4 ways to reduce your IT budget with software asset management

In the previous blog, we looked at the benefits that organizations received from implementing a software asset management process. This time we will look more broadly at undeniably one of the biggest contributions of software asset management to an organization – the reduction of IT budget. 

1. Software update reminders

Manually tracking software licenses in a large organization requires an extensive amount of time from IT professionals. In addition, manually monitoring software licenses can result in human error, violating the software’s terms of use, and risking penalties in the event of a software audit. With a Software Asset Management Tool, organizations receive timely automatic reminders when existing software requires a renewal or a new license must be purchased. As a result, you can dedicate more time negotiating with the software vendor to get more favorable terms, as well as avoid penalties during software audits. 

2.Decompose the duplication of software

The software asset management process effectively helps eliminate unnecessary software license purchases. Proper software management ensures careful monitoring of software requests and purchases. This avoids needless software requests and duplication of licenses by different departments of the organization. Using a SAM tool reduces IT costs by reducing software license wastage.  

Here’s an illustration from our previous blog on how to manage licenses effectively:

3. Effective license management

Software Asset Management identifies all the software that is in your organization’s IT system – subscriptions to installed software, software, and cloud services. Smaller organizations often tend to look for more cost-effective solutions, like cloud subscriptions. The cost of subscriptions to cloud services can also add up, for example, because two identical services have been purchased. Therefore, a software asset management solution helps companies see all the software they purchase, reduce costs and stay within budget.

4. Get rid of unnecessary software

Without a software asset management tool, it is difficult to keep track of purchased software at times when employees change responsibilities in the organization or change jobs. As a result, the company continues to pay for software that is not used or leaves it on computers that are no longer used. In such cases, the software management tool automatically recognizes software that is not in use by recognizing it as a free license that can be used by other employees or that the company can give up. This creates additional opportunities for IT budget cuts and additional resources that the company can redirect to other purposes.