December 14, 2008, 5:48 AM — Did you know that many companies are still using a spreadsheet to keep track of their software licenses? Whether you are a 10 person company or a large enterprise, software licenses are a business asset (and a rather under-utilized one) and deserves better care.
Like many other business assets, software licenses can and should be optimized to extract more value to your business.
Optimizing software licenses can help you reduce your software costs by only renewing the licenses you use, and better prepare for license renewal negotiations. It can help you stay compliant with license agreements by making sure you have sufficient licenses for all the software that is used across your company.
To effectively optimize software licenses, a company has to align its financial records (software licenses) with its inventory (what software is used). This can become a challenge in today's modern IT world, when your software inventory is rapidly changing as new computers are purchased and more software gets installed. It becomes an even bigger challenge when you want to optimize software licenses as part of your ongoing business process, and not as a one-time event.
Certain IT Asset Management services can help you optimize your software licenses as part of your IT Asset Management strategy. These tools help you organize your software licenses in one place, remind you when renewals are due, and easily correlate licenses to your inventory at any time, so you know what you have and what you need. Other benefits include:
- Organize your software licenses in a centralized repository, keep track of proof-of-purchase, resellers and purchase records.
- Monitor renewal dates and notify you when license renewals are due, so you could better prepare for an upcoming negotiation, and only renew what you need . You can even use the service to plan and consolidate multiple licenses into a single agreement as part of your renewal.
- Reconcile software licenses against current inventory, to detect any under or over license situations. You need a tool that can help you reconcile your data when your inventory changes, so you know your status at any time, and could incorporate this process into your IT Asset Management plan.
Using an IT Asset Management tool will help you eliminate the "license spreadsheet" and better manage your software licenses as a business asset.
SAManage is a leading provider of on-demand IT Asset Management services. Our service helps organizations effectively manage IT Assets such as computers, software, contracts and software licenses, and detect potential IT risks or license compliance gaps. Our on-demand service can be easily deployed across multiple locations within minutes and provide visibility into complex IT infrastructures to ensure optimized IT asset utilization. Visit http://www.SAManage.com and sign up for a free account today.
