Software License Management: A Key Piece of the FinOps Puzzle

In a recent newsroom Q&A from Gartner, VP Analyst Robert Naegle discussed how CIOs could help lessen the impact of inflation on the corporate budget.

One of his suggestions was “improving cloud, software, and infrastructure consumption controls” by refining existing processes and investing in the right tools.

Enter FinOps and software license management – two disciplines that help executives optimize their IT spending and ensure that each strategic investment leads to the attainment of corporate objectives. 

Cloud and the Rise of FinOps

1. With the continuous increase in cloud spending across various industries, what will provide companies with a competitive advantage is no longer about when they will adopt cloud computing but how they will govern their assets in this new environment.

2. FinOps combines tech, processes, and people from different departments to ensure that cloud spending is based on accurate real-time data, maximized to hit business targets, and cataloged properly to establish ownership and accountability.

3. “FinOps will hinder innovation and make us less agile” or “FinOps is just a fancy word for cost reduction.”

Just like any other new concept that sparks cultural change, this discipline is not immune to misconceptions.

It is important to open a dialogue with your stakeholders and refer to the FinOps maturity model of Crawl, Walk, and Run.

Gartner’s Managing VP Mary Mesaglio’s pointed out in The Top Tactics for IT Agility and Resilience in a Volatile World, “Make risks small and reversible to ease the change in your organization.”

4. The variable nature of the cloud, as well as the existence of trade-offs in every transaction, requires companies to understand unit economics and support that with collaboration, ownership, and the right data to make informed spending decisions. 

The FinOps Foundation goes into the principles of FinOps, its phases, domains, and capabilities in more detail here.

Optimizing IT Spend: Software License Management x FinOps

5. Going back to why FinOps matters, it helps the engineering, finance, business, and executive departments align their tasks to meet one goal: maximizing business value. 

This is where software license management comes in as a key piece of the FinOps puzzle. 

6. Cost allocation or chargebacks, forecasting changes in cost and usage, and identifying and addressing areas of waste – these are some of the functions shared by both FinOps and software license management.

Both disciplines rely on accountability, data collection and analysis, historical and real-time reporting, and collaboration with other departments. 

7. Software license management complements FinOps as the former deals with optimizing your investment in software licenses – whether on-prem or SaaS-based.

With the complexity of licensing models, consulting with a software asset management (SAM) expert is crucial in ensuring that license agreements are compatible and in compliance with your cloud environment.

8. To get the most out of your SaaS licenses, track and analyze your software license usage. 

Optimizing your software spending includes preserving access to essential applications to minimize productivity loss, forecasting application usage and enabling adjustments to leverage the flexibility of cloud billing, and shifting not only resources but also behavior towards responsible asset usage.

Finding the right software license management solution

9. Having a wide and validated visibility of the licensing environment is crucial for implementing an effective FinOps strategy, as achieving financial goals requires full transparency of asset allocation and usage.

You can make this possible with the right software license management solution.

10. An effective solution, as described by Solutions Architect Sagi Reuven, will bring all operations of the licensing environment under one consolidated platform, while a poor solution might only encompass parts of the operational procedures required to manage entire licensing networks.

It should offer extended capabilities and validated information, as required by software vendors.

11. However, the right solution is not just limited to the purchase of a tool.

It should also include insights from experts who can look at your data and offer different ways to achieve your goals. As mentioned in the previous sections, both FinOps and software license management rely on teamwork and collaboration.

FinOps is like a puzzle; it has a lot of parts that have their own space, but the image only makes sense if you have all the pieces.

Software license management is one of the key pieces that can help you get a full image of your cloud finances. Combine those two, and you’re on your way to optimizing costs and maximizing business value.

Open iT: Optimize Your SaaS Usage

LicenseAnalyzer offers comprehensive support for SaaS applications from different vendors including Adobe.

For example, in version 9.17, Open iT supports license tracking on the Adobe Creative Cloud by giving you access to the following reports. 

  • License Product Assignment 
  • Total License Usage Reporting
  • User Level License Usage Reporting
  • User Group Level License Usage Reporting
  • Host Level License Usage Reporting  
  • Host Group Level License Usage Reporting

Open iT is dedicated to optimizing your company’s software, cloud, and SaaS usage.

We help you make critical business decisions by providing expert insights on resource allocation and visibility over your IT assets.

Schedule a demo today or connect with Business Solutions Consultants to discuss how Open iT can support your FinOps and software license management initiatives.

You can also get a representative to contact you to discuss the list of SaaS applications we support.

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