Job Rotations

Within my role as an at interim license manager, on different occasions I came across companies that have License Management covered by employees that came in through a job rotation scheme. This is in my opinion not a good thing. The game of License Management is best won by people that are experienced. Like with Chess, you might read all the rules, but without practice it is difficult to win. This is what I have seen happening when a new employee comes in through job rotation:

In the first year, the employee spends ample time on getting the details on what License Management is about. Often a bumpy road, trying to survive in the hectic of operations, the shipload of metrics and the maze of systems and locations the contracts are stored. Let alone the projects on hand which contribute to the complexity even more. There is a lack of historical knowledge on the architecture and renewals often come as a surprise. After a year, most renewals will have been paid for and in scope… you would think. Except for those contracts that were signed for multiple years which will become in scope in the next few years or so.

It is of major importance to have a detailed set of work instructions and a solid repository for having a new License Manager starting in his new role smoothly. Software License Guides should be available as much as possible and all the details of Company Specific deals should be administered. It is also advised to pay a visit to all stakeholders. Think of Contracting and Procurement, Application Portfolio Managers, IT-Architects, Finance and Support Desk.

The second year, the License Manager is getting a grasp of how complex this expert field is. Also he or she realizes how much was missed in the past years with regards to over-licensing, needlessly paid penalties (by overcharging publishers) and extending maintenance and support for licenses that are not used. Hence a plan is made how to regain a grip on the situation, often started with focusing on the Top-5 or Top-10 costly or risk full publishers. Now the License Manager realizes that a lot of orders were placed circumventing the contract and to a Large Account Reseller, so filtering on Publisher does not completely do the trick. But after going through stacks of Invoices, Purchase Orders and Contracts, the License Manager is getting more and more details on the table. Let’s make the plan work!

Communication is key in making you succeed. Make sure all stakeholders are aware you are there and what you could contribute in their cost savings. It is not always a bad idea to contact Publishers to ask what they have in their sales ledger, but be hesitant to do so. It might send out a signal of being out of control.

Third year, when the plan is clear and we can start full throttle, it is also time to see what the next challenge will be within the Company and who will be the successor of the current License Manager. Hence the focus is getting a bit less. Year number four the new License Manager takes over and we are back at Square One.

License Management is a specialism. Though it is not Rocket Science, there is a lot to know and that takes a while.