Asker Municipality has a stronger focus on financial responsibility than ever before. As the municipality’s License Manager, Christian Melgaard has been searching for a tool like Bsure. 

When Asker faced a three-year renewal of its agreement with Microsoft, it wanted an overview of users and licenses. The ICT Service team and Christian, an advisor within ICT, started looking for solutions that could help them gain that overview. Their IT partner introduced them to Bsure, and Hallvard quickly reached out and did a product demo. 

• We quickly understood that this was a powerful tool that would provide us with better insights into our ‘tenant,’ users, and license usage, says Melgaard. 

A changing municipal economy 

The situation for Asker Municipality has changed in recent years, with several factors contributing to this. At the beginning of 2020, it merged with Røyken and Hurum, and with global challenges pressuring public finances and tightening budgets, the municipality must “turn over all stones” to save money. 

• Previously, we had a comfortable budget, but now we are more conscious than ever not to squander taxpayers’ money, notes Melgaard. 

As Asker’s license manager, Melgaard’s primary responsibility is to ensure they make the most of every license dollar and have the right licenses for their users. 

• Now we turn over every penny, and then a tool like Bsure is ‘complete gold’, he says. 

Checking if allocation rules are working 

Bsure provides an overview of inactive users, and Melgaard has been following up with various leaders in the municipality to find out why. 

• We’ve set up rules for automatic license allocation based on our HR system. But after using Bsure, we see that we haven’t been entirely accurate with all the allocation rules, says Melgaard. 

All information about the employees is in the HR system, and rules have been set up that specify that if you have this position in this department, you should be assigned this license. With insights from Bsure, they found that some rules need adjustments. 

Can you provide some examples? 

• For example, if you are a nurse in a care facility, do you need access to the Office suite, or do you only need to log in to your computer and access a cloud system? There are some rules where we see that the needs are not quite as we initially thought when we set up the rules, explains Melgaard. 

Taking it in phases 

With 9,500 users and a set of complex rules, there is much to work through. 

• We’re tackling the elephant bit by bit. We’re starting with what we consider most important, says Melgaard. 

In the current phase, Melgaard and Asker are mainly focused on gaining an overview and cleaning up. In the next phase, they will concentrate on adjusting and refining the allocation rules and assessing the impact. 

• In the final phase, if we get there, it will be about controlling and maintaining, identifying and addressing any errors that arise, says Melgaard. 

Impressed with the Bsure team’s innovation 

In addition to the practical value of Bsure, Melgaard is impressed by the company’s innovation and willingness to listen to customers’ needs. 

• The Bsure team is good at finding solutions, taking in feedback, and implementing it into their product. They have a clear and organized process, and it’s evident that they are skilled, he says. 

Melgaard not only recommends Bsure to other municipalities but also to other companies. 

• “Anyone using Microsoft products can benefit from Bsure,” he says.