savings because the company stops paying for software no one uses. In an organization with an annual licensing budget of $1.25 million, where 25% of licenses are unused, simply reclaiming those licenses generates savings of approximately $310,000 per year.
Optimizing subscription plans — shifting users from more expensive plans to less expensive ones that match their actual needs — delivers another 10-15% savings in the subscription software category. In the case of Microsoft 365, where the difference between E3 and E5 plans is tens of dollars per user per month, shifting 500 users from E5 to E3 can mean savings of $50,000-$100,000 per year.
Consolidating SaaS duplicates — eliminating situations where different departments independently purchase the same or overlapping tools — typically delivers a 10-20% reduction in SaaS spending. These are savings that, without the central visibility provided by FlexeraOne, are simply invisible.
A stronger negotiating position with vendors, resulting from having precise data about actual usage, enables obtaining 10-20% lower prices on agreement renewals. Vendors have much less room to impose excess licenses when the organization comes to negotiations with exact knowledge of its needs.
Summing up these categories paints a picture of total savings that, within three years of implementation, can far exceed the cost of the investment. The typical return on investment (ROI) for a SAM platform of FlexeraOne’s class is 300-500% over a three-year period. This is one of the highest ROI figures among all IT investments because the savings are direct, measurable, and recurring.
It is worth noting, however, that savings are not the only category of value. Avoiding audit penalties — which in the case of major vendors can reach millions — is a benefit that does not appear in standard ROI calculations but can exceed all other savings categories combined.
How does ARDURA Consulting support FlexeraOne implementations?
ARDURA Consulting specializes in Flexera One implementation in Europe, offering full support for the implementation and configuration of the FlexeraOne platform. From hands-on workshops to comprehensive implementations, the ARDURA Consulting team helps companies optimize licensing costs and ensure full licensing compliance. With a network of over 500 senior IT specialists and 211+ completed projects, ARDURA Consulting provides SAM specialists ready to work within 2 weeks, while maintaining a 99% client retention rate and delivering up to 40% cost savings.
Collaboration with ARDURA Consulting on a FlexeraOne implementation begins with a diagnostic workshop, during which the ARDURA Consulting team analyzes the organization’s current SAM processes, identifies key sources of risk and savings, and defines a realistic implementation plan. This is not a standard “product demo” — it is an in-depth analysis of the client’s situation, conducted by consultants with years of experience in license management.
During the implementation phase, ARDURA Consulting provides a dedicated project team responsible for platform configuration, data source integration, client team training, and building operational processes. A key value is the licensing expertise of the ARDURA Consulting team — knowledge of Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, SAP, and other vendors’ licensing rules enables proper configuration of the compliance engine and reliable calculation of the licensing position.
After implementation, ARDURA Consulting offers operational support — from regular licensing position reviews, through support in preparing for agreement renewals, to assistance in the event of an audit notification. This continuous partnership model ensures that the organization maintains the benefits of the FlexeraOne implementation over the long term, not just in the first months after launch.
ARDURA Consulting also organizes regular hands-on workshops on FlexeraOne and IT asset management — similar to the “Flexera without secrets” workshops that the company conducts in partnership with IBM Poland and Flexera. These workshops give participants the opportunity to get hands-on experience with the platform, import data, configure reports and dashboards — all under the guidance of experienced consultants.
Need SAM/ITAM support? Contact us — we will prepare an analysis of your IT assets and show you the savings potential.
Frequently asked questions about FlexeraOne and IT asset management
How does FlexeraOne differ from simple inventory tools?
Simple inventory tools answer the question “what do we have installed?” but that is where their role ends. FlexeraOne goes much further — it not only discovers assets but automatically normalizes them, compares them with owned licenses, calculates the licensing position, and recommends specific optimization actions. The difference is like between a thermometer and a full diagnostic system — one measures temperature, the other makes a diagnosis and proposes treatment. FlexeraOne integrates inventory, license management, compliance, SaaS management, and cloud cost optimization into a single platform, eliminating the need to maintain multiple separate tools.
Does FlexeraOne require on-premise infrastructure installation?
FlexeraOne is a SaaS platform — it runs in the cloud and does not require dedicated infrastructure installation. The only component installed locally is the Flexera Inventory Agent, which collects data from endpoints and servers. The agent is lightweight, does not burden system resources, and can be deployed automatically through tools such as SCCM or GPO. Platform management, data analysis, and report generation all take place through a web browser.
How quickly does FlexeraOne begin delivering value after implementation?
The first valuable results appear within just a few weeks of starting the implementation. After installing agents and configuring integrations, the organization receives a complete picture of installed software — often with surprising discoveries about shadow IT and unknown installations. Full compliance analysis, incorporating vendor licensing rules, is typically available after 6-8 weeks. Specific optimization recommendations and the first reclaimed licenses appear within 2-3 months of project start.
Is FlexeraOne suitable for companies that primarily use Microsoft?
Absolutely. The Microsoft environment is one of the most common FlexeraOne use cases. The complexity of licensing Microsoft 365, Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, and Dynamics means that even organizations using only Microsoft products have enormous optimization potential. FlexeraOne knows Microsoft’s detailed licensing rules and can precisely calculate the licensing position, taking into account nuances such as Azure Hybrid Benefit, downgrade rights, and virtualization licensing rules.
What data does FlexeraOne collect from devices and is it secure?
The Flexera Inventory Agent collects technical data regarding hardware configuration, installed software, and application usage patterns. The agent does not collect personal data, document content, passwords, or other sensitive data. Communication between the agent and the platform is encrypted, and FlexeraOne meets security standards required by regulated sectors of the economy, including SOC 2 certifications and GDPR compliance.
Does implementing FlexeraOne require a dedicated SAM team?
Implementing FlexeraOne does not require having an existing SAM team — many organizations implement the platform precisely to build SAM competencies from scratch. However, for the long-term success of the SAM program, it is necessary to designate at least one person responsible for regularly reviewing reports, responding to alerts, and managing licensing processes. ARDURA Consulting can support the organization at this stage by providing dedicated SAM analysts in a staff augmentation model who will support the client’s team or take over responsibility for operational platform management.