Doing 'more with less' is a must for IT managers. One of the main measures that managers have been taking in recent times concerns software licensing control.
IT management is fundamental for optimizing the use of software and also for its use properly aligned with the license rights.
The 8 tips for improving software licensing control
IT asset management is essential for increasing the life span of equipment and controlling the life cycles of the park.
For several reasons, I see few organizations performing an effective control of their licenses. Two of the most recurrent consequences are the payment of fines for inadequate use of software or the purchase of licenses without necessity.
Summary
Make staff recognize the importance of license control
Emphasize that proper license management avoids paying compliance fines and reduces excessive software purchases. Wasting resources these days is a luxury we cannot afford.
Assign roles and responsibilities to IT personnel
IT managers should delegate the license monitoring function to one or more professionals, this will depend on the number of software assets the company has, of course.
The control of software assets is not a temporary task performed once a month or a year. This control must be continuous to ensure that software usage is in compliance with the licenses for use.
Document management policies and procedures
For proper monitoring, formal documentation of policies and procedures is crucial for software licensing control.
This will give you a better understanding and the ability to be compliant in the use of the software, thus eliminating the risk of a fine.
Get an accurate software inventory
With a good software inventory, managers are able to know if a certain software is properly licensed and track whether it is showing errors or compatibility problems. This way the IT manager can act proactively. A software inventory also indicates the need or not for the company to acquire new licenses, based on its real needs.
Properly record all acquisitions and implementations
When acquiring a software license, managers must quickly record it so that the process of managing assets during their time in the business environment is, in fact, effective. Not only the acquisition process, but also the implementation process must be recorded.
With these procedures the company will have total control of the assets that enter and are implemented in the environment.
Track software withdrawal processes
In companies where there is no effective licensing control, managers forget to remove software that is no longer being used or, in some cases, simply ignore this important task.
You can't imagine how much effective planning and follow-up of software withdrawal processes can bring many benefits to the company, such as:
But what they probably don't know is that planning and following effective software withdrawal processes can bring many benefits to the company, such as:
Periodically evaluate the usage rights
Cost optimization: thanks to the reuse or removal of software from computers that are obsolete or no longer used by employees;
Risk Mitigation: by properly removing the software from the computers or servers according to the usage rights established by the vendor;
Inventory Update: software registrations remain accurate, which makes it possible to identify software that does or does not need to be purchased.
Adopt a technology that helps management
Many companies that control software licensing choose to perform this task manually, using Excel spreadsheets. These, besides requiring the manual collection and insertion of data - which takes a lot of time, also do not allow managers to collect information related to the use of software that is extremely important for their decision making, such as:
- What software the company has;
- Which software is being used by the team, and which is not;
- On which computers the software is installed;
- Whether the use of each software is in accordance with the licenses;
- When licenses should be renewed;
- The expiration date of the licenses or the termination of the contract;
- How the software was configured.
But by adopting IT asset management managers get better licensing control with all information automatically, regardless of the number of software licenses purchased.
Proactively manage the problems of software complianceThis is to avoid excessive license purchases, optimize the use of licenses, and negotiate contracts with vendors.
BAIXAR SPREADSHEET FOR SOFTWARE LICENSING CONTROL
