Software license management – license, manage, profit
Swiss companies invest a considerable part of their IT budget in software. When licenses are purchased, no ownership rights are transferred, only rights of use are made available. To protect against risks and at the same time benefit from many advantages, powerful license management solutions are essential. In this blog post, we will show you what good license management requires and which aspects should be given special attention.
Software license management – license, manage, profit
Setting up sustainable license management is not only about optimizing costs and reducing risks, but also about enabling transparency and thus also ensuring contractual as well as legal compliance.
In order for companies to benefit from these advantages, the following questions must first be answered:
- Do you already have experience with sustainable license management?
- Do processes and systems exist for sustainable license management?
- Are license responsibility and software use regulated?
- Which contractual and legal principles must be adhered to?
We recommend that companies pay particular attention to the following 10 sources of risk when answering the above questions.
10 sources of risk in software license management
- Ad-hoc purchases (without Software Assurance, SA)
- Insufficient control of contract terms (SA)
- Changes in license terms are not perceived (onPremise vs. cloud / physical vs. virtual)
- Lack of awareness of usage rights (downgrades, re-imaging, reselling, etc.)
- Little awareness at the executive level on the topic of compliance (audits responsibility)
- Too few resources for license management (complexity, hybrid infrastructures, deployment optimization)
- Misconception: The license management tool solves all problems (know processes, optimize & involve departments)
- Data quality of inventory data is insufficient (the so-called gap analysis also shows gaps and garbage)
- Too little up-to-date license knowledge among administrators and users (solve user questions skillfully)
- Lack of transparency and insight into the IT landscape (From “We have a tool” to “Strategically optimized software asset management”.
How we can help you
Based on the individual starting position and needs, and taking into account the contractual and legal bases of our customers, we first provide an overview that helps companies make further important decisions. In further workshops, we support companies in various issues related to licensing. Examples:
- Capture installation data – Scan your data needs
- Documentation of license evidence – Unique data requirements.
- Windows server licensing (virtualization & changes) – correct licensing in clustered environments and license requirements in a virtualized environment.
- SQL Licensing – correct calculation of license requirements and CAL requirements for direct and indirect access.
- OEM licensing for FAT clients – handling OEM licenses.
- CAL/SAL licensing – appropriate CAL/SAL metrics and restrictions on function and access.
- Licensing of selected products – We will show you several licensing models and requirements of specific software products.
- Deploying Desktop Applications in Server Mode – Desktop applications in server mode and their licensing requirements.
- Cloud licensing – What options are available?
