What is Software License Management (SLM)?

A software license is a document that protects the rights of the software manufacturer that owns the copyright. The license you must obtain for each software demonstrates that you are not infringing on the copyrights of the manufacturer. You may also not copy or share their software application without the authorization of the copyright holder. Software License management allows you to control and manage your all business licenses.

What is Software License Management?

Software License Management, SLM for short, covers business processes for the effective management of all licences owned by the business.  It helps businesses manage software licences, monitor and maintain their software licences. Businesses must follow the renewal dates of the licenses they purchase. Failure to renew licenses in a timely manner can pause the company's operational processes. In addition, the license of software that is no longer used can create unnecessary costs for the company. The license of such software should not be renewed. Software License Management is implemented for all these processes, it is one of the key components of Software Asset Management and IT Asset Management.

Business IT spending is increasing day by day. A large share of this increase is due to software. According to research, software that companies own but do not use causes huge waste. This means an unnecessary cost increase for businesses. The reason for this waste is unmanaged software applications. However, with the Software License Management Software developed to prevent this situation, you can reduce your software costs and prevent possible fines. With an effective software licensing capability, you can use your licenses efficiently, regardless of the size of your business.

Types of Software Licence Management

There are different types of software licences and each type has its own terms and conditions. It is important to understand which licensing model you should have for your software. The six common types of software licensing are as follows:

• Public Domain Licence: Public Domain Licence is the most open type of licence a software can have. In this type of licence, there are no restrictions on the duration of use and users can use the software and create products without any financial compensation.
• GNU Lesser General Public Licence (LPGL): LPGL is a type of licensing that allows software developers to use open-source libraries in the code of software without publishing the source code used to create components.
• Copyleft Licence: Copyleft licences are called reciprocal licenses. They are similar to the LGPL, but the copyleft has many more conditions to comply with. 
• Named License: A named license is also called a user-based license. Only a specific person or account is authorized to use the software.
• Concurrent Licence: This type of software allows a certain number of users to access the software at the same time. The number of users who can use the software simultaneously is limited. This limit cannot be exceeded.

Why is License Management Software important?

Every software product, no matter what it is, comes with software licence agreements. Licences contain information about what to do with the software, how to use it, who can use it and for how long it can be used. They specify the rights of all parties - the software vendor and the end user - with respect to the software. Effective software licence management helps to track and optimise licence usage, comply with licensing terms, protect registration fees, reduce costs, avoid legal and financial penalties for non-compliance, and increase efficiency. It also helps manage the licensing process for different types of software, including open source, proprietary and cloud-based applications. The licensing process protects software developers, vendors, and customers, so it is very important for all parties.

How Licence Agreements Protect Developers?

• It protects the intellectual property of developers according to copyright law.
• It determines what other parties can do with the specified software code.
• It limits the responsibilities of the vendor.

How do End-User Licence Agreements Protect Users?

• They require users to comply with software licences, protect them against infringement claims and limit their legal liability.
• Defines what users can do with the software in question.
• Prevents users from spending too much for a licence by determining their licence needs.

What is Software Licence Compliance?

By purchasing software for your business, you are also accepting the license agreement. When using the software, the rules in the contract are followed. Software publishers (Adobe, Microsoft, etc.) try to prevent copyright infringement by controlling the customer's environment. Failure of any of these audits will cost your business heavily. While your reputation is damaged, you will also be subject to heavy fines. You should always make sure that your business is license-compliant, as possible legal actions are irreversible. You can align your business by using a software license check tool.

What is License Inefficiency?

Because of the fear of auditing that many businesses have, IT managers may choose to over-license. They think that when the number of licenses increases, they will pass the audits successfully, but this causes an inefficient budget expenditure. We should know that unused software poses a very important problem. These results actually show that asset management is not done correctly. This excessive licensing measure against controls is an inadequate and wrong practice. There are some things you need to pay attention to manage your software licenses. You can avoid license inefficiency if you focus on these points:

• Employees: You should know that the most critical point in IT asset management is employees. In businesses, individuals work for a common purpose. If the interests do not match each other, conflicts arise and interruptions occur in the processes. To prevent this situation, strong communication between the IT team and other employees is essential.
• Process: This is where lifecycle control comes into play. You must have the right methods for controlling your software assets.
• Technology: IT landscapes are becoming more complex as technology advances. For this reason, a more successful process can be achieved by using Software Asset Management tools.

Benefits of Software License Management Solution

Managing software assets efficiently and using optimize software provides many benefits to businesses:

• Cost Savings

Organisations have full visibility of their software usage and can manage it efficiently. Thus, they achieve cost savings by reducing waste.

• Software Compatibility

Software licence management enables businesses to ensure that they are complying with their licence agreements. Software compliance is important because large businesses use a lot of software and this makes it easier to track whether all users are using the software as required.

• Reducing Complexity

Software management is complex and time-consuming in some cases. Standardizing software use across the business reduces software diversity and simplifies the process. With less software to manage, teams can work more efficiently and improve IT performance.

Software License Management Lifecycle

• As a first step, you should create a license inventory for your business. You can explore your software inventory by performing asset scanning.
• Determine whether the licenses are used efficiently or not by monitoring the usage of applications.
• Keep applications only on the systems where they are used to reduce your costs.
• Renew software licenses by checking statistics regularly.
• You must determine how many licenses you need per software usage.
• Be sure to document your procurement processes. It is essential to know where and from whom business units obtain their software licenses.

With an effective SLM, you become ready for new technologies and opportunities while strengthening your IT fundamentals.

Software License Management Best Practices

There are many licence management practices that can be done so that your company does not take risks when managing software licences.

• Strong Policies: A clear and unambiguous software management policy should be established to effectively manage software assets and protect against risks.
• Clear Controls: Applicable controls and standards should be determined for the use of software within the company. Rules should also be set for teams authorised to install and purchase software.
• Process and Governance: Processes and roles should be established to manage the life cycle of hardware and software in the best way.
• Automatic Discovery: Hardware and software should be regularly monitored in all network environments and software installed on employees' computers should be audited.
• Asset Management and CMDB: The lifecycle of assets should be managed to improve data quality. It is necessary to ensure that the asset and CMDB system meets the needs of all hardware and software assets.
• Rollback: Unused software and applications should be identified and automatically removed.
• Traceability: It should be tracked by whom and how the applications are used.
• Regular Software Audit and Optimization: Audits and optimizations help ensure that all software works as it should and prepare the business for external audits. 

Software License Management Tool

MDP Group brand Loggle is an IT Asset Management Software. Loggle provides the Software Asset Management platform. Loggle helps to optimize your Software License Management to strengthen your IT processes. Contact us to simply complete your audits and get rid of compliance problems.