Introducing Software License Optimization

This report describes how sourcing and vendor management leaders can practice continuous improvement as part of Forrester's strategic software sourcing approach. Software asset management (SAM), as organizations such as ITIL and ISO define it, is obsolete. Its base processes come from a bygone era of floppy disks and unique license keys, whereas today's software licensing challenges include virtualized systems, a focus on usage instead of installation, and a proliferation of pricing metrics to track and control. This report will introduce a new approach that Forrester calls software license optimization (SLO). It will explain how traditional SAM is failing enterprises and how SLO is enhancing compliance while reducing wasteful spend on superfluous license capacity.