What to Remember When Renewing Software Licenses

Business owners have a schedule they use to keep track of things, like paying bills. If the bills aren’t paid, services stop being available, and you can kiss your credit score goodbye. One expense which some business owners forget to schedule is the renewal of vital software licensing. If these agreements aren’t renewed, they could have potentially disastrous consequences.

In fact, many software users have no clue that they need to update their software licenses until the software itself notifies them. These notifications tend to work out rather well for most users, but there are others who might not have the time to deal with them and get the short end of the stick. While clicking the “Don’t show me this again,” checkbox might seem like a good idea at the time, it could lead to an unintentional expiration of the license.

What happens when a software license expires? It could become unusable when you need it most, like the middle of the workday or during a presentation. This means that one moment your staff could be working on a project with a sensitive deadline, and the next they could be twiddling their thumbs; all because the license on the software wasn’t renewed when it should have been. While this isn’t like server downtime, it is still downtime which can cost your business a pretty penny if not managed properly.

As such, if your team can’t access the mission-critical software, all of the time spent renewing and updating the software grinds everyone else’s productivity to a halt, making the downtime significantly more expensive. You’d basically be paying your staff to sit around and wait for the license to be renewed, which isn’t the ideal situation. This could have easily been avoided if you took steps to renew the license before the deadline.

Managing the renewal dates of multiple softwares can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. If you renew all of your licenses on the same day, you’ll only have to remember one date. Arranging this is as easy as making a phone call. Just dial the number of your software vendors and ask them to switch your renewal date. Granted, you might have to pay a few extra months ahead `to change the date, but as a business themselves, the software company should be happy to accept your request.

If you’d rather not worry about your company’s software licenses, Computerware can make sure that all of your applications are always up to date and renewed. We can keep track of and manage all of your software renewals remotely so you don’t have to. You won’t unexpectedly run out of service on a vital piece of software when you need it most.

If you’re ready to take the sting out of regular IT maintenance, give Computerware a call at (703) 821-8200.