License Advisory Serviсes
SCS is uniquely qualified to be your independent advisor, auditor, and cost avoidance advocate.
Developing a Tailored Licensing Strategy
Market Analysis
Ensuring you get the best possible pricing, terms, and conditions is our focus. SCS has the market insight, vendor intelligence and overall analytics you need to leverage cost reductions and eliminate risk.
Understanding the TRUE Baseline
During budget planning SCS can provide and independent assessment of planned and current IT spend to identify ways to reduce costs and optimize planned spend.
Establishing Defensible Positions
In preparation for vendor negotiations/contract renewals SCS can provide unbiased, conflict-free, current and historic market perspective and leverage points around vendor pricing, discount, and contract terms that your team can leverage to maximize savings and optimize contract terms.
Licensing Models Explained
Traditional (Per Seat) Licensing
This is the oldest software licensing model and is still the most widely used. Simply put, you purchase 1 license for each computer on which the software is installed. Volume licensing typically depends on this model at its baseline but allows for the purchase of several licenses at one time.
PROS
- Relatively easily managed
- Provides a predictable method of estimating software costs when adding new seats
- Stays linked to the computer as opposed to the user, which can be desirable if you have a high turnover rate, or use the exact same software installation on all computers
CONS
- It can be easily abused, leading to rogue installations. This, in turn, may create license compliance issues
- Can lead to version and OS compatibility issues, which could result in added costs to purchase new licenses
- Version upgrades by the publisher may result in significant costs
Enterprise Licensing
This licensing model is a natural extension of the volume software license scheme. Enterprise licensing allow virtually unlimited installations of a specific program or package throughout the organization for a single purchase price.
PROS
- Simplifies software license management, requiring a bare minimum of accounting and reporting
- Streamlines the process of desktop imaging by removing the requirement to have an individual license number for each installation
- Ideal for organization-wide operating system or server-client licensing
CONS
- Requires a significant cash outlay up-front, which may not be available to small and medium businesses
- Not available for many “advanced” packages
- Version or OS upgrades which require a new license cannot be purchased piecemeal
Support Only Licensing
This has become more and more common in the past 10 or so years. Simply put, you are permitted to obtain and use the software at no cost (but you will probably have to register the installation with the publisher.) However, to get any technical support from the publisher, you are required to pay an annual fee.
PROS
- Requires little or no cash investment to install and use the software
- Version upgrades are almost always available for no cost
- Allows for evaluation and testing in your environment in a production environment
CONS
- Limited or no documentation available for the product
- Support is only available from the publisher after entering an expensive and often confusing contract
- Support contracts will usually require yearly renewals, and remain fixed in price no matter how frequently or infrequently you require support
Software As A Service (SaaS) Licensing
This licensing model has been gaining in popularity and availability over the last few years. Major publishers, such as Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe, and others have moved many of their products to this license. SaaS allows the customer to purchase a license on an annual (or monthly) basis for each user that needs the software. Software as a Service is rapidly becoming a defacto standard for software licensing types.
PROS
- Tied to a user license instead of a specific computer, which allows more flexibility in seating and location arrangements
- Upgrades are normally included in the subscription pricing, which means that the newest version will always be available to your users
- Allows for easy desktop management, since software is tied to the user login. That allows for uniform installations on computers while limiting the use to those with a license
CONS
- Over time, the monthly (or yearly) per user fee will exceed the single license purchase price
- Requires some additional user management tasks when adding or removing users
- May force installations of updates at inconvenient times, and leave a user unable to access their system or documents before the update is completed
Other Licensing Models
There are numerous other models for licensing. Many of those are a hybrid or two or three of the models discussed. There is also Open Source licensing, as well as models that provide free use of the basic package but require a purchase for additional functionality.
It’s important to treat software licenses as you would any other contract. It’s vital that you understand the license completely before purchasing or deploying the software, lest you find yourself out of compliance due to some condition in the license you weren’t aware of.
Need help with Software License Management?
Our SAM services are aimed at helping clients organize, monitor, and track vendor contracts and performance to identify areas of negotiation leverage and cost reductions.
Key elements of the service include: Searchable catalogs, Contract abstracts, Proactive notifications, Quarterly surveys, License comparisons, Annual assessments.