Vendor management
Understanding your software vendors
Vendor management is a complex task regardless of your organization’s size. You face challenges such as dealing with multiple stakeholders for each vendor, navigating complex contracts and dealing with difficult negotiations. Let Flexera help by giving you a clear understanding of your effective license position for all your vendors and negotiate renewals with confidence.
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Get a complete picture of your vendor relationships
VENDOR SELECTION
Evaluate your vendors
It’s important to choose the right software vendors based on a needs assessment. Identify your organization’s specific software needs, including functionality, scalability and compatibility with existing systems and future requirements. To do this, you need to have a clear overview of your software vendors, software provisioned and software spend when considering acquiring new applications. Flexera can help you keep your software sprawl down with a comprehensive overview of all of your vendors and applications.
Vendor selection
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SOFTWARE RENEWAL
Reconsider your vendors at renewal
As software contracts come due, it’s a great time to reevaluate which software vendors you’d like to continue a relationship with, and if they are fit for your business. After all, if you don’t understand how much software you’re utilizing, how can you know which (and how many) applications and licenses to renew?
Software renewal
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Vendor Value
Understand your software usage with Flexera
Comparing licenses purchased against what is allocated only scratches the surface of savings. Simplify software renewals with automated calculations that identify the correct number of licenses the organization needs. Flexera’s ITAM solutions dive deep into the most commonly used software vendors, providing a 98% recognition and normalization rate and the insights you need to make data-driven decisions across your on-premises, SaaS, and cloud environments
Vendor value
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COMPLETE VENDOR DATA
Flexera provides a complete view of technology use by vendor
Most large software vendors offer products across multiple environments – IaaS, SaaS and on-premises software. To effectively negotiate with vendors, it is important to have the bigger picture to understand where you can maximize your value. Flexera provides visibility to license compliance and cost optimization insights across your IaaS, SaaS and on-premises environments for the most critical and expensive vendors.
Ten years ago, we had five to six audits a year. Now we have zero to one because they talk amongst each other and they know they will never find anything wrong with our data. And we can prove it
John Haenen Software Asset Consultant, Dutch Police
Frequently asked questions
Effective Software Asset Management (SAM) plays a crucial role in fostering positive relationships with software vendors by ensuring compliance and transparency. Organizations can build trust with vendors by maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of software usage, licenses, and compliance status. This transparency can lead to better negotiation outcomes, as vendors are more likely to offer favorable terms and pricing to clients who demonstrate responsible software management practices. Additionally, regular internal audits and proactive management of software assets can prevent compliance issues, reducing the likelihood of disputes or penalties during vendor audits.
You’ll need to understand what your current effective license position is, and how much you’re utilizing the software you have provisioned. Understand your missing gaps and learn what priorities your software vendor is looking to fill. They may have strategic goals of selling software that you don’t have currently provisioned and therefore more inclined to discount other software to sell it.
You can prepare for a software audit by taking the following crucial steps. Conduct regular internal audits to validate software usage and licensing data, identifying and resolving any discrepancies. Keep comprehensive records of all software purchases, licenses, and usage data, and ensure these records are organized and easily accessible. Use SAM tools to automate the data collection and normalization for these records and create reports to easily view your IT estate. Finally, ensure that all software licenses are up-to-date and that your organization complies with the terms and conditions of the licensing agreements.
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We’re standing by to help you navigate your licenses from a position of strength and negotiate renewals with confidence.