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The 5 Best Methods for Microsoft Software Asset Management and Licenses
October 27, 2021
March 8, 2023
Software licenses have long been a business ubiquity. Perhaps none more so than Microsoft software licenses. And for good reason – Microsoft is known for their quality products and brand consistency.
The Microsoft 365 (M365) bundle, in particular, includes all the Microsoft Office applications, in addition to a complete cloud productivity solution that offers real-time collaboration.
While most organizations consider M365 indispensable for their work, license management itself can create a lot of additional work. In this article, we will examine the five best methods for managing your Microsoft software assets, before introducing the best Microsoft software asset management tool on the market.
So what exactly is software asset management (SAM)? In a nutshell, it’s the practice of managing and optimizing the purchase, deployment, maintenance, use, and disposal of software applications within your business.
Software asset management is an essential IT task, especially for large or growing organizations. When done correctly, your business will benefit from lower expenses, heightened security, and better maintenance efficiency. But the process can be both time-consuming and challenging.
Let’s look at the five best ways to optimize this workflow.
When it comes to managing multiple software licenses, it’s easy to lose track of them. Gather and consolidate all the relevant documentation in one specific place.
In the event of a Microsoft asset management review or audit, you’ll be glad to have all your relevant files neatly arranged. At the end of the day, a dedicated maintenance team is required to effectively license Microsoft products.
It’s critical to understand the distinction between your license purchases and your license entitlements. The purchase simply represents what you’ve bought, while the entitlement is composed of various additional elements.
Though it can be painstaking to gather all the relevant data, it’s necessary to ensure you’re covered in the event of an audit.
Brand assets come in many varieties. Like physical and media assets, your digital assets need to be attended to on a regular basis. That’s why staying on top of your deadlines is a critical part of an effective SAM strategy.
Set up a notification system that reminds you of important upcoming deadlines, like subscription renewal dates, scheduled maintenance, and approvals.
One of the biggest oversights within an organization is the failure to track Microsoft license expenditure. To minimize overspending, you’ll want to contrast your present and historical spending against the type and frequency of software use.
This will help you generate more accurate budgetary projections by providing insight into your effective license position (ELP) and preferred license model.
Members of your IT team should possess some level of software asset management training. Though training can be administered on the job, software asset management certification (CSAM) is preferred.
Because SAM is such an integral part of your business, making the practice well-known among your workforce will help maintain its priority status. Using images, videos, and other educational materials is a great way to spread the word.
Volume licensing is the best way to deploy and use Microsoft products. While these five tips can help your IT team improve their SAM software asset management practices, it’ll be far from perfect. The truth is that manually managing software assets can be time-consuming, error-prone, and fraught with oversight.
Luckily, there’s an easier way to optimize software asset management.
QBx Portal is a Microsoft digital asset management software that offers complete visibility and granular control.
IT teams will benefit from intuitive, real-time dashboards while also being able to generate over 175 customizable reports. These reports can help to:
As your business grows, it’s easy to forget the small stuff. But that small stuff can quickly snowball and grow large. So large, in fact, that an estimated $34 billion is lost annually in unused Microsoft licensing.
That’s why Microsoft software management is so important. By implementing a Microsoft licensing manager like QBx Portal, your IT team can more effectively reduce overspending, increase security, and help reclaim their precious time.
Best of all, when you purchase M365 from Quadbridge, you’ll have access to QBx Portal completely free. Contact Quadbridge today to discover how your business can benefit from Microsoft software asset management (SAM).
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
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