Modern organizations often find themselves paying for underutilized software or struggling to stay compliant with software usage regulations. This is where Software Metering becomes an essential tool. By tracking and analyzing software usage, IT teams can ensure optimal license allocation, eliminate waste, and improve overall productivity.
Imagine an organization purchasing multiple high-tier software licenses for a team, only to realize that only a handful of employees are using the full suite. With software metering, such overspending can be quickly identified and resolved, saving costs and streamlining operations.
This blog explores the benefits of software metering and how Scalefusion UEM simplifies this process for IT admins.
What is Software Metering?
At its core, it offers visibility into how and when software applications are being used across the organization. By examining these usage patterns, IT administrators can ensure software licenses are allocated efficiently, avoiding unnecessary renewals or upgrades.
This feature allows IT teams to track the usage of software applications and helps them make informed decisions about whether to continue with existing subscriptions or invest in new ones. Software needs to be metered to optimize license management, organizations can reduce software-related expenses while ensuring compliance with corporate policies and system requirements.
It is also a critical component of IT Asset Management (ITAM) strategies, helping organizations minimize wasteful spending. Through detailed usage metrics, businesses can identify underused software and avoid overspending on unnecessary licenses, leading to significant savings and a more efficient IT budget.
Software metering provides the transparency needed to manage software assets effectively, ensuring organizations make smart investments in their IT infrastructure.
Benefits of Software Metering: Why Does It Matter?
By tracking software usage, IT teams can optimize spending, improve security, and enhance user experience while ensuring regulatory compliance. Here are some key benefits of this approach and why it’s essential for IT admins:
1. Ensuring Compliance and Reducing Risk
One of the most significant advantages of software metering is its role in maintaining compliance with industry regulations, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX. By closely monitoring software usage, IT admins can ensure that all software is licensed properly and is used in compliance with the organization’s policies. Metering data also provides an invaluable resource during audits, enabling IT teams to produce detailed reports that reflect accurate usage data, which helps avoid costly fines for non-compliance.
With the increasing number of software licenses and cloud services, metering ensures no software is used outside its licensed parameters, minimizing the risk of running afoul of legal requirements. Software metering allows you to track who’s using what software, preventing unauthorized access and reducing security threats.
2. Cost Savings and Budget Optimization
Software metering can significantly reduce software-related expenses by highlighting redundant or under-utilized licenses. Organizations often purchase licenses for software or cloud services based on outdated data or assumptions from previous contracts. With metering data, IT admins can see actual usage, identifying areas where licenses or applications are no longer needed or where a lower-tiered license would suffice.
For instance, if an organization is spending on high-end licenses for the software application that only a fraction of the team uses, metering data will allow admins to scale back the license to better fit the actual needs. This helps businesses save money and redirect resources toward more critical areas, ensuring a more efficient allocation of funds.
3. Enhanced Visibility and Control Over Software Usage
Software metering provides IT admins with a detailed overview of all applications and software being used across the organization. This visibility allows them to get detailed information about software usage patterns, ensuring that employees use various software and applications within the usage limit.
With comprehensive usage data, IT admins can detect any potential security vulnerabilities or non-compliance issues caused by unauthorized or unsanctioned applications. This insight is invaluable in managing hybrid IT landscapes and maintaining control over sensitive data and user privileges, which helps reduce the risk of security breaches.
4. Improved Productivity and Application Optimization
With application metering, IT admins can assess the efficiency of the software tools being used within the organization. They can identify applications that are either underused or inefficient, enabling them to make adjustments that improve overall productivity. For instance, if an employee or department is struggling with a tool that’s not suited for their needs, the data can help IT admins make informed decisions about switching to more appropriate software or optimizing existing tools.
By ensuring that employees have the right applications and tools at their disposal, organizations can empower their workforce, improve efficiency, and reduce frustration caused by misaligned or outdated software.
5. Improved User Experience and Streamlined Operations
Software metering is used to ensure that employees have access to only the applications necessary for their specific roles. This streamlined approach helps IT admins maintain control and creates a more focused work environment for employees. By removing redundant or unused applications, IT admins can simplify the software ecosystem, reducing distractions and minimizing device downtime caused by unnecessary background processes.
Furthermore, by optimizing software and license allocation, employees are more likely to have the tools they need to perform at their best, which leads to greater job satisfaction and a more productive workplace.
Software Metering with Scalefusion UEM
Software Metering is a powerful feature within Scalefusion that empowers IT admins to track and analyze the usage of software applications across devices managed by an organization. Scalefusion simplifies software usage tracking on Windows devices by offering you the following capabilities:
a. Application Rules
Allow you to create rules for software applications and file versions. You can also establish rules that sync with the permissions applied to applications across profiles, ensuring consistent management and control. Once you create the rule, you configure the frequency for syncing app usage data and enable or disable tracking of the total time that applications spend in the foreground and background on the device.
b. Usage Summary
Provides you with a rule-based summary of software usage with a few details such as usage duration, rule name, file name, and file path. You can download the reports in a CSV format giving day-wise software usage on each device.
IT teams gain valuable insights into the health and usage of applications, identify unused software, and optimize licensing by monitoring software activity. This helps IT admins effectively manage software expenses by identifying underutilized software and reducing unnecessary renewals.
Wrapping Up
Software metering helps organizations optimize their IT Asset Management and avoid overspending on extra software licenses. Take control of your software asset management with Scalefusion endpoint management solution’s software metering capabilities. Contact our experts to learn more about Scalefusion UEM. Book a free demo or start your 14-day free trial today.
FAQs
1. How does Software Metering work?
Software Metering tracks and monitors the usage of software applications across an organization’s devices. IT admins can enable this feature with an endpoint management solution to collect software metering data on specific applications. Metering is the process used to monitor how frequently and for how long a software application is used, providing insights into usage patterns and license efficiency.
Admins can also create automatic metering rules based on version and file details, ensuring that the version must match the software being monitored. The report summary offers key details like usage duration, file name, and application path, enabling IT teams to optimize software usage and control licensing costs effectively.
2. What are the different types of Software metering?
- Usage-Based Metering: Tracks how frequently and for how long a specific software application is used across devices.
- License-Based Metering: Monitors software usage to ensure compliance with licensing agreements, preventing unauthorized use.
- Time-Based Metering: Measures software activity based on the total time the application spends in use, helping optimize licensing based on usage duration.
- Version-Based Metering: Tracks specific software versions, ensuring only authorized versions are used within the organization.
