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Take Control of Your Software Licensing in Five Steps
For businesses, software licensing has changed dramatically. Due to industry changes such as the switch to Software as a Service and increasingly complex contracts, proper management of your ecosystem is now essential.
Here are five steps to help get your house in order:
- Find out what you have.
Before you make any decisions, it’s important to understand which publishers and types of licenses you’re currently entitled to, as well as how many. There are many inventory management and network discovery tools that can automate the process.
- Prioritize your publishers.
Focus your initial efforts on the highest priority software publishers. A good rule of thumb is focusing on those licenses that are most used across your organization, such as Microsoft or Oracle.
- Watch and wait.
In order to see meaningful patterns in your data, you’ll have to monitor usage for a while. Shoot for 60 days, but understand that it can vary depending on the tools your business uses and how it uses them.
- Connect the dots.
Now you’re ready to fully assess your software licensing position. You should be able to tell whether you’re under- or over-licensed by comparing your inventory and usage data with your purchasing records.
- Ask the experts.
If you feel you might be at risk of non-compliance or you’re not sure what next steps to take, it’s time to bring in the experts. Professional software consulting can help you avoid expensive publisher audits and get the most out of your IT assets.
Insight License Consulting Services
Insight has helped thousands of companies like yours to take control of and properly manage their software environment. Our software consulting team is staffed with experts on IBM, SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and other major publishers. Together, we’ll develop a customized solution for your unique goals and needs.
