Get “License Fit” in 2016
Oh, the New Year – a time when you inevitably make some grand resolution, that you promise to work hard towards for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, it often does not turn out this way, as new year resolutions are often more of a symbolic concept than some task that you actually focus on every day for the rest of the year. Not surprisingly, among the top three most popular resolutions are to get fit, and to save money. In 2016, we want you to put a new spin on your resolution: rather than the “get fit” resolution that you make every year and always find hard to keep, why not get “license fit” by gathering, organizing, and polishing up your software licenses? You may find this a little easier to achieve, and it will actually benefit your organization hugely for the upcoming years.
To start the “getting fit” process for your software licenses, you must first gather all the information you need. And we mean ALL – this is no easy task, but one that is crucial in kick-starting your healthy license repository! Gather and make a list of all software licenses within your organization or relevant setting, including any cloud applications, which are becoming more and more popular these days. Then, in order to be well on your way to true license fitness, make sure that all related documentation goes along with these licenses. This means maintenance contracts, proof of purchase, and any other related fees or contracts. Make sure you know the requirements for each vendor and gather documents accordingly, storing them someplace safe and central (hint: your email inbox will NOT do!) Now that all of these information pieces are in one place, you must already feel like you’ve shed a few pounds!
The next step in license fitness is being able to track and analyze the data you have. Create reports to give you an idea of some critical metrics – it’s not as hard as you may think! Start with a breakdown of software expenditure, including costs per user, and get a picture of how much you are spending on licenses and where the spend is going. Dividing up your expenditure by past, current, and future will also be hugely helpful. Future expenditure is especially noteworthy, as it will provide you with an idea of how you can optimize your spending in the future to maximize your likely spend. After all, you don’t want to spend all this time getting fit and have it go to waste in years to come, do you? Many find that one of the hardest parts of losing weight is keeping it off in the future, and the same applies here: know how you can optimize spend now so that you won’t have budget troubles later on. This also ties into money-saving, if that’s part of your resolution too, so it’s a win-win!
In order to keep up your license fitness routine, you need to be reminded of it. A one-time license organization process isn’t going to cut it. You need to keep up the work by setting reminders for important events such as subscription renewals, maintenance times, and awaiting approvals. Don’t fall behind in all your hard work by forgetting these crucial tasks!
We hope this helps you in the highly achievable task of getting your licenses in shape. This post is not to say that getting yourself fit is not important, but we just want to let you know of another simple way to exercise fitness in your daily life, which is easy to do and will benefit you and your company immensely. Happy license fitness & clutter-shedding!
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