By John Smith
1. Don’t Boil the Ocean
The 80 / 20 rule applies especially to software license management. There are usually a handful of software vendors who provide critical (and usually expensive) software for your organization. Even within a given vendor’s software portfolio, it is generally a subset of their products that demand the majority of focus. So when setting up software license management processes, tools and systems – focus on the "high rollers". The “me too” applications will generally look after themselves.
2. Build License Management into the Fabric of Your Business
Unless license management is part of your normal business processes, it will not be attended to. License management highlights the difference between important and urgent: it is always the former but seldom the latter (unless you are facing an unbudgeted seven figure software audit liability!). Left unattended, it will largely be ignored. Therefore, license management must be included within signed off procedures to ensure license compliance is maintained and software costs are controlled.
3. Negotiate Measurable Contract Terms and Communicate Internally
Too often there is a lack of communication between IT Procurement—the contract negotiators, and IT Operations—those who deploy and manage the software on a daily basis. Many times the contract terms are not shared with implementers and deployment staff and unless they are consulted in advance of the inked contract, an unworkable agreement may exist. This can, of course, turn into a major license compliance issue. Its critical to communicate requirements, terms and conditions throughout the organization.
4. Let Each Vendor Know You are Serious about License Compliance
One of the most disruptive activities for any organization is to be audited by a software vendor. You can capitalize on the work you put into license management by letting the vendor know how seriously you are taking the subject and demonstrating that you have control of your software estate. Organizations that implement best practice software asset management and license optimization processes and have the tools in place to help automate these processes are in the best position to defend themselves against a software audit and in many cases avoid them altogether.
5. Involve Senior Management
You will need cooperation from numerous parts of the organization to implement an effective license management program. Unless you have the "buy-in" from senior management you run the risk of having to implement a flawed process due to lack of cooperation from certain areas.
6. Centralize License Management
There are many business processes and so much data associated with license management that it is imperative that contract negotiation (and monitoring) is carried out in the most centralized fashion. The single characteristic that differentiates the leaders in this space is that they have consolidated and centralized their enterprise-wide licensing activities.
7. Start Early
Don’t wait until the last minute to begin preparations for a contract negotiation with a major vendor. The key to successful negotiation is to be prepared, be informed and be clear on desired outcomes. To mobilize a cross-functional team, gather information for a fact-based discussion and define a strategy that will meet business objectives can often take several months of careful, detailed work.
8. Use Tools
License management is a challenge due to the many complexities involved—licensing, IT environment, and organizational complexities, to name a few. There are numerous contracts, vendors, applications, sites and license owners that result in a plethora of data. Unless advanced software asset management and license optimization tools are used, making sense of all this data, managing the complexities and maintaining license compliance will be impossible.
9. Track progress
As I noted above, it can be easy for license management to lose priority and focus in your organization. So unless you start with a baseline and track your results, you will be unable to demonstrate the cost savings, cost avoidance and license compliance risk reduction that accrue from these activities.
10. Publicize Wins
Publicizing your successes will help build the credibility of your software asset and license management program, motivate others and align their efforts. This is an important part of building a mature program over time. And the most mature license management programs have the greatest return on investment.
