Managing Software Licenses

Introduction

I found an article by Ibrahim Ogunbiyi called Seven Best Practices for Managing Software Licenses. Just based on the title, it seemed to be what I was looking for. It starts off with the basics; what is software license management? According to Ogunbiyi, it’s simply “a document that provides guidelines for the use and distribution of software” (Ogunbiyi). It assists with the controlling, auditing, tracking, and management of a software in an organization and ensures that users comply with the regulations set in place.

Importance

The article discusses the importance of licenses. The reasons include but aren’t limited to:

• Legal compliance with regulations set by organizations/manufacturers
• Keeps track of software due dates; leads to productivity
• Helps manage/reduce costs through enhanced planning
• Optimizes software usage through usage and license tracking data
• Ensures only the use of authorized and secure software, avoiding malware or malicious attacks/breaches

At this point, I think many of those new to software licensing have already taken a huge step forward in their knowledge of the subject. It’s easy to dismiss licensing as something that only grand organizations deal with, but it can be necessary for any small business or individual who wants to protect their work. 

Best Practices

Finally, we reach the best practices as given by Ogunbiyi. In no particular order, these practices are: 

1. Documenting the process of obtaining the software
   1. Who, where, when, how it was purchased
   2. When it is due for renewal
   3. Keep documentation up to date and to certain standards
2. Centralize your list of software licenses
   1. This practice is good for organizations with multiple departments that each have separate licenses
3. Understand the agreements for your software license(s)
   1. Read terms and conditions
4. Use a software license management tool
   1. Assists in tracking, optimizing, and managing software licenses
5. Track license usage regularly
   1. Ensures compliance with rules and regulations
6. Make sure your software license(s) are up to date
   1. Keeps them tracked
   2. Prevents them from expiring
7. Teach employees about managing software licenses
   1. Ensures correct usage of software
   2. Keeps them knowledgeable about the license process and its guidelines

Why This Topic?

I chose this topic because it’s very underappreciated and not mentioned enough in the software development community (from my experience). This could also be useful for an organization or small team that is new to software development.

Conclusion

For me, this article was quite beneficial to my learning. Personally, I previously didn’t know anything about software licensing and the entire process about it. I won’t claim to be an expert on it now, but this article has helped me become a novice in understanding the subject. Although this article didn’t recommend specific licenses, it did teach me the process I should go about when acquiring or dealing with a license. In the future, when I am working on a project either individually or with a team, I’ll be more familiar with the guidelines and process around licensing, and can help my colleagues if they are unfamiliar.