Enterprises and government face software deployment and software license management challenges

IT departments face severe budget restrictions and a growing list of strategic objectives—from software deployment projects around virtualizing enterprise applications and migrating to Windows 7 to ensuring software license management best practices, compliance and optimized spend—all geared towards increasing business efficiencies and productivity. The result of these pressures is driving a market shift to a pay-per-use software licensing model that requires IT to have greater visibility into software usage and entitlements.

Windows 7 Application Migration Challenges and Opportunities

Many enterprises will be looking to migrate to Windows 7, where application compatibility becomes a primary challenge. To solve this challenge, they look to solutions such as application packaging or software packaging and application virtualization to accelerate and streamline the OS migration process.. Windows 7 migrations have significant impact on IT in terms of time, budget and internal reputation. Ensuring application compatibility and deploying applications for optimal performance and functionality is an essential requirement.

To simplify the management and deployment of applications, many organizations are combining Windows 7 migrations with application virtualization projects with the goal of an optimized desktop. IT organizations can smooth Windows 7 and application virtualization migrations with Flexera Software AdminStudio, an application readiness toolset that reduces risk, time and costs by analyzing application compatibility and remediating issues. AdminStudio helps IT teams to develop clearly defined, trackable and repeatable processes for both Windows 7 and application virtualization migrations.

Preparing for a Software Audit and Gaining Control of Software Spend

For enterprise IT, controlling software spend represents an opportunity to deliver significant bottom-line results. The budget for applications that cost millions each year and even more to upgrade and maintain (as much as 80% of ongoing IT budgets) is a prime area for cost control. IT, finance, and procurement should be looking to squeeze maximum value out of the enterprise software budget. Centralized software license management and enterprise license optimization—adjusting license terms based on very detailed usage date—offers a way to do that.

Controlling software spend requires an enterprise license optimization strategy where you pay only for the software you’re using and avoid paying for software that becomes next year’s shelfware. Enterprise license optimization centralizes software license management and augments software asset management at an enterprise level by creating a balance between vendor and enterprise—a balance that is maintained with highly accurate centralized usage and entitlement information.

Establishing an Enterprise License Optimization Strategy

You can begin to control software spend and optimize licenses with a comprehensive strategy designed to:

• Eliminate unnecessary software licenses and software maintenance fees
• Mitigate the risk of under-licensing software and failing a software audit
• Manage software entitlements so they provide the most value when and where they are needed
• Unify software purchases and software license contracts across the enterprise
• Accurately forecast and plan future software spend
• Conduct smarter, fact-based negotiation with software vendors

Combined, these strategies enable an enterprise license optimization strategy, something most enterprises do not have. To build this strategy, you will need the appropriate software license management tools, the subject-matter expertise necessary to make the best decisions from the usage information provided by those tools, and the ability to regularly assess the information these tools provide.

Enterprise license optimization adds a rigorous financial discipline to software asset management. With the power of centralized software license management, organizations can greatly improve their ability to ensure that the right users have the right software at the right time, they also can tighten the reins on software spend and use budget savings to further other strategic objectives.