Let’s talk for about few minutes about software licensing and licensing management. If you have any type of software that your business uses, you have a license for it. I know you think you buy it, but really you are just renting. You never really own the software. The company that created it is allowing you to use it. The creator of the software defines the rules and time period of your license. It is important for your business’s operation that you know the information about any of the software you use. This should include any type of software you use, even the items you may not even consider. Software license management is a tool that can help you track your software licenses. This management system also helps determine how many licenses you need for each piece of software and helps distribute them through the organization.
A help desk can help you do so much more than manage your help desk tickets and licenses. This type of solution can detect software for you, monitor it, and send you alerts with information you need to know about your software licenses. This can help you respond faster to requests for service, receive analytics and reports, as well as improve your overall service. When it comes to licensing, it is easy to lose the documentation. You may receive it electronically or on paper, and either way, it gets misplaced. That is no longer a concern with help desk management services. You will have one central place where you can store all the materials about your software. It is easy to find, store, and review. You can assign one person to be in charge of the licensing and verifies you are always compliant.
You may not have a full understanding of how your organization uses the software you have. You can run audits to determine how and when the software is used and if it is in alignment with the license you have. This can help you determine if you can scale back the license or not renew it at all. You will also determine all the different versions of the same software you have in your organization. You want everyone to use the same version, and usually, you want it to be the most recent one. You can track the number of times the software is installed to ensure you stay in compliance with the number of licenses you have. This allows you to reduce the risk within your organization and ensure that your employees are not installing any items that they should not.
You can create reminders for yourself about maintenance that may be needed and renew licenses and other updates that may be needed. It can provide you analytics at the time of renewal to make more educated decisions about what you need from the software. You can schedule a time for patches, upgrades, and other software management that may be needed. This allows you to put out minimal effort to keep your organization up and running. You will find that this type of help desk management reduces your overall costs, especially the costs associated with software upgrades and renewals. When you have a better idea of your software needs, you can spend money in better ways. The analytics give you an indication of how you want to consider spending money moving forward, which is helpful to your organization when it comes to budgeting. When you have a clear picture of your needs, you can determine the costs of those needs and budget accordingly.