subject: Manage Software Licensing Compliance Using Software Inventory Management Tool [print this page] One of the most important issues that have always irked most of the IT administrators in almost every organization or company has been an inconsistent registration and configuration for hardware and software devices. For some, it might be the simplest task but these small assignments such as the registered name and associated email with products in most of the occasions makes situation quite tricky in handling the business of IT really difficult. Adding to this, the complication with number of administrators involved makes situation trickier.
Moreover a recent observation also indicates that the purchase of software accounts almost 20% of corporate expenditures. But, even after that its unfortunate to see that the vast majority of organizations still seem to be in the dark or pay less attention when it comes to manage these vital assets.
Today, software can be broadly considered as an IT asset similar to any other hardware device that provides financial and productivity benefits. However, the important factor that you as IT administrator need to keep in mind is its ongoing expenses. Consequently, just like any other asset physical, financial or digital it is important that one has to maintain and monitor it carefully. Now, how this can be done primarily varies depending upon the size and diversity of your organization.
While most of the network administrators claim to know exactly how many PCs they had on the network or application are on use, but in reality it has been found that most of the organizations have huge discrepancy between expected and actual IT inventories. In addition, the key challenge associated to management of software is that software can never be considered as a physical asset, like a building or machinery. Its less tangible and consequently requires an automated and electronic means of tracking and updating. This is where software inventory management comes into picture and has got an important role to play.
Developing any strategy based on software inventory management can help organizations address the risks more effectively. You can further track the software on the network that may further help in dramatically improving network security to a large extent. Besides this, manager can use audit reports to check for software known to be dangerous. But, the key question is how to perform software asset management operation effectively. Well, the answer to this question lies on the usage of third party software inventory management utility. With the help of such applications, it gets lot easier for you to have a full view of your IT assets, which can further help in controlling and managing them effectively. Adding to this, the data you get from your audit can also help you perform license reconciliation and make decision whether there are licenses that you need to redeploy or purchase.
Lepide Software Asset Management is one such efficient software inventory management tool that has got the ability to provide the solution required for software audit and license compliance management. It has been stuffed with an alternative that permits you to assign software license with the software installed on a particular computer. It assists in identifying software installed illegally. Moreover, it allows saving list of the licenses assigned along with their categories to multiple computers in network. This way it makes lot easier for administrator to have a proper network management.
