Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) are the local government body responsible for public transport and highways in and around Manchester. Over 5.6 million journeys are made across the network every day, making it the second largest in the UK after London.

TfGM have a strong focus on green travel, having recently invested in emission-free buses, expansion of the Metrolink tram network and further infrastructure for cycling and walking. Through their Transport Strategy 2040, TfGM aim to make the region more sustainable and prosperous with further investment in green travel initiatives.

TfGM were using a complex platform for their software asset management (SAM) and the vendor wasn’t offering adequate support. The platform couldn’t produce comprehensive reports or provide proper visibility of their software estate. As a public sector organisation wanting to expand and increase investment in their services, TfGM simply couldn’t afford any unknowns, so they turned to Bytes for help.

Bytes gave the challenge to their in-house SAM team, who recommended switching to Snow and the Bytes Platform Management Standard.

Snow are leading the way in modern software asset management solutions. Their award-winning software has helped thousands of organisations worldwide. Bytes SAM specifically recommended Snow License Manager due to its user-friendly interface and detailed reports. It provides a central hub for viewing the license, compliance and usage details of all software, hardware and cloud assets. All license types are supported including per device, per user and consumption based. Users can also generate reports to suit their needs, whether they work in IT, procurement, finance or governance.

One example of how Snow will help TfGM is with Microsoft Office. Staff were requesting the premium license but not using all the features. Snow can identify this lack of usage and swap premium licenses for standard. It can also spot duplicate licensing - instead of deploying Office and Skype separately and having to pay twice for the license, TfGM were able to reduce costs by deploying them under one license. This intelligent reporting and switching of licenses will help TfGM cut unnecessary costs and avoid waste in the future.

The Bytes Platform Management Standard was recommended to ensure TfGM got the most from their investment. This service includes ongoing training, support and hosting of Snow. Bytes SAM now monitor TfGM’s Snow software closely to ensure they get the most accurate data, full visibility and optimum performance. TfGM will never be left in the dark again.

Where their previous solution offered only limited recognition of software, basic compliance calculations and rudimentary reporting, the advanced features of Snow have given TfGM a fresh new level of confidence and accessibility. Bytes SAM are providing ongoing support and TfGM hope to add further vendors, such as Adobe, to their Platform Management package. They plan to use Snow and the Bytes SAM service to make intelligent procurement decisions when licensing requests are made.

Thanks to these solutions, TfGM will make savings of over £50k per year. This is a perfect example of how technology benefits people and society, as TfGM will now have more funds to spend on delivering public services and their future sustainable travel strategy to the people of Greater Manchester.