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SamBox.io Review

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SamBox.io Review

SamBox.io from Elée provides online end-to-end software asset management for strategic software vendors.


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SamBox.io Review

Name: SamBox.io

Description: SamBox.io provides an Effective License Position (ELP) as-a-service for Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Server, and Oracle. This innovative and award-winning approach is particularly suitable for managing software license compliance risk for these critical high-risk applications

Application Category: SAM, ELP

Author: AJ Witt

Summary

SamBox.io is a product from Elée offering an Effective License Position (ELP) as-a-service for Microsoft SQL Server, Windows Server, and Oracle. This innovative and award-winning approach is particularly suitable for managing software license compliance risk for these critical high-risk applications

Overall
7.8/10
7.8/10
  • Overall Satisfaction - 7.8/10
    7.8/10
0/10
Comments Rating 0/10 (0 reviews)

Pros

  • Flexible purchase options
  • Free Trial
  • Clear pricing
  • Available immediately
  • Multiple test runs permitted
  • Clear guidance on how to use the tool

Cons

  • No built-in discovery/inventory option
  • Pay per usage model may not suit every deployment scenario
  • No financial guarantee provided

SAMBox.io Analyst Review

Author: AJ Witt, The ITAM Review

SamBox.io is an award-winning service from Elée providing an Effective License Position (ELP) as-a-Service. Customers are able to upload entitlement and deployment/usage information to the SamBox.io application, manipulate it, and derive an ELP. The service is currently available for Windows Server, SQL Server, and Oracle Database, covering common enterprise software license compliance needs for large organisations. A fully-featured free trial is available, providing access to all SamBox.io features, documentation, and live chat with licensing experts.

How it works

Customers gather usage and entitlement data for their products and upload this to the SamBox.io server. Data transfer is via Excel spreadsheet, meaning that it is easy for users of existing SAM tools to export this data for analysis.

Once uploaded users are able to run simulations, designed to match what SamBox.io “sees” versus the reality of their deployment. The application highlights errors, omissions, and discrepancies and provides unlimited test runs to enable their resolution.

Once the customer is happy that their environment is accurately reflected in the tool the next step is to perform the ELP calculation. The output of this calculation is a detailed report on your environment, along with advice on how best to optimise licenses in the event of a non-compliance position. This baseline can then be used for further optimisation and remediation work.

The product is offered for Windows Server family components (including Complete Infrastructure Suite – CIS & SCCM), Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle Database. Several more products including Office 365 are scheduled to be added in 2021.

Pricing

SamBox.io is priced on a per-host basis. For the purposes of pricing a host is considered to be a physical server or a virtual machine. Pricing varies according to product and there are two tiers. The Access tier enables a single compliance position to be generated whereas the Premium tier is an annual subscription offering unlimited compliance runs and access to Elée’s licensing experts. Pricing is structured such that the break-even point between the two tiers is just over 2. If you run more than two ELPs per product per year then the Premium subscription will be the best option. Pricing was updated in May 2021 to provide better value for larger organisations.

Strengths

SamBox.io excels at guiding you through the complicated process of generating an ELP. I particularly like the ability to integrate data from existing inventory tools and also the guided approach to normalisation. Data quality is key to the whole process of generating an ELP and the SamBox.io developers deserve great credit for enabling as many attempts at generating clean data from your uploads as you require. This is represented in percentage terms – so it is clear to the user when their data is “good enough” for submission to the final report stage. Once the final report is generated the user is provided with a detailed “balance sheet” for the analysed product, along with recommendations for minimising license shortfalls.

The free trial option is fully-featured and highly innovative. This takes much of the uncertainty out of making a buying decision for SamBox.io as it enables you to see instantly the likely ROI from using the tool, using your own data about your existing estate.

Weaknesses

SamBox.io currently doesn’t automatically discover entitlement and deployment data and as such relies on either manual compilation of this data or integration with an existing SAM tool. The product currently supports integrations with other tools including Snow, Flexera, Aspera, and ServiceNow. For some organisations this may present a problem, as may the pricing and subscription approach. However, it is easy to demo the solution for a small initial outlay to see if it’s likely to fit your needs and requirements.

Summary

With SamBox.io Elée are aiming to provide a “SAM Consultant in a Box” and they largely deliver on this aim. The product is truly innovative in enabling a user to purchase a SAM Managed Service as easily as they would an application from an App Store. The pricing is also set at the right point, particularly for environments which perhaps lack in-house Licensing expertise for these complex products. The roadmap for this product is also strong, with several additional modules expected to be added in 2021.

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