Are Your Software Licenses Up To Date?

Are Your Software Licenses Up To Date? One Expiration Can Cause A Lot Of Trouble…

What’s the state of your software licenses?

If you’re not keeping an eye on them, an expiration can creep up fast and cause a lot of issues with your IT systems.

As a part of our comprehensive management services, Tektonic tracks hardware and software lifecycles and licenses for clients—we can do the same for you.

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Nothing Lasts Forever

It’s vital that you keep track of the status of any existing licenses and warranties.

Depending on the type of business you operate, there may be specific software needed for daily operations. It could be Quickbooks for accounting and bookkeeping or Oracle Micros for restaurant Point of Sales, but the bottom line is that if you need it to get work done, you should know whether you can use it.

The most direct way to check if the license is still in good standing is often just to try to use the software. If that doesn’t answer the question for you, then try looking at the About page for the software.

Managing licenses properly is a key part of effective IT maintenance. One of our clients recently encountered an issue with an expiring firewall license…

This Client Ignored Their License Expirations Until It Became A Problem

Not too long ago, we informed one of our clients that their firewall’s license was going to expire. As it was a system set up by the client’s previous IT partner, we were not authorized to resell licenses. The client would have to approve and purchase the new license in order to maintain the functionality of their firewall.

Unfortunately, the client dragged their feet throughout the process. We made sure they knew that they would need to either renew the license or upgrade to a solution from our partner Fortinet.

They did neither in the available time frame, which eventually led to issues. Once the license expired, their users began having problems accessing the websites they needed to. The support tickets began piling up, and it was all because of an expired license.

To make matters worse, the client no longer qualified for support from the firewall’s vendor because their license was no longer valid. This compounded the issue and caused extensive downtime for the client.

In the end, they opted to purchase another license, but it took two weeks to process. The end result was a lot of downtime and negative effects on their end users, all of which could have been avoided.

Tektonic Will Handle Your Lifecycle Management

Not sure when your licenses are going to expire? We can help you keep track of them.

Lifecycle Management will increase your business’ productivity by helping you make informed decisions on IT needs and services. The key is that it helps you make better purchasing decisions by looking at various resources and their lifecycle stages.

For example, if a particular asset is about to expire, and if you already have that asset in your inventory, you have more lead time to order and replenish. If not, you know that you will have to determine an alternate solution as soon as possible. Inadequate lifecycle management can lead to a range of problems, including:

• Unsecured technology that is vulnerable to security threats
• Increased downtime due to lag, lost work and more
• Gaps in technological capability due to unforeseen issues

If you’re not sure what state your licenses are in, don’t wait until it becomes a weeks-long problem. Get in touch with Tektonic to ensure your systems’ lifecycles are seamlessly managed.