I was recently reading Cynthia Farren’s Blog spot on Software Licensing Management (http://software-license-management.blogspot.com/). Some of her posts vehemently shares the importance, challenges and information on managing licenses as a corporate asset and the increasing complexity of software license agreements. With the speed of technology interrelated mergers and acquisitions, disruptive licensing technologies (virtualisation, mobile computing, “smart” computing, etc.), I anticipate the software licensing management to become more complex, not less.
Software vendors are under pressure to rationalize the software licensing options existing to consumers for the following reasons:
• All acquisition introduces new software licensing models and challenges
• Software vendors are hesitant of how to monetize virtualization
• Supporting SaaS and perpetually licensed models is fetching additional humdrum and demanding
• The development in capabilities of “smart” devices and platforms is causing some vendors to add new clauses to software licensing agreements, rather than taking a holistic approach to the challenges connected with devices
I agree with Cynthia’s thought, that software vendors will be more thriving and can build longer term client relationships if they take a strategic approach to software licensing and engage with customers to develop software license models that make administration simpler.
In captivating an approach that focuses on the high-value, expensive software application, organizations can rapidly gain control of the most valuable license assets. This can also institute a structure from which software license management can progress over time to include software license assets that are worth proactively managing.
-Nandini
