Battling IBM licensing challenges – Tip 5 of 5

Every once in a while, all ITAM managers face challenges when managing IBM licensing. To help you on your way, we have gathered 5 practical & useful tips from our webinar on managing IBM licensing in ServiceNow SAM.

Tip 5 of 5: IBM IASP – what is it and are you eligible for it?

October 2021


Read all five tips on IBM licensing challenges:


When it comes to audits, IBM sends audit notification letters to all customers registered with IBM software. Traditionally, these audits are run by KPMG or Deloitte. This is a high-risk approach, because it is difficult to predict the outcome and it is very difficult to predict if you are eligible for Sub-capacity conditions.

The last three years, IBM started offering (invitation-based) alternative audits: the IBM Authorized SAM Provider Offering (IASP). This differs from the traditional audits because:

  • The customer pays for the service provider of their choice: KPMG, Ernst &Young, Anglepoint or Deloitte (whereas traditionally these are paid for by IBM)
  • During the contract period of max. 3 years, no IBM audits will take place
  • License shortages will be resolved on regular commercial conditions (instead of IBM entitled pricing plus a two-year back maintenance penalty)

ServiceNow is now an eligible tool for reporting when choosing the IASP option for audits!


ServiceNow Software Asset Management publisher pack for IBM

First of all, you will have to integrate the ServiceNow Rome release. For the ILMT integration, the ServiceNow Rome release requires ILMT version 9.2.8 or later.

  • Set up ILMT and BigFix Inventory integration for IBM compliance reporting
  • If you're using an HTTP connection or you've finished the initial configuration for HTTPS, establish a connection in the ServiceNow Platform
  • When you import data from the ILMT or BigFix Inventory, your ServiceNow instance uses transform maps to process this data into ServiceNow tables.


Supported by ServiceNow:

  • PVU
  • RVU
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server & Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Virtual Datacenters products


Please note! IBM Container Licenses: IBM does not support the use of 3rd party tools (yet) when you are running container licenses. You need the IBM License Service Tool!


Curious to learn more about managing IBM licensing in ServiceNow SAM?