6 Steps to a Recession-Proof Software Budget

Depending on whose tea leaves you’re reading, there will definitely certainly maybe possibly unlikely be a European recession in 2020. The experts are united in their disagreement about our financial future. But does that mean that we shouldn’t prepare anyway? Even without a market meltdown, organizations can still face economic downturns, so it’s always a good idea to know where you can make quick, painless cuts to recession-proof your budget.

Your IT investment is one of those places. Large-scale changes to software purchasing and licensing can result in significant long-term savings. The ROI on a Software Asset Management program can be quick and consequential. Most USU customers have achieved a full return in the first 6 to 12 months, and many more have seen an ROI of up to 300% within 3 years. So, if you don’t already have a Software Asset Management program, now’s the right time to start one.

How exactly can a SAM program protect your budget in a recession? Software Asset Management is all about achieving savings and efficiencies. It creates a financially sustainable software environment that guarantees access to the software you need to drive your revenue-generating activities. It protects your organization from a budget overload now by managing your software licenses and improving your contracts.

6 Steps to a Recession-Proof Software Budget

1. Establish people & processes . The best SAM programs all start with the right people and processes. Ensuring stakeholder buy-in from across your organization – and not just central IT – and setting-up processes such as Joiners, Movers, Leavers (JML), and Software Re-harvesting contribute significantly to the continued success of your SAM program.
2. Get a SAM tool. “Wait, isn’t this supposed to be about saving money?” I understand the objection, and I’m a little biased, but it’s worth the investment. Any SAM program is going to involve potentially millions of data points, and you can’t manage that effectively without a tool. Yes, it’s an investment, but it’s one that can bring you significant long-term savings in your IT budget and management efforts. It’s the most important IT investment you’ll make in the next ten years, and it’s still cheaper than all your other software.
3. Follow the money! Your biggest savings will happen in your biggest spend. Your Salesforce, Microsoft Office 365, Adobe, AWS, Microsoft Azure investments are critical to your business success. But they also cost you a lot of money. What if we told you that you can get the same performance out of these tools and spend less? By monitoring usage peaks and valleys and ensuring that only the people who need and use software licenses get licenses, you avoid waste and spend less on your most expensive software tools.
4. Reduce, reuse, re-harvest! Keep the number of unused licenses low by taking back unused licenses and assigning them to users who need them. By monitoring usage and automating re-harvesting workflows, you ensure that you always have just the right number of licenses in your library.
5. Redistribute resources. Using a tool to automate your Software Asset Management processes will redistribute personnel capacities to business-critical tasks. Save money and create value by better managing existing personnel resources.
6. Get the most out of your contracts. Make sure you’re taking advantage of all the hidden benefits in your contracts. Some of these, including cloud migration benefits, can significantly reduce your costs. And prepare for contract negotiations, so next time you don’t get stuck with licenses and maintenance agreements you don’t use.

The most important step to recession-proofing your organization is optimizing your software environment. With a Software Asset Management program, you can find savings and benefits in your existing environment that will protect your entire organization, even if disaster definitely certainly maybe possibly unlikely threatens.

For more informations read our Software Asset Management Programm Guide :