Blogs
What Are the Functions of Software Asset Management?
October 27, 2021
August 31, 2023
Software Asset Management or SAM helps organizations to manage, assess and protect their software throughout the product lifecycle.
SAM most often uses tools that will notify your company when it needs to update software to the latest version, increase or decrease licensing, and stay in compliance with software vendor agreements - like Quadbridge’s QBx Portal.
It might seem like managing software (and hardware) assets should just fall under the jurisdiction of your own in-house IT department. This is partly true: A well-functioning IT department needs to know the full scope of a company’s technological footprint.
However, as various software used throughout medium to large enterprises grows in complexity and interdependence, manual tracking and homegrown methods in Excel sheets are no longer robust enough to give an accurate and complete view of all assets.
A good SAM tool can help your IT department sort through the chaos of multiple software applications while saving your organization time and money in the long run.
The complexity and global popularity of software like Microsoft 365 (M365) and Microsoft Office 365 make managing high volumes of licenses challenging. The inability to accurately track software usage, compliance and license count can cost companies a lot of money.
Of particular interest for companies who use M365 and Office 365 is a good Microsoft digital asset management software. Because Microsoft licenses come in a variety of packages with different features and costs, it can be difficult to know exactly how many licenses your company owns.
Keeping track of how many licenses you have and what services are actually being used is just one part of what good Microsoft licensing management can do. There are three major benefits to SAM software for Microsoft.
In addition to defining the correct ways to use a software, licenses also hold the terms and conditions of use and how to install programs correctly. Most major software vendors perform audits to make sure organizations are compliant in these terms and conditions.
Software vendors are especially concerned with making sure your company has paid for all the licenses in use. Failure to pass licensing audits can cost companies large fines and even lead to legal action.
Having a tool in place to serve as a Microsoft licensing manager ensures your company stays compliant all the time so that audits are a breeze.
In addition to saving companies from fines due to broken licensing agreements, Microsoft asset management software can also make sure your organization is not overspending.
Rapidly growing companies often lack proper software license management. This means they might be wasting capital on renewing licenses that aren’t being used and maintenance fees that aren’t necessary.
Without adequate software asset management training or tools in place, IT departments at large enterprises may not know this waste is happening for years.
Microsoft software asset management may also save your company money by helping to accurately forecast software needs in the future. This means businesses can budget accordingly and may even find places to save with volume discounts.
Tools that offer accurate Microsoft software management can improve the state of security within large organizations.
SAM tools give visibility into a company’s software portfolio which can help reduce the risk of network breaches and viruses. Microsoft software asset management also guarantees all software in use is configured properly.
Microsoft licensing management can be easy and automatic with the QBx Portal. This new dashboard tool from Quadbridge offers streamlined administration with one portal to manage all M365 licensing, security and usage.
Beyond the benefits discussed above, the QBx Portal also comes with a single, dedicated point of contact for all your Microsoft Office 365 software licensing needs.
The QBx Portal takes software management to another level, and if you ever have an Office 365 licensing issue, one phone call resolves it immediately.
If you are interested in a Microsoft asset management review, contact us today.
Client profile
Industry: Environmental
Employees: 25-50
✓ Managed IT
✓ Managed M365
✓ Managed Backup
✓ Professional Service
✓ Managed Endpoint
After supporting Waterloo Biofilter with an office move, they quickly switched fromtheir current Managed Services Provider to Quadbridge. We now manage their entireIT environment and support their end-to-end IT needs.
• Quadbridge worked with the client to implement our Elite IT service thatprovides ongoing IT monitoring and management, responsive help desk,proactive service, and vCIO consulting
• We’ve become a fully trusted partner and have proactively led a number ofinitiatives to improve performance and advance their IT, including thefollowing services:
• Managed Cloud Backup: we optimized their backup strategy with anaccessible, cost-efficient cloud-based backup solution that our teamcontinuously monitors and assists with restore requests.
• Infrastructure Architecture: we upgraded their server infrastructure toimprove redundancy and performance – especially for employees workingremotely.
• Ad Hoc Requests: as the clients’ IT support, our team uses our range ofexpertise and onsite support capabilities to deliver on a range of simple andcomplex IT projects. These have included upgrading their conference roomsystems and completing a functional and aesthetic clean up of their cabling
