Key Benefit: Save money on software negotiations.
It’s easy for colleges and universities to overspend on software. Site-wide licenses, departmental requests and recurring contracts can eat away at your IT budget.
The best way to save money on software negotiations is to identify actual usage and provide only what your students, staff and faculty actually need.
Data Portability allows you to quickly identify what software isn’t being used. In a matter of minutes, you can find exactly what’s not being used, which groups or labs have excess licenses, and how much money you could save by optimizing your license purchases.
Related: How to Open the Software Usage Power BI Template
How to find excess licenses:
- Open the Software Usage Template
- Open the Peak Concurrent Application Usage tab
- Use the application slicer to select the software application or suite (If searching for a suite such as Adobe or Microsoft Office, use the search bar to find the suite, then select all relevant applications)
- Review the Peak User Count, the Current Application Install Count and the Application Utilization %
Understanding your results
There is no hard and fast rule concerning the ideal balance between licenses installed and actual usage. However, you should take note of large discrepancies. For instance, if your Application Utilization is below 30%, we’d recommend reducing your overall licenses.
I think the 30% rule was a guideline for busy labs right? A hardware thing?
Reducing overall licenses can disrupt user experience. To minimize disruption, identify the locations (groups) where students and staff are not using the software, so you can strategically reduce in places that won’t disrupt their work.
How to find groups with unused licenses:
- Select the Peak Concurrent Application Usage by Group tab at the bottom of the template.
- Use the application slicer to select the software application or suite
- Click on the box next to your selected software to show the groups (usually identified as labs) where the software has been installed.
- Review the Peak User Count, the Current Application Install Count and the Application Utilization %
Identify groups with a low Application Utilization % and click the box next to the group name to view the specific machines with unused software licenses.
Sample Scenario:
Eagle Rock University has 200 licenses of SPSS installed on campus, and they pay $50 per month per license. The Software Usage Template revealed that 50 licenses have not been accessed in over a year.
50 licenses X $50/month X 12 months = $30,000 savings
Eagle Rock University can renegotiate their SPSS contract to 150 licenses, saving $30,000 without negatively impacting users.
Have questions or need assistance analyzing your LabStats data? Reach out to support.
