Épisodes

  • The Decision Table: Keep the Result
    Oct 8 2026

    The project is finished. The invoice is lower. Six weeks later, someone asks for more licenses. What changed?

    Bill Van Nort follows a fictional software service after its initial improvement has been verified. This episode separates legitimate growth, an outdated onboarding rule, and overdue temporary-access reviews, then shows how to preserve the result without blocking the service the business needs.

    IN THIS EPISODE
    • Keep purchased capacity, assignments and business requirements distinct.
    • Check the process that creates new assignments as well as the current list.
    • Set review triggers early enough to leave time for action.
    • Treat missing evidence as unconfirmed.
    • Reopen the decision when business needs change.
    • Describe restored capacity without inventing another savings claim.

    WATCH, LISTEN AND READ
    https://www.operationalitam.com/pages/podcast-017-keep-the-result.html

    PRACTICAL EXERCISE
    Allow about an hour. Choose one completed technology change using authorized records. Record the verified outcome and date, a condition that could undermine it, the evidence that would reveal the change, its owner, the review trigger and the response deadline. Inspect a recent issue to see whether the cause was corrected and the result checked. If no example exists, mark the control untested.

    CHAPTERS

    • (00:00) - Keep the Result
    • (00:53) - The Decision Table
    • (02:22) - A fictional software service
    • (02:33) - Verify the starting result
    • (03:28) - Six weeks later
    • (03:53) - Three causes, three responses
    • (05:48) - Hand over the operating conditions
    • (07:22) - Act before capacity runs out
    • (08:41) - Roles and operating cadence
    • (09:30) - Correct the assignment path
    • (10:40) - Restored capacity, not new savings
    • (12:08) - When the decision should change
    • (13:20) - What an alert can see
    • (14:13) - Ownership and authority
    • (15:00) - Keep the review useful
    • (16:03) - Beyond software: spare laptops
    • (17:20) - A management update that supports action
    • (18:51) - Your practical exercise
    • (19:50) - Resources and closing
    • (20:41) - Credits

    TRANSCRIPT
    Click here to view the episode transcript.

    SOURCES AND RESOURCES
    FinOps Foundation — Usage Optimization: https://www.finops.org/framework/capabilities/usage-optimization/
    FinOps Foundation — Anomaly Management: https://www.finops.org/framework/capabilities/anomaly-management/
    Microsoft Learn — Manage group licenses: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/manage/manage-group-licenses?view=o365-worldwide
    Amazon Web Services — Cost Anomaly Detection: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cost-management/latest/userguide/manage-ad.html
    Roles & Operating Cadence, Bill’s paid resource: https://www.operationalitam.com/store/index.php?page=product&sku=CP-ROLES
    The exercise requires no purchase. The case quantities and prices are fictional, illustrative USD.

    Operational ITAM Podcast | Bill Van Nort | An EpicB Media LLC production.
    https://www.operationalitam.com

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    22 min
  • The Decision Table: Where Did the Saving Go?
    Oct 5 2026

    An approved reduction is only the beginning. Bill Van Nort follows a fictional software subscription change from forecast through the signed agreement, implementation, invoices and a delayed credit. See why a $48,000 gross forecast becomes a $27,000 net calendar-year benefit—and how to explain every difference.

    IN THIS EPISODE
    • Agree the baseline, scope and reporting period.
    • Distinguish assigned licenses from purchased commitments.
    • Explain delayed implementation and retained capacity.
    • Trace billing corrections to the affected service periods.
    • Separate forecast, verified result and annualized run rate.
    • Check that the service still meets the business requirement.

    All case amounts are illustrative USD. The fictional supplier minimum and credit timing are not Microsoft or AWS terms. Finance determines your organization's recognition and accounting treatment.

    YOUR NEXT STEP
    Pick one completed technology change. Trace its estimate, agreed baseline, effective date, implemented quantity, invoices, credits and implementation costs. Explain material differences. State what is verified and what remains unresolved. Use records you are authorized to access and take the result to your finance partner.

    WATCH, LISTEN & READ
    https://www.operationalitam.com/pages/podcast-016-where-did-the-saving-go.html
    Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQgC5BoZD9g

    PRACTICAL RESOURCE
    F02 — Validate benefits and report business outcomes:
    https://www.operationalitam.com/store/index.php?page=product&sku=F02
    Bill's paid resource includes an editable procedure, flowchart and adoption/evidence checklist. Purchasing supports the show. The homework requires no purchase.

    CHAPTERS

    • (00:00) - Where did the saving go?
    • (01:43) - The fictional subscription case
    • (02:39) - Agree the baseline
    • (04:53) - What the signed amendment changes
    • (07:36) - Verify implementation
    • (09:58) - Operational ITAM Store: F02
    • (11:11) - Follow the invoices
    • (12:51) - Keep the credit in the right period
    • (14:06) - The verified annual result
    • (15:38) - Annual result versus run rate
    • (16:16) - Cloud commitments and utilization
    • (18:11) - Keep the evidence traceable
    • (18:43) - Your practical homework
    • (20:12) - Closing

    TRANSCRIPT
    Click here to view the episode transcript.

    SOURCES & FURTHER READING
    FinOps Foundation — Reporting and Analytics
    https://www.finops.org/framework/capabilities/reporting-analytics/
    FinOps Foundation — Quantify Business Value
    https://www.finops.org/framework/domains/quantify-business-value/
    Microsoft — Buy or remove business subscription licenses
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/commerce/licenses/buy-licenses?view=o365-worldwide
    Microsoft — Understand your MCA invoice
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/commerce/billing-and-payments/understand-your-invoice?view=o365-worldwide
    AWS — Savings Plans utilization metrics
    https://docs.aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/latest/userguide/ce-sp-pr-metrics.html
    AWS — Using the utilization report
    https://docs.aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/latest/userguide/ce-sp-usingPR.html
    AWS — How Savings Plans apply
    https://docs.aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/latest/userguide/sp-applying.html

    PRODUCTION
    Written and hosted by Bill Van Nort. Voice production: ElevenLabs. Audio finishing: Adobe Audition. Production assistance: OpenAI Codex. Video assembly: FFmpeg. Show theme: Ten Second Pulse, created with Suno.

    Operational ITAM covers practical IT asset management, software licensing, FinOps and evidence-led decisions. Website and resources: https://www.operationalitam.com/
    An EpicB Media LLC production.

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    21 min
  • The Decision Table: Who Owns the Renewal Decision?
    Sep 28 2026

    A renewal can pass through every department and still arrive at its deadline without a decision owner. Bill Van Nort works through a fictional customer-support renewal to show how ITAM, FinOps, procurement, finance, engineering, and the service owner can reach a defensible choice and verify what happens afterward.

    The episode examines a lower-priced replacement, transition costs, a revised incumbent offer, and a delay scenario that reverses the cost ranking. Azure Hybrid Benefit and AWS Compute Savings Plans illustrate why licensing rights, consumption forecasts, and commercial commitments need a shared discussion.

    The company, prices, and outcome in the central case are illustrative, not a client case study or savings benchmark.

    Website and transcripts: https://www.operationalitam.com/ · Operational ITAM Store: https://www.operationalitam.com/store/ · Roles & Operating Cadence: https://www.operationalitam.com/store/index.php?page=product&sku=CP-ROLES

    The store contains Bill's paid resources. Today's homework requires no purchase.

    Your homework
    Choose one renewal. Record the decision, last useful decision date, authorized owner, options, missing evidence and its owners, the condition that would change your recommendation, implementation responsibility, and the post-approval check.

    Discussion
    Where does your renewal process stall: evidence, authority, migration readiness, or checking the result?

    Chapters
    00:00 The meeting that cannot decide
    01:08 From a better bill to a better decision
    02:44 The fictional renewal
    04:32 Who comes to the table
    06:40 When the evidence disagrees
    09:16 A short break
    10:24 Two real reasons the disciplines need each other
    12:22 The offer changes
    15:05 Make the decision executable
    16:35 After the signature
    18:23 The takeaway and the homework

    Transcript
    Click here to view the episode transcript.

    Primary references

    FinOps Framework: https://www.finops.org/framework/
    Intersecting Disciplines: https://www.finops.org/framework/capabilities/intersecting-disciplines/
    ITAM and FinOps: planning and procurement: https://www.finops.org/wg/finops-itam-practical-scenarios-planning-procurement/
    Microsoft SQL Server licensing: https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/guidance/SQL
    Azure Hybrid Benefit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/azure-hybrid-benefit?view=azuresql
    AWS Savings Plans FAQ: https://aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/faqs/
    AWS Savings Plans returns: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/latest/userguide/return-sp.html
    An EpicB Media LLC production.

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    20 min
  • Challenge the Bill Before You Negotiate the Discount
    Sep 25 2026
    Twenty percent off sounds like progress. Until the new bill is still twenty percent higher than last year—and nobody has checked whether you need everything on it.In Episode 014 of the Operational ITAM Podcast, Bill Van Nort examines how quantities, licensing rights, product choices, and contract terms shape a renewal bill before the discount conversation begins.Microsoft, Broadcom, and Oracle provide three different tests. Microsoft’s July 2026 pricing changes reach existing customers at renewal. VMware licensing requires a careful look at physical capacity and retained rights. Oracle’s Java subscription demands a precise understanding of the employee metric and the rights attached to specific releases and updates.The question throughout: what can you substantiate, what can you challenge, and what must change operationally before a smaller commitment becomes possible?In this episodeSeparate rate increases from changes in quantity, packaging, and terms.Check physical-core calculations without confusing fewer virtual machines with fewer licensing obligations.Examine Oracle’s employee-based metric and the planned October 2026 licensing transition for Oracle JDK 21 updates.Distinguish a correction to the bill from a concession you want to negotiate.Compare staying, switching, and bridging on the same cost horizon.Understand why savings against a quote differ from reductions against actual spending.Verify that an agreed concession appears on the first invoice.A fictional renewal example makes the arithmetic concrete. Staying with the incumbent can be the right answer—but that decision deserves a clear owner and an explanation.The principle: scrutinyBefore you ask how much the vendor can take off, establish what belongs on the bill.Turn the episode into actionThe Operational ITAM Store offers Bill’s paid procedures, toolkits, and decision resources to help make this work repeatable.Explore the Operational ITAM Store.For broader coverage, the Software, SaaS & Cloud toolkit includes procedures, publisher playbooks, and tools for licensing, renewals, audit response, and consumption management.For a focused starting point, explore Plan renewals against the notice deadline, with an editable procedure, flowchart, and adoption checklist.Review the previews and product descriptions to choose the scope that fits your team.Your homeworkGive it about an hour. Choose one upcoming renewal and gather the quote, current agreement, latest invoice, and quantity evidence.Explain the change in cost on one page. Identify one line you cannot substantiate, then write down the question, the person who must answer it, and the deadline. Track the notice date separately from the renewal date.Next: The Decision TableEpisode 015 brings ITAM, FinOps, procurement, finance, and service ownership into a working decision—with shared evidence, clear authority, and an owner for the next action.Selected sourcesMicrosoft 365 pricing and packaging FAQMicrosoft Partner Center: August 2026 announcementsBroadcom: counting cores for VCF and VVFBroadcom: perpetual licenses after support expirationOracle Java SE Universal Subscription FAQOracle: JDK 21 approaches the end of its permissive licenseMicrosoft licensing FAQ on TeamsResearch checked September 25, 2026. The renewal arithmetic example is fictional. Customer-specific licensing rights depend on the applicable agreements.Visit Operational ITAM© 2026 Operational ITAM · A brand of EpicB Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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    20 min
  • The Standards Body: FOCUS Put Our Name on the Door
    Sep 18 2026
    The FinOps people wrote the bill down as a standard and invited ITAM in. Here is how to speak FOCUS before your CFO asks.On June fourth the FOCUS Steering Committee ratified version 1.4 of the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification: two new datasets, forty-seven new columns, and an Invoice Detail dataset that joins a consumption record to the physical invoice on one identifier. The same month the Linux Foundation announced Tokenomicon, a conference whose front page names tokenomics, FinOps, and ITAM practitioners in the same sentence. The meter readers built themselves a language. Then they walked across the building to our side, and put our name on the door.Bill walks into the second room of the Grid, the standards body, and breaks down what FOCUS means for ITAM: the eight columns out of sixty-five you actually need, the handful of tests any standard has to pass before you bet a program on it, the ISO 19770-3 entitlement tag he has never once received from a publisher, and the five steps that get a SaaS and licensing estate speaking the language, including the one only ITAM can do. Along the way: what the State of FinOps 2026 survey says about who now reports on licensing and the data center, UnitedHealth Group expressing a VMware data center in FOCUS, and the 1904 Baltimore fire that explains why your vendor's billing format is a thread pitch.Plus, a listener question from Angela in Madison: the cloud FinOps team told the CFO that cloud spend is FOCUS-reconciled, and the CFO wants to know why ITAM's SaaS and licensing numbers cannot be. What do you actually say?IN THIS EPISODEFOCUS 1.4 explained for ITAM: the release history, the eight columns that matter, and how last week's effective rate became Effective Cost over Pricing QuantityThe provider table as of this week: who ships 1.2, who ships 1.3, nobody ships 1.4, and why "conformant" currently means self-declaredISO 19770 held up against the same tests, and an opinion, clearly labeled: FOCUS will become the language ITAM reports cost in, and what it will never carryFive steps to speak FOCUS: ask which version, learn the columns, put your contract register in the Contract Commitment dataset, run it in parallel, and put the export in the contractWhat FOCUS 1.5 brings in December, the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, and the one-hour homework that produces your first invoice in the languageCHAPTERS(00:03) - Standards Body Visit(01:27) - The FOCUS Standard(03:56) - Core Columns(07:46) - AI Billing Examples(09:38) - ITAM Workflow(15:01) - Baltimore Hydrant Lesson(17:02) - Trust Is the Standard(18:41) - Next Rate CaseTRANSCRIPTClick here to view the episode transcript. SOURCES & FURTHER READINGIntroducing FOCUS 1.4, FinOps Foundation (June 2026): https://www.finops.org/insights/introducing-focus-1-4/What is FOCUS, release history and license: https://focus.finops.org/what-is-focus/FOCUS provider support table: https://focus.finops.org/docs/implementation/get-started/get-started-with-focus-datasets/FOCUS 1.5 release scope: https://focus.finops.org/focus-1-5-release-scope/FOCUS practitioner stories, UnitedHealth Group and STMicroelectronics: https://focus.finops.org/adoption/finops-practitioners/Linux Foundation announces Tokenomicon (June 2026): https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/linux-foundation-announces-tokenomicon-a-new-conference-for-the-economics-of-aiState of FinOps 2026, Linux Foundation / FinOps Foundation: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/state-of-finops-survey-ai-value-and-skills-top-priorities-as-finops-matures-across-technology-value-98-manage-ai-90-saas-64-licensing-48-data-center-1NISTIR 7158, Major U.S. Cities Using National Standard Fire Hydrants, One Century After the Great Baltimore Fire (NIST, 2004): https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=861321ABOUT THE SHOWOperational ITAM is a podcast about the unglamorous machinery of enterprise technology — hardware and software asset management, licensing, audit defense, SaaS governance, and the money quietly leaking out of all of them.Bill Van Nort has led IT asset management, end-user computing, IT operations, and workplace technology at large organizations across banking, mortgage, and automotive. He has reclaimed millions in software spend and survived audits from the biggest publishers on the planet.Consulting enquiries and listener case files: operationalitam.comThe Operational ITAM Podcast is an EpicB Media LLC production.
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    21 min
  • The Meter Room: Read the Meter Before the Invoice Does
    Sep 3 2026

    AI consumption pricing turned software cost into a meter. Here is how to read yours before the bill does.

    Software used to be priced at the signature. Now it accrues at the meter. Ramp's payments data shows AI token spend up twenty point seven times in thirteen months, and the FinOps Foundation reports ninety-eight percent of practitioners now manage AI spend, up from thirty-one percent two years ago. A seat is a price you approved once. A meter is a price you discover every month.


    Bill walks into the first room of the Grid, the meter room, and breaks down the four parts of every consumption agreement: the unit, the rate, the commitment, and the true-up. Along the way: why the median business pays two thousand dollars a month while the average pays one hundred forty thousand, how Coinbase cut its AI bill nearly in half while usage grew, the controller who found ten thousand dollars a month in a term he had never heard, and the arithmetic that turns any invoice into a meter reading.


    Plus, a listener question from Elena in Cincinnati: finance wants next year's AI budget as one fixed number, and consumption pricing makes that feel impossible. What do you actually give them?

    IN THIS EPISODE

    • The anatomy of a meter: the unit, the rate, the commitment, and the true-up, and why you need all four named for every consumption agreement you own
    • Ramp's April benchmarks: a sixty-times gap between median and average AI spend, and the twenty-times price difference decided by a model default
    • How Coinbase halved AI spend while usage grew: better defaults, routing, and caching, not friction and spend alerts
    • The AngelList controller who learned the phrase "prompt caching" from a spend briefing and recovered ten thousand dollars a month the same day
    • The three numbers to hand finance instead of one fixed budget, and the one-hour homework that produces your first meter reading

    CHAPTERS

    • (00:15) - Meter Room Opens
    • (01:16) - Reading the New Bill
    • (04:12) - What a Meter Is
    • (07:32) - Real-World Savings
    • (09:31) - How to Read Usage
    • (12:55) - Budgeting the Unknown
    • (14:21) - Utility Lessons
    • (15:48) - Measurement Discipline
    • (16:38) - Homework and Next Steps

    TRANSCRIPT

    Click here to view the episode transcript.


    SOURCES & FURTHER READING

    • Ramp, AI token spend controls launch (July 2026): https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ramp-launches-ai-token-spend-controls-302827389.html
    • Ramp, AI token cost benchmarks (April 2026 data): https://ramp.com/blog/ai-token-cost-for-businesses
    • State of FinOps 2026, Linux Foundation / FinOps Foundation: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/state-of-finops-survey-ai-value-and-skills-top-priorities-as-finops-matures-across-technology-value-98-manage-ai-90-saas-64-licensing-48-data-center-1
    • Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on cutting AI cost: https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/coinbase-ceo-halved-ai-costs-130000536.html
    • FOCUS 1.4, FinOps Foundation: https://www.finops.org/insights/introducing-focus-1-4/

    ABOUT THE SHOW

    Operational ITAM is a podcast about the unglamorous machinery of enterprise technology — hardware and software asset management, licensing, audit defense, SaaS governance, and the money quietly leaking out of all of them.


    Bill Van Nort has led IT asset management, end-user computing, IT operations, and workplace technology at large organizations across banking, mortgage, and automotive. He has reclaimed millions in software spend and survived audits from the biggest publishers on the planet.


    Consulting enquiries and listener case files: operationalitam.com


    The Operational ITAM Podcast is an EpicB Media LLC production.

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    19 min
  • The AI Estate: The First Asset Class With a Regulator Attached
    Aug 27 2026

    The EU AI Act's Article 50 transparency obligations began to apply on August 2, with penalties up to 15 million euros or 3 percent of worldwide annual turnover, whichever is higher. It is the first time in the history of this discipline that an asset class arrived with a regulator already attached, and most organizations cannot tell you what is in it. Flexera's 2026 State of ITAM Report puts accurate AI visibility at 31 percent, while the FinOps Foundation's State of FinOps 2026 found 98 percent of FinOps teams now manage AI spend and 73 percent blew through their AI cost plans. This episode delivers on the promise made at the end of Episode 10: defining the newest asset class in the estate.


    Bill lays out the five forms AI takes on its way into your organization: embedded (AI switched on inside software you already own), subscribed (standalone AI SaaS), metered (consumption-priced APIs where spend scales with enthusiasm), hosted (models you run yourself), and hidden (all four, unrecorded). Then the four questions from Episode 1, pointed at the AI estate: what you have across five forms, where your data actually goes, what it costs across five different budget lines, and when it leaves, faster than any asset class ever tracked.


    Then the regulator in practitioner terms: the four Article 50 situations, the December 2, 2026 marking transition, the honest note on Article 26's deferral to December 2, 2027, and why every transparency obligation presupposes an inventory. Plus a listener question from Priya in Ann Arbor on where a CIO-mandated AI inventory even starts, the library closing with full honors as the show moves into the grid, and a one-hour shadow AI census: expense data, SSO log, asset register, three numbers on one page.


    Sources cited: EU AI Act Article 50 and European Commission implementation guidelines (July 20, 2026); EU Digital Omnibus; Flexera 2026 State of ITAM Report; FinOps Foundation State of FinOps 2026; IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2026; Zylo 2026 SaaS Management Index.


    Case files wanted. One situation, one page, anonymized: what the constraint was, what you did, what happened. If you are the person who just got handed the AI inventory question, Bill especially wants yours. Details at https://www.operationalitam.com


    Next episode: the meter room. Token-based pricing, GPU hours, and reading the meter before the invoice does.


    Chapters:

    • (00:02) - AI’s Regulator Arrives
    • (01:57) - The Numbers Behind AI Risk
    • (04:06) - Five Forms of AI Assets
    • (07:26) - The Four Questions Applied
    • (10:13) - Article 50 Explained
    • (12:53) - How to Inventory AI
    • (14:45) - From Library to Grid


    Click here to view the episode transcript.


    Operational ITAM Podcast · https://www.operationalitam.com · Bill Van Nort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billvannort/

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    19 min
  • Do You Actually Need a Tool? The Readiness Test
    Aug 15 2026

    Flexera's 2026 State of ITAM Report says complete visibility into the IT estate has dropped to 36 percent, down eleven points across three years, over the same stretch that organizations bought more asset management tooling than at any point in the discipline's history. We bought more and saw less. This episode explains why, and answers the question Mike from Columbus asked back in Episode 001: should we buy a tool, and how would we know?

    Bill lays out the Readiness Test, five questions to answer honestly before any purchase order: Who owns the data? When two systems disagree, which one wins? Can you produce entitlements as documents? Does a lifecycle event change a record today, without a tool? Can someone write down what the tool is for, in one sentence, with a number in it? Fail any one and a platform makes your problems more expensive instead of more visible.

    Then the case for tools, made fairly: what platforms genuinely do well according to Gartner's January 2026 Market Guide, the estate where the tool is a license term rather than a maturity choice (IBM sub-capacity and ILMT), the honest cost picture, and the four signals that it is actually time to buy. Plus, a listener question from Dana in Dayton on what to do when the platform is live and nobody trusts it, the catalog room in the library, and a one-hour homework assignment that will save some organizations two years.

    Sources cited: Flexera 2026 State of ITAM Report; Gartner Market Guide for Software Asset Management Tools (January 2026); IBM Passport Advantage sub-capacity licensing terms; Forrester (2013); EU AI Act Article 50.

    Case files wanted. One situation, one page, anonymized: what the constraint was, what you did, what happened. Details at https://www.operationalitam.com

    Next episode: the AI estate, the first asset class to arrive with a regulator attached.

    Chapters:

    • (00:03) - Tool Question Answered
    • (04:31) - Readiness Test
    • (07:42) - Market Tells On Itself
    • (09:24) - What To Do Instead
    • (11:22) - When Tools Make Sense
    • (13:55) - When To Buy
    • (16:45) - The Library Catalog Lesson
    • (18:10) - Tooling Is Judgment
    • (19:23) - Homework And Next Episode

    Click here to view the episode transcript.

    Operational ITAM Podcast · https://www.operationalitam.com · Bill Van Nort on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billvannort/
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    22 min