Do I pay too much?
Great negotiations require good information
To give a fair answer, you need to understand the market and your own levers. The general provisions of confidentiality create hurdles to deter- mine the fair market price. Do you really use all licenses, can you trade in shelfware? Doctor-License helps with an extensive diagnosis and an evaluation of your total license landscape.
What’s my entitlement?
To really understand one’s contracts
License contracts say little about the true entitlements. These are often hidden behind product names, metrics and a set of rules and definitions. An audit report mostly reflects the interpretations of a vendor that can hardly be questioned by a customer because the use rights have not been communicated explicitly beforehand. It might have been quite relevant when the contract was signed and which terms were prevailing at that time, in order to judge the legal position. Doctor-License helps your legal department to support your position with all facts associated with your licensing terms.
Does my team fit?
Good collaboration raises the bets
License management has many facets and is monitored within your company by various individuals who handle multiple tasks. Quite often, these individuals are not aware about the importance of a strong collaboration and alignment that is necessary to address the complexity of licensing matters. Sporadic surprises in managing the software assets do not lend themselves to repeatable management best practice processes. Doctor-License enables your team to expand its expertise and to indentify and monitor important indicators for license use.
Am I compliant?
Keep an eye on what you have
Some contractual clauses create uncertainty in regards to compliance to the law. The vendor audit team typically is not as knowledgeable about your contract as your staff, so they build their assumptions on standard use rights that are not reflective of your contract. Doctor-License reviews your documentation and extracts the relevant terms and language of special agreements, extensions and the handling of deadlines.
Do my tools help me?
Don’t assess methods, count the outcome!
SAM tools are no panacea and often have limited or local relevance. Hence, software license management is an overarching task that needs to align all methods and resources. Doctor-License will compare the cost-benefit ratio of your approach with best-practice, to ensure sustainability.