When it comes to software licences, most of the attention is paid to their legal procurement and deployment across an institution’s estate. But licence deprovisioning is an equally important part of software licence management.
What happens to the licences in your institution when, for example, a device has been retired or replaced? Or when a student switches course or even leaves the university entirely?
In both cases, it is important to deprovision the user’s licences promptly to optimise resource allocation and to maintain IT security. In this blog, we’ll explore the importance of licence deprovisioning and propose a best practice licence deprovisioning process for institutions.
From our experience of working with education institutions across Europe, there’s five key reasons why efficient licence deprovisioning is so crucial.
Whilst recognising the importance of removing old or unused licences, many institutions struggle with the process. In fact, many institutions are still running manual licence deprovisioning programmes, which can be labour-intensive, error-prone and time-consuming.
In such models, IT staff need to manually track user access and manually revoke licences, leading to potential delays, administrative overheads and security risks. Moreover, manual deprovisioning processes can result in inefficiencies including wasted resources and increased costs.
If that sounds familiar, then perhaps the following steps might offer a route forwards?
The Academic Software platform offers an advanced automation solution to streamline the licence deprovisioning process outlined above. By integrating with other essential IT systems, the platform ensures that licence deprovisioning happens seamlessly and in a timely manner.
Automated licence deprovisioning with Academic Software offers several benefits to educational institutions:
Compliance and security: Automated deprovisioning ensures compliance with data protection regulations and internal security policies. When users no longer need access to specific digital tools, their licences are automatically revoked, preventing unauthorised access. This enhances data security and reduces the risk of data breaches or unauthorised usage.
Cost optimisation: By revoking licences promptly when they are no longer needed, institutions can reallocate those licences to other users. This eliminates unnecessary licensing costs and ensures that resources are utilised effectively, resulting in cost savings for the institution.
Streamlined workflows: With Academic Software's automated systems, deprovisioning happens seamlessly and in real-time, without the need for manual tracking or intervention. This frees up IT staff to focus on more strategic tasks and reduces the potential for human error in the deprovisioning process.
Contact us today to learn more about how Academic Software can help your institution deliver seamless license deprovisioning and reap the rewards of a more efficient, secure, and cost-effective IT environment.