Most large or expanding businesses must work toward improved software licensing management. Working toward the aim of adhering to software and licensing management best practices enables teams to establish a full software inventory, allowing them to be more informed while still operating within legal limits.
This post will discuss some recommended practices for license tracking and managing software licenses. While improved software licensing management is an attainable objective, many businesses are unsure where to begin or which software license management approach would produce the greatest results.
This article will go through the best practices for managing software licensing. These recommendations will provide managers with a starting point in the software asset management process and an explanation of the most efficient approaches.
Spiceworks
Spiceworks is a self-hosted tool that allows you to scan all devices on your company’s network and get a detailed report of the installed software. It can detect software versions and whether or not patches or updates are available for certain programs.
Spiceworks can help you keep track of individual licenses in addition to identifying software. The service tells you if you are out of compliance with specified software and informs you of the number of active installations you have.
Spiceworks may also provide IT infrastructure reports with complete listings of service providers and suppliers if necessary.
SolarWinds
SolarWinds Service Desk assists enterprises in collecting and analyzing various software licenses. It automates software license tracking and eliminates manual input mistakes. With this program, an organization may simply determine if any licenses are missing or if new licenses are necessary for certain uses.
SolarWinds license monitoring software may also be used to establish bespoke contracts and approval procedures, keep track of vendors and manage license renewals. It sends out reminders for all software licensing renewals.
Freshservice
Freshservice is an integrated software asset management service management system. The system includes discovery capabilities for real-time license tracking software licenses and reporting on license inventory and use.
It automatically executes scans to detect new software and allows you to schedule scans so that you have up-to-date asset information at certain times.
Freshservice can connect to hundreds of SaaS platforms and give insights on application usage to assist you in identifying underutilized subscriptions and optimizing SaaS subscription expenses.
ServiceNow
ServiceNow software licensing management aids in the tracking and organizing of the organization’s licenses. It aids in the recovery of unused software licenses, the acquisition of new licenses, and the management of software allocations within the business.
ServiceNow helps enterprises to automate license allocation during new employee onboarding. It maintains audit readiness by verifying that licenses comply with different regulatory standards.
Conclusion
Mismanagement and a lack of awareness about software license tracking might cause an organization to lose money unwittingly. To avoid overspending on software licenses, provide a breakdown of all software expenditures to better understand the users’ budget spending and expenses.
Creating reports from this data will help management better comprehend all spending and prepare for the future. One of the most important criteria to evaluate is future costs.
Future expenditures allow you to forecast how much money you are likely to spend on future purchases and budget accordingly. These reports are also useful for monitoring budget availability and optimizing spending.