Don't Get Caught Out by a Software License Audit

A common pain point that some organisations have expressed to us is the inability to prepare for or counter software license audits. There are two major concerns for any organisation experiencing these occurrences: there is a lack of information regarding the network and there is not enough information to challenge a software vendor when given a bill.

The cost of non-compliance

Knowing what software is installed on your devices is more than good practice for managing your network -- it is good practice for managing your budget. There are a lot of vendors who take an aggressive stance on license audits. An example of a bill for one extra license for a contract length of 6 years is below:

To be over-licensed by one unit and get a bill that high should act as a clear deterrent and should provide motivation for organisations to ensure they are maintaining their license levels.

How Open-AudIT helps

The best way to stay ahead of these surprises is to have extensive information about your network and be able to monitor the software licenses that you have entitled to your organisations. Open-AudIT can do this with very little information and at a very manageable cost, especially compared to the figures mentioned above. Once devices are discovered using Open-AudIT, they can then be audited. If licensing levels are configured, then reports can be generated daily, weekly, or monthly on software levels, giving you genuine insight into your levels. This will mitigate the surprises that can occur if there have been three years between license audits.

Above is a demonstration of what the result can look like, and of course this process can be scheduled so that a monthly report is generated. The process to configure this and get ahead of license audits is outlined in the wiki article. If you would like more information on how to configure these features, would like to see a demo of this in action, or want a discussion on how to optimise your network, contact us and we will be happy to help.

Related reading: Open-AudIT Helps Solve Your Software Asset Management Needs