Despite the prioritization of digital modernization and growth, more than half of companies across various sectors continue to struggle with IT visibility gap into their IT estate, as highlighted by a recent ITAM study. This persistent problem poses significant financial and legal risks, particularly in industries that invest in and maintain extensive engineering and specialty software licenses.
IT Visibility Gap: Critical Concerns for CIOs
Gartner estimates that industries will invest over $1 trillion in software assets by 2024. For sectors with heavy reliance on engineering and specialty applications—like automotive, engineering, energy, aerospace, defense, and government—the license costs are especially significant.
However, 53% of IT teams report difficulties in achieving or maintaining visibility over their IT estate. Industries mentioned above have intricate IT environments with numerous assets, software applications, and users spread across various locations and time zones.
The variety of devices, from desktops and laptops to mobile and IoT devices, adds to the complexity, each requiring different management tools. Many organizations still rely on legacy IT tools designed for simpler environments, which often do not integrate well with modern systems, complicating efforts to achieve a unified view of the IT estate.
For CIOs in these sectors, this presents a critical issue. The combination of increased spending, complex licensing agreements, and a lack of visibility into software assets creates a host of challenges which can have several adverse impacts on an organization’s IT operations and overall efficiency.
Escalating Costs
Without proper visibility, organizations risk overspending on underutilized or unnecessary licenses, straining IT budgets and diverting funds from critical initiatives.
Compliance and Audit Risks
Complex licensing agreements require stringent compliance. Lack of clear software usage understanding can lead to non-compliance, resulting in financial penalties during audits.
Missed Opportunities for Enhanced Decision-Making
Comprehensive visibility is crucial for identifying cost-saving opportunities and strengthening negotiation positions. Without it, organizations miss out on redundant licenses, pooling opportunities, and better vendor terms.
Inefficient Management
Visibility gaps lead to fragmented software asset management, causing inconsistencies in deployment, usage policies, and compliance efforts, exacerbating inefficiencies and risks.
Bridge Software License Visibility Gap with Open iT
The lack of IT visibility, coupled with increased software spending and complex licensing, create significant challenges, severely impacting IT operations and overall efficiency.
Accurate data enables optimal decisions regarding software investments, usage policies, and renewals, ensuring efficient utilization and avoiding both over-purchasing and under-utilization of software assets.
Addressing the visibility issue necessitates the integration of a comprehensive solution that delves deeply into software assets, capturing crucial utilization data and insights for operational efficiency, compliance, and cost savings.
Open iT helps organizations in engineering and design-intensive industries to bridge this gap, offering comprehensive insights and control over their extensive software portfolios.
Complete Software Inventory
Open iT offers a thorough discovery of all software assets within the organization. This includes not just the software in use but also those installed but potentially underutilized or forgotten. By capturing a complete inventory, organizations can ensure that no asset goes unnoticed, which is essential for accurate management and optimization.
Granular Usage Analytics
The platform offers detailed analytics on software usage, capturing data at a granular level. This includes metrics on individual license utilization, peak usage times, and user-specific patterns. Such granularity enables organizations to understand exactly how their software is being used, identify optimization opportunities, and adjust allocations accordingly. This leads to significant cost savings and more efficient use of software resources.
Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts
Open iT provides real-time monitoring capabilities, allowing IT teams to track software usage as it happens. The system can generate instant alerts for anomalies or potential compliance issues, enabling proactive management and swift resolution before problems escalate.
These alerts help automate the licensing environment by notifying IT teams of overuse or underuse of licenses, potential compliance violations, and any irregularities. This automation not only reduces manual oversight but also ensures timely actions are taken to optimize license usage, maintain compliance, and prevent costly penalties or operational disruptions.
Detailed Reporting
The platform generates in-depth reports that provide insights into software utilization, compliance status, and financial impact. These reports are customizable and can be scheduled to provide regular updates, ensuring that decision-makers have the information they need to manage software assets effectively.
Historical Data Analysis
Open iT maintains a detailed historical record of software usage, which is invaluable for long-term planning and audits. Analyzing historical data helps organizations track changes over time, understand trends, and make informed decisions about future software investments.
Enhanced Vendor Negotiations
Detailed visibility into software usage strengthens an organization’s position in negotiations with vendors. By providing clear data on actual needs and usage, organizations can negotiate better terms and conditions, potentially securing discounts and more favorable licensing arrangements.
Strategic Planning and Futureproofing
Visibility gaps lead to fragmented management of software assets, causing inconsistencies in deployment and compliance efforts, which in turn increase inefficiency and risk. By ensuring complete visibility, organizations can streamline their software asset management, maintain compliance, and reduce overall risks, ultimately driving greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Enhanced IT Visibility: Real-World Impact
These examples highlight the transformative impact of comprehensive software asset visibility on operational efficiency, optimization, and cost management.
Aibel, a leading solutions and service provider for the oil, gas, and offshore wind industries in Europe, experienced excessive consumption of their licenses during periods of inactivity and were unaware of the reasons behind this high utilization rate. The visibility Open iT provided helped Aibel optimize their license usage by monitoring and adjusting consumption during specific periods. This led to substantial cost savings while achieving a license usage efficiency of 99%.
Click here to discover how Open iT transformed Aibel’s software license management.
Similarly, Mitta Oy, a prominent provider of geodetic surveying, modeling, and mapping services for the construction and engineering sectors, faced frequent license denials and found purchasing additional licenses unsustainable. Open iT provided the visibility they needed to see their actual software utilization. This helped them track their consumption and reduced Autodesk license costs by 50%.
Click here to discover how Open iT helped Mitta Oy optimize license usage and achieve cost savings.
See Open iT in Action
As licensing models become increasingly complex and the IT landscape evolves, achieving comprehensive visibility into software assets is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge and ensuring success.
Schedule a demo to experience firsthand how Open iT can help you achieve unparalleled IT visibility and control.
