Software License Assessment and Management
Whether driven by a hardware refresh, a change in office environment, new IT leadership or compliance regulations, you’ve reached the point where you need to get a handle on your software licensing.
You’re not alone. Many companies struggle to stay in front of software license compliance — whether due to growth, acquisitions, divestures, dispersed office locations, remote workers or other reasons. However, as stated by the Business Software Alliance:
“Having pirated software is not only a huge financial risk, but it can also open up your network to viruses and security threats. Companies must manage their software just as carefully as they would any other aspect of their business.”
If you are unsure what software your business has deployed, how many instances and on what machines, a Software License Assessment can help you understand your current environment, how deployed software matches up with procured licenses and fill in the gaps to achieve compliance.
What Does a Software License Assessment Involve?
To start, we request a historical snapshot from relevant software manufacturers, which will provide information regarding your business’ license purchases made to date.
Next, we analyze an inventory report along with the license history reports, and perform a gap analysis to determine whether your organization has any shortfalls or overages with software compliance.
One of our experienced Solution Architects will provide consultation and guidance based on your results, and work with you to design a roadmap that will help your organization become compliant. He or she will put together a quote to show the financial impact of the gap, then help you determine how to repurpose existing software or procure the software licenses you need to become compliant. We can also help you purchase those licenses at the best prices possible.
In addition, your Solution Architect will talk with you about your organization’s overall IT initiatives and how they fit in with your software investments. For example: your company may have a goal to improve internal communication and information sharing, and already own half of the components of a good collaboration solution.
If we notice something like this, we’ll suggest to you some affordable options to develop a complete software suite to meet the needs of your business and improve daily operations.
At the simplest level, we can help bring your software licenses into compliance. However, by digging a bit deeper, a Software License Assessment performed by MCPc can assist with any or all of the following:
- Understand your current environment
- Identify gaps with procured licenses
- Become compliant
- Build out a long-term roadmap to reach business-operational goals
- Prioritize your upgrades
- Reduce software costs
- Manage software more efficiently over time
- Systemically address non-compliance issues to keep them from happening again
Ongoing Software License Management
Software license management can — and often should — be an ongoing process to keep your company in compliance at all times. As part of your assessment, we can help you develop a software asset management solution that suits your business processes, works with your available resources, and keeps your business safe in the event of an audit. Ongoing software license management solutions may include:
- End-user segmentation and role-based image deployment
- Desktop virtualization
- Software Asset Management tools, which keep an ongoing tab on your software licensing, and can be managed in-house or outsourced to MCPc
By implementing the right mix of the above solutions, we can help you prevent compliance issues from occurring in the first place, by treating the underlying cause of any problems rather than simply fixing its effects with a one-time license update.
If you’d like to learn more about our Software License Assessment and ongoing management solutions, contact MCPc today for a free consultation with a Solution Architect.