Why companies should use software license management tools

Company’s spend much money in IT. An overall IT spending is software. Researchers have found out that $259 per desktop is the average cost (per year) of unused software within companies. It doesn’t matter if you are a smaller start-up or a big global enterprise, it still is a lot and definitely a waste of money. To reduce these costs, there is software license management. To make the associated tasks much easier, there are several useful tools which you can use for SLM. Inside the discipline of software license management, people are aware that it is necessary to use some of these tools. A remarkable thing is, that there is not a preference or leading tool. 

Difference between software license management and software asset management

The difference between software license management and software asset management is: software license management is a part of the big overarching software asset management. Whereas software management is about the full process around the software purchase, support and implementation, software license management is all about aligning the licenses with the desired use of the owner. It involves the process of reducing, documenting and controlling the total amount of IT costs.

Benefits

Software license management has got some real benefits for your company.

If your software licenses are under control, it can bring huge advantages. A huge advantage is to save money. By tracking and monitoring all the licenses, you know for sure the licenses are being used and not a waste of money. The licenses that are not used can be cancelled. This will save money on your IT budget.

Another (which might be the biggest) advantage, is that it has got a big role in ensuring all software products are following compliance with software licenses. In the case they are not, you can receive some serious hefty fines or in worst case: legal trouble.

Tasks in software license management

Software license management has got several tasks. These are the following tasks:

• To provide insight in the license rights of the owner.
• To prolong or cancel support and renewal contracts.
• To rapport license usage.
• To rapport license usage vs. rights.
• To give an advice in buying or cancelling licenses.
• To negotiate with software suppliers.
• To materialize potential savings.

Software license management tools

To perform software license management tasks, the right tools must administrate license rights, report license usage and measure license use. Furthermore, acknowledge about the following software suppliers is essential.

Important to know is that software asset management tools do not guarantee license compliance. But you can use their best features to your advantage. There are many companies that provide SAM-tools, such as B-lay. It is a well-known company among a lot (around 400) software using companies.

Do you already use the most suitable software license management tools?