IBM has introduced the Client Value Acceleration (CVA) Program as its next evolution in software licensing and entitlements management. For organizations with significant IBM portfolios, CVA offers a new path to gain visibility, manage usage, and align licensing with business goals. At Connor Consulting, we believe CVA represents both a strategic opportunity and a defining decision point. Understanding what is involved and how to prepare will help you get the most value.
Maximizing value of your IBM software estate with insight and clarity
IBM has introduced the Client Value Acceleration (CVA) Program as its next evolution in software licensing and entitlements management. For organizations with significant IBM portfolios, CVA offers a new path to gain visibility, manage usage, and align licensing with business goals. At Connor Consulting, we believe CVA represents both a strategic opportunity and a defining decision point. Understanding what is involved and how to prepare will help you get the most value.
The CVA Program is IBM’s modern alternative to previous programs like IASP (IBM Authorized SAM Provider).
It is designed to provide customers with centralized visibility into IBM entitlements, deployments, usage metrics, and software licensing status via a secure portal.
As part of the program, customers work with IBM or IBM-authorized SAM partners. These partners assist with deploying the tools, gathering data, preparing reports, and identifying optimization opportunities.
Audit exemption while enrolled in the program, subject to meeting its requirements.
Participating in CVA can deliver several concrete benefits for organizations. For many our clients, these are the outcomes that matter most:
Value Area
What You Gain
Visibility & Insight
A unified view of what IBM licenses you hold, how software is being used, and where entitlement vs usage gaps exist. Helps reduce surprises during renewals.
Optimization
Identification of opportunities to remove under-utilized software, reassign licenses, or ensure configurations (virtualization, containerization, OS support) are aligned to IBM’s licensing models.
Proactive Strategy
Data-driven planning for upcoming renewals, migrations, or product lifecycle changes. Ability to align with IBM’s roadmap (e.g. cloud, containers) earlier.
Reduced Audit Burden
While not eliminating the need for governance or license discipline, CVA aims to reduce the risk and disruption of traditional audits by keeping your IBM relationship more transparent.
Learning & Support
Eligible participants receive access to tools, training, dashboards, and expert support. These resources help improve internal capability in managing IBM licensing.
CVA is promising, but like any program tied to licensing and vendor relationships, there are trade-offs and details to understand. Here are key considerations based on what we see in the market:
Data Transparency & Control
You will likely share deployment, usage, and environment data more frequently (often quarterly) with IBM or its partners. Knowing exactly what data is shared, how it is used, and how it is secured is critical.
Internal Readiness
To benefit from CVA, you need mature SAM (Software Asset Management) practices, reliable tools (ILMT, IBM License Service, Flexera, ServiceNow), and capacity to collect, review, and act on insights. If foundational elements are weak, enrollment may simply highlight gaps without giving enough time or resources to fix them.
Cost vs Effort
While the program promises audit exemption, there is effort involved in data collection, reporting, and maintaining eligibility. That means internal resource commitment, potential costs for tools or consulting support. These must be weighed versus the benefits.
Contractual Terms & Exit Strategy
Understand the contract or addendum that governs CVA participation. What are the obligations? How long is the term? What happens if you exit the program? Could there be retroactive liabilities or adjustments?
Alignment with Business Goals
Ensure CVA participation supports your strategy, whether modernization, cloud migration, cost governance, or innovation. If your focus is reducing spend, improving operational efficiency, or accelerating cloud adoption, CVA can help. But if your priority is minimal overhead and maximum flexibility, you will need to understand whether CVA’s structure helps or adds friction.
At Connor, we believe CVA can be a significant enabler when handled strategically. Here is how we support clients considering or already in CVA:
Readiness Assessments – We evaluate your current licensing position, SAM maturity, tool health, and risk exposure before committing to any program.
Data & Tooling Support – We help with deploying, configuring, and validating IBM-approved tools (ILMT, Flexera, ServiceNow), aligning reports and dashboards so the data you share is accurate and optimized.
Governance & Process Design – We advise on how to embed responsibility, metrics, reviews, and roles so that the insights CVA delivers are acted on, not just collected.
Negotiation & Contract Review – We help clients understand and negotiate the terms of CVA engagement, ensure clarity on audit exemption, reporting frequency, data usage, exit clauses, and protections.
Ongoing Optimization – Once in CVA, many organizations find additional value over time. We partner to track cost savings, license reuse, infrastructure alignment, and risk mitigation to ensure CVA delivers continuous value.
IBM’s CVA Program is more than a replacement for older audit-avoidance options. It represents a shift toward a more continuous, transparent, and data-driven relationship between vendors and enterprise customers.
For companies that manage IBM software at scale, CVA offers a chance to gain greater visibility, reduce surprises, and better align licensing with business goals. But the benefits are not automatic. Success depends on internal readiness, thoughtful negotiation, and governance built around the program.
If you are evaluating CVA for your organization, we’d be happy to help you run a readiness assessment or walk through what value it could unlock specifically for your IBM estate.
