Software licence management is a must for any IT company

Licences are a topic for any company that utilises non-in-house software for the support of its business. At medium-sized and large companies, the overview over the software used and the licences bought is lost quickly. The task of a licence management is to maintain an overview, be able to state the licence situation at any time, and to support an audit or the purchase of new licences.

Licence management often is an unpopular topic. From the point of view of the administrators and the users, it appears to be unnecessary. After all, the software even runs without licences! But from the point of view of the executive management, the question looks different. Because executive management is liable - in an extreme case, personally - in case of licensing violations. Or, in case of a lack of overview, unnecessarily high costs arise if more licences are bought than necessary.

Licence management often is created without a plan

At a growing company, licence management quite often is created unstructuredly, when one of the affected parties takes on the topic. Either a committed administrator or an asset administrator take care of the overview, or an employee in purchasing might be trying to maintain the overview. However, these groups quickly reach their limits since a professional licence management has to manage both sides, meaning both the installed software as well as the licensing agreements. Furthermore, a good licence management must have sufficient power of assertion in order to be able to implement unpopular decisions as well.

If the first approaches for an internal licence management are present, a consulting company with well-founded knowledge and a broad range of experience can determine the degree of maturity of the licence management with targeted questions and point out opportunities for optimisation.

Integrating licence management into existing processes

Important is not only the organisational integration and positioning within the company with the corresponding role descriptions of all parties involved. Of particular importance is also the optimisation of the existing processes. For this, particular emphasis must be placed on integrating the licence management processes into the existing processes of the purchasing department and the contract management, but also on the asset change and asset release management. It is only the problem-free cooperation of these departments that guarantees the success of an optimised licence management.

Licence management also must have an eye on the whole company. The analysis should be cross-platform, covering hosts, servers and clients with the typically differing structures and requirements. Usually, the focus is on the clients. Here, the dynamics are very high and professional monitoring and scanning tools are being utilised. The order management and the software distribution are often tightly intertwined. However, where the servers and the hosts are concerned, this looks completely different, again. Here, an administration does not immediately spend thought on whether an increase in the [number of] kernels in his or her server or the access right to SharePoint has an impact on the licence balance.

Licence management with noventum consulting

Through the comprehensive view of all areas of the licence management in the triad of organisation, processes and platform, a licence management is achieved that is not only audit-proof, but also effective and efficient. To ensure this, noventum supports its customers in the:

• Analysis of the existing licence management, determination of the strengths, weaknesses and risks. Analysis of the level of maturity through interviews and workshops.
• Development of role descriptions and job description for each role to be filled.
• Support in the selection and hiring of new employees for a professional licence management. Coaching of the people filling the role.
• Optimisation of the organisational integration into the company.
• Description of the licence management processes in interaction with the bordering processes of contract management, purchasing, order, change, and release management.
• Analysis of all platforms that exist within the
  company with respect to optimisation potentials.
• Support in the implementation of optimisation measures.

The Advantage

The essential benefit of an optimally integrated licence management is in the efficient utilisation of all resources as well as in the minimisation of risks from the topical context of business compliance. Contract management, software purchasing, and infrastructure are acting in concert and jointly contribute to the success.The interdisciplinarily working noventum consultants have years of experience in the implementation and optimisation of licence management processes at domestic and international companies. They are aware that the adjustment of processes means that the work environment of people is changed. To take along these people is important for the project‘s success. This is, what the noventum methodology is based on.