Increasing Number of Connected Devices Could be a Licensing Menace

Studies reveal that the connected devices are projected to amount to 40+ billion worldwide by 2025, a massive increase in a few years. Irrespective of organization’s ability to handle IT assets, their numbers within a growing organization tends to expand and multiply uncontrollably. It is becoming increasingly difficult for IT managers to monitor and control their IT software inventory flows quickly and efficiently.

Every connected device that your office uses requires a valid licensing. If audited, software manufacturers will investigate and catalog the software installs on each and every device. Off late the software audits have become more common because of the ease of over installations. Cloud-based data centers make it possible to set up hundreds of software instances in seconds, but this increases the difficulty of license management virtually. The stakes are substantial, as software publishers can assess penalties for discovered non-compliance or even the possibility of legal action.

Software Asset Management is a business practice that involves managing and maintaining the software used within an organization. An audit can occur at any time and it involves an in-depth review of a business's software usages as conducted by the software manufacturers. So it is important for any organizations to be compliant in order to steer clear of any potential legal entanglements.

The best practices outlined in this article will help you to be proactively ready for an audit. Statistic says that the time consumed in an audit is always more stressful and expensive than any other parameter in an audit if it’s not well organized in terms of its readiness.

The software Audit practice is never a one-time activity, it is a continuous management process

Organizations must maintain control over software assets for a continuous process to stay in sync within a dynamic organization. To do so, organizations must follow two critical steps:

• Conduct periodic in house audits to maintain inventory for various software organization uses
• Proactively engage with vendors to keep pace with changing licensing models and adhere to the software compliance agreements

Crayon helps you simulate vendor approach to an audit, the end results will either increase license costs or save dollars but, keep one away from surprises. This activity is a part of the Selfaudit services for customers, who with all their efforts cannot keep pace with the dynamics of ever-changing licensing with large ISVs like Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Adobe, IBM and others. This activity provides a definitive report in respect of the existing software license entitlement, relative to the actual software consumption for any vendor.

In addition, audit simulation services Crayon offers a unique and comprehensive Software Asset Management delivery and service access, management, and reporting platform. This includes the world's largest repository of SAM processes, procedures and document templates for customers seeking to deploy a world-class SAM environment and provides a unitary platform to manage SAM maturity and technology deployment with comprehensive intuitive dashboard reporting.

Authored by: Rajesh Thadani, Director Sales at Crayon Software Experts