Maintaining your company’s software needs can be an overwhelming job. Not only do you have to know what software you need, but you also have to keep track of the dates you purchased them and when you need to repurchase them, the licensing summaries to ensure you are using them in a legal way, which computers are using which software and which ones no longer need it, and more. If you are trying to do this manually, it is easy for something to slip through the cracks. In order to make this much easier, a software inventory tool could be a useful addition to your company.
A Software Inventory Tool, or a Software Asset Management tool allows you to gather all your software into one centralized location. The software inventory tool from Total Network Inventory works on both Windows and Mac OS devices to scan the computers in your network and organize your data so that it can be managed much easier. With this software inventory tool, you can easily search for any applications by title or version using their instant search feature.
Different filters also allow you to see software from a specific publisher, or view specific devices to see what software is installed on that device. This allows you to have full control and search with ease when you are trying to discover what software needs you to have. In addition, when you are viewing the distribution overview, you can select specific software items and instantly see all of the installations of that software. This is important when you are trying to manage the number of installations per licensing agreement, or when trying to figure out which devices are actually using the software or not which would allow you to get rid of unused software and save some money.
Another very useful part of this software inventory tool is the way it helps you keep track of your software licenses. It is important to keep track of more than just the number of activations allowed by each license, but unfortunately, many software inventory tools only show you that piece of information. Total Network Inventory’s tool allows you to also keep track of the price, purchase date, and expiration date of your many different software licenses to make sure that you know exactly when you have to renew it, how much it costs, and that you are using it within your licensing agreement to avoid any nasty audits.
There are a few other features of this software inventory tool that also come in handy when trying to manage your many different pieces of software across many devices. One great tool is the ability to track software installations and mark a specific program as either a Must-have or Forbidden for certain sets of computers. This allows you to ensure that only the computers that really need the software are getting it. Also, this software inventory tool allows you to merge different versions of software, while still being able to see the minor versions of the software in your installations list.
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