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Every business in this day and age must embrace mobile in order to remain competitive, and well, simply to take advantage of the benefits mobile devices provide. These benefits, however, come with additional risk. We’ll talk a bit later about managing mobile assets but first let’s address the risks that come along with them. There are two types of risks mobile devices bring to an organization – security and financial risk. The security risk is like any other device, except heightened because the device is carried around and can easily be lost, exposing your company’s vital data to anyone who happens to find that mobile phone. When handing out mobile devices to employees, it is important to give them strict guidelines along with it, determining their use and also ask them to always lock the keyboard when in use with a password.

Financial risk associated with mobile devices is also a burden. Although initially, these devices can be obtained for very little, replacing them and maintaining them isn’t always so cheap. They also, come with an expiration date, like any other computer equipment, they have a short lifespan and need to be upgraded quite often, which can be costly. Mobile operators are constantly updating their devices and networks to offer users the latest and greatest, which comes at a cost to the enterprise, who are paying for these devices en mass.

The risks here don’t outweigh the benefit of deploying mobile devices as far as I am concerned. Although some would say having mobile devices makes them work harder and more hours, it certainly can be said that productivity is increased, which makes the C-Suite happy and the profits bigger…

There comes a time in every piece of equipment where they are faced with the inevitable – retirement. The end of the road for hardware is much clearer cut than software, as it’s obvious when hardware has “had enough.” Software on the other hand, is usually retired when it just doesn’t make sense to update/upgrade anymore or it’s no longer serving the purpose it once did. New software deployments cost money, so it’s not a decision made lightly. The challenges faced with getting rid of software versus hardware are also much more complicated. Hardware is wiped clean and recycled, but software needs to be uninstalled throughout the organization. This can be a tricky process, as oftentimes, the software will leave footprints on the system that can effect licensing as well as the installation of a new program.

Extensive testing must be done in order to ensure that you successfully uninstall the software in its entirety. There are tools available to automatically uninstall software, which will certainly save you time over doing it manually, but don’t skip the testing when using these. Unsuccessful uninstalls can also wreak havoc on your software asset management repository - anybasic discovery tool will pick-up those traces left behind and count them as assets.

Be sure to run a thorough check both before and after your uninstall to insure that you get it all!

Keeping all of your software licenses organized and updated can be a challenge for any company.  But with careful documentation, you can keep ongoing costs down as well as improve your chances of avoiding an expensive software license audit.

1- Compare existing licenses to currently installed products to verify that they match.

2- Put a system in place that automatically updates when licenses expire or new products are added.

3- Keep a copy of all master software license agreements in a central repository.  It is helpful to look back at what was used originally and what negotiations took place to reach that initial agreement.  Seeing how the master agreement came together can be helpful in future procurement and negotiations.  This master agreement will also note which members of the vendor’s staff was responsible for each respective application.  When one of the applications has an issue, you won’t have to do any digging to find the right person to reach out to for help.

In taking the time to thoroughly document your software licenses, you’ll be able to reduce costs, stay effective and keep things running smoothly.

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