Having a fully effective Software Asset Management (SAM) program is essential for all organizations, whether big or small. However, one of the biggest challenges is making SAM a priority, placing license management at the bottom of an organization’s “to-do” list.
To help you better understand why your organization needs a license management tool, we’ve outlined the reasons why having one is essential.
Centralized License Management
The foundation of a good SAM program is keeping your software license information up-to-date. Doing so in a comprehensive license management platform allows you to manage, keep track of, and report on your licenses easily and efficiently.
Without a comprehensive license management tool, managing licenses can easily become a tedious, manual process that’s prone to error. Most organizations use a number of spreadsheets across different departments to manage or track their licenses. These can often be lead to inaccuracies and make it difficult to summarize into a report.
With Tangent’s License Manager, CUBES, gone are the days of stitching together multiple spreadsheets across different departments. You can upload all of your spreadsheets into CUBES in less than a minute and be on your way to start organizing, managing, and reporting on all licenses.
Budget-Friendly
An important aspect of every organization is managing its budget. Surprisingly, many do not keep track of software license spend. It can be easy to purchase too many licenses and ending up with some that are unused, and expiration penalties can add up and be costly.
License management tools can help eliminate overspend, purchasing the wrong licenses, or not purchasing enough. Knowing the exact cost and amount of licenses purchased can help organizations adhere to software budgets.
With CUBES, organizations can effectively and automatically manage their software licenses and subscriptions from purchase to renewal and beyond. Its easy-to-use interface enables users to easily manage license records on a frequent basis. CUBES is an essential tool for organizations looking to hone their license management process.
With so many new technologies emerging on an almost daily basis, it’s important for organizations large and small, to understand exactly what software is being used. Managing software licenses has always been a challenge, and in today’s technologically advanced world, it has become increasingly difficult. However, saving money by avoiding duplicate software licenses, over-licensing, and over- or under-spending should be at the top of every organization’s list.
For those in information technology (IT), the necessity of a software asset management (SAM) program is obvious, but for other departments, it might not be as clear as to how they benefit from license management. Understanding what is and isn’t being used across all departments helps an organization make informed decisions, especially when it comes to rolling out new technologies to drive the business and increase productivity.
IT Department: Smoother Software Deployments
When we think of software installations and deployments, we automatically think of IT. However, not all IT teams actually manage the organization’s licenses. Keeping track of license count, expiration and renewal dates, license spend, etc. usually falls on the lap of a License Manager or SAM team. When working together, IT can better understand exactly what software is being used, allowing them to plan and execute software rollouts or uninstall unused software – thereby optimizing software license budgets.
Many license management tools, like Tangent’s CUBES License Manager, also have reporting capabilities that give deeper insight into an organization’s licenses, such as:
Number of licenses that are coming due or expired
Amount broken down by company, product, department, and type of license
Length of license or subscription agreement
Furthermore, CUBES has a document repository that allows users to upload documents related to each license record, so important files such as quotes, contracts, and license details can all be digitized and easily accessibly within the record.
Finance Department: Better Opportunity to Manage Departmental Budgets
When it’s not clear where or on what money is being spent, overseeing and managing an organization’s budgets can become overwhelming, especially if that leads to over-spending. Understanding what software is being used gives the finance team the opportunity to cut necessary costs on unused or duplicate software.
Additionally, having the visibility that comes with a license manager prepares the finance department for renewals, so they’ll know exactly when to expect large payments. Ultimately, this instills confidence into the team when going into budget discussions with the administration team.
Administration Department: Greater Visibility into Software License Budgets
Engaging and persuading administration departments to invest in any software product has always been a difficult task across multiple industries. Once on board, though, stakeholders will find that the benefits of a license manager greatly outweigh the cost.
Having a license manager will show directors, administrators, managers, etc. exactly how much is being spent on software and help them identify areas for cost savings. The goal is to generate savings for the entire organization year over year.
Additionally, a license manager allows the admin team to see all of the organization’s software at a glance, which can be helpful in identifying outdated technologies. Ensuring that employees have the latest software enables them to be more productive, work efficiently, and communicate and collaborate effectively across the entire organization.
Whether your organization is large or small, a license manager brings peace of mind. Being able to gain full visibility of software deployments, licenses, and cost is essential in managing budgets while enabling your organization with the latest technologies. CUBES can take you there. Sign up for a free trial to just how easy it is to start managing your licenses.
Many organizations don’t know where to even begin when it comes to managing their software licenses. Some utilize spreadsheets, others stitch together notes from different platforms. This often leads to outdated, messy, and unreportable data across users and departments.
An effective, proactive Software Asset Management (SAM) program is proven to help organizations reign in all of their license and subscription data, while saving them time and money. That’s why we developed CUBES, a powerful, yet easy-to-use, license manager.
In just a few minutes, users can set up CUBES and start managing their licenses with features such as:
Renewal and expiration alerts
Reporting dashboards
Tiered account security
Managing software licenses no longer needs to be an arduous task. With CUBES, organizations of all sizes can save by money by avoiding duplicate software deployments, over-licensing, and expired invoices. This allows organizations to make informed decisions when rolling out new technologies.Sign up for a free trial of CUBES to see just how easy it can be to manage all of your licenses and subscriptions in a central platform.
CUBES license manager has been fully redesigned and upgraded. All customers have had their data moved to the new server located at cubes.tangent.com
Migration to a more secure server was executed in October and the older tangent.com/cubes URL will soon redirect to the new server at cubes.tangent.com. The old server will be depreciated, and all data will be deleted. Customers still using the cubes.tangent.com URL to access the application are asked to contact solutions@tangent.com for immediate migration to the new server.
Features of the new user interface include:
New “Dashboard” page, getting all your data front and center.
Persistent Navigation bar for easier site access.
Retooled License page with easy-to-understand icons and color coding.
Intuitive icons for daily activities.
Fully refactored database improves speed and responsiveness.
Improved logic for renewing licenses prior to their end date.
