How to Recycle Software Licenses and SaaS Subscriptions

Recycling is not just a term for reusing material. It is used in the world of software license management.

It may seem strange as it implies the recycling of intangible assets. However, that is the very reason it’s important. Note the word asset.

Organizations own assets. So it’s in the company’s best interest to get the most value out of them. The best way to do this is to recycle your software assets and SaaS subscriptions.

How does this work?

1.Centralize Licenses

First, you’ll need one place to store your software licenses. When employees need one, they take it from this one place. The license is returned to this place for someone else to use.

A solution is a software license management tool. It pools the licenses and even the SaaS subscriptions together, in one place. As a result, you have better insight into the following:

  • Number of licenses
  • The Number of licenses available
  • The Number of licenses being used
  • Cost of each license
  • Monthly/quarterly costs per vendor

In turn, you prevent issues like the following:

  1. Purchasing more licenses then you need
  2. Compliance issues
  3. Not forecasting budget properly

2.Retrieve Licenses

A big mistake in software license management is not retrieving licenses off of computers. This happens when:

  1.  a computer gets close to their disposal phase
  2. An employee changes departments
  3. An employee gets fired or quits

It’s possible for thousands of dollars worth of software to be left on computers. Therefore, retrieving licenses is key to recycling software.

On the same token, you want to retrieve SaaS subscriptions. However, the process is different because access needs to be removed from the cloud-based system. But again, very important to do when recycling.

3. Start Recycling

To summarize, you set up a place to store your software licenses and you put processes in place to consistently retrieve the licenses. You will now successfully recycle your software licenses and save on costs.

Let us know if you need help.

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