Software License Management (SLM) is the point of contention right now. Anyone from the IT sector will agree to it. In fact, being a marketer for more than a decade, I can bet on the fact that software license management will soon become the IT industry driver.
Almost every organization; whether an IT or non-IT spends huge bucks on their annual IT budget. A large portion of this budget usually goes into purchasing and procuring software licenses. These software licenses need to be properly tracked or monitored intermittently. Else, organizations would end up creating a pile of software for no good reason. Also, the cost incurred by this software would burn up heavy cash.
Having a software license management system in place would save an organization from these situations. This would also help the organization in other ways such as compliance risks, auditing, operational challenges, and others.
Well, I believe that the need for a software license management tool is well understood by now. But before we proceed further, there are some practices that we all need to comprehend. These practices can help organizations to optimize their software license further and get the best out of all their software licenses.
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Software Management Strategy is a Must
You need to have a rock-solid software management strategy if you want to manage all your software licenses effectively. By a software license management strategy, I mean you need to document all your software licenses and analyze them thoroughly.Â
You must understand each of the licenses you have purchased. Understand the current versions under your possession and decipher the platforms they are supported along with going through the EULA document. By doing so, you would be able to Plan better strategies to use all your software licenses.
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Understand the Pros and Cons of License Contracts
Just like every individual has a different fingerprint, every software license comes with other terms and conditions. These terms and conditions are collectively called license contracts.
And I must mention here, that every license contract comes with plenty of terms and conditions that could vary according to the usage. For example, if you buy a certain operating system variant, it could have different permissions based on the country of usage, nature of usage, etc. To make your software license management more beneficial, you must learn to decode these terms and conditions even before you purchase them.
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Have a Software Inventory in Place
Have you heard about ‘shelfware licenses’? If not, let me explain what it is. A shelfware license is basically a license you have brought, but haven’t used since the purchase. Having such licenses does nothing, but it keeps on digging out your finances.
Better software license management must always have a proper software inventory in place. This way, you will have a clear view of what you have and what you don’t need to have.
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Avoid Legacy Software
Legacy licenses were once the thing. However, with technology rising to its peak, legacy software is soon becoming obsolete. In fact, they have become obsolete in today’s time. Though some organizations still use them, they still have an array of limitations in terms of functionalities. You can have them only for a single or a couple of functions.
If you want to make your software license management to become more efficient, you must first try to get rid of all your legacy software. Make sure you keep a check on your software inventory at regular intervals and uninstall all the legacy software you don’t need anymore.
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Optimize all Your Software Licenses
Imagine buying software licenses for each of your team members. Well, this may sound like an easy task if you have a smaller team. But what about organizations that have employees all across the globe? In such cases, you have no other option but to optimize all your software licenses to make them available to almost all your team members.
OpenLM is one global software license vendor that can help you in optimizing all your software licenses. Recognized by market leaders like Cuptera and Gartner, OpenLM ensures 15-25% annual savings on your annual software license cost with their trusted services.
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Stay Compliant with Your License Contracts
Compliance issue is undoubtedly one of the commonly faced issues in the software industry. There are multiple reasons why organizations usually fail to stay compliant with the terms and conditions of software license usage. Being not well-versed with software licenses is the primary reason behind this.
This is another crucial point where OpenLM can come to your rescue with its agile software license management strategies. OpenLM products and services are made keeping in mind all the compliance issues. They enable you to maximize all your engineering and specialty software licenses while staying compliant with your software licenses.
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Understand Software Audits
Being associated with the IT industry, I have personally seen organizations getting anxious about software audits. And why would they not be while there are high chances of violation of terms and conditions?
But let me clarify one thing here, software audits are only meant to check how compliant you are with respect to your purchased licenses. It’s that simple. However, keeping a regular check on your software licenses could reduce all the audit risks, and you can sigh in big relief.
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Welcome Changes RegularlyÂ
I have already mentioned the ill effects of legacy software in today’s world. However, it’s not always the legacy software that can kill your budget while doing no good for you. Even some of the recent software can go obsolete within a couple of months or years.
To stay ahead with a software license management strategy, you also need to check your software inventory regularly. In case you find any software that is limited to only a few operations, you may have to take a call to eliminate them.
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Consult With Legal Advisors
Just like any fixed deposit or insurance document, software licenses also come with many hidden facts and conditions. These conditions are put across in such ways, users might tend to ignore them. However, this simple ignorance could cost you a fortune if you fail to comply with them.
As an experienced marketer, I would highly recommend you consult with legal or license experts before you purchase any software licenses. It is always better to stay conscious than to undergo unwanted issues later.
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Hire OpenLM Expert Services
With all the aforementioned points combined, I would suggest you hire OpenLM’s expert software license management services. OpenLM helps you understand your software licenses better. Utilize them to the maximum limit while staying compliant. And obviously in securing great audit ranks.
Whether network, node-locked, GPU, cloud & token, and hybrid variations, OpenLM handles all types of licenses. It works with all the major license managers like Flexera, DSLS, Reprise, and Sentinel RMS. Above all, OpenLM’s products and services fit into everyone’s budget while promising great ROI and almost zero maintenance costs.
