Software Monetization Best Practices Scorecard
The Software Monetization Best Practices Scorecard was developed to help you understand the current state of your software licensing and to provide recommendations and enables you to develop a strategic plan with specific steps to achieve your business objectives.
At the end of the Scorecard you will receive a score which will measure your organization’s software monetization implementation readiness and your company’s ongoing software management capabilities based on specific business objectives.
Do you know where you stand?
Software business
Is your company primarily a software vendor?
Software license models
Perpetual pricing has dominated much of the software space in the past and there is a clear shift towards models that allow the customer to consume software value in smaller slices: subscription and usage-based license models. Subscription-based pricing is increasingly demanded both by customers and CFOs of software companies. Usage-based pricing is the next frontier, as people want to pay only for what they consume. Hardware vendors are striving to deliver more value through software and are expanding from standalone, perpetual licenses to subscription, concurrent user, named user and usage-based license models.
Are your customers demanding new ways of licensing your software products that are creating challenges for your organization?
License key generation and ease of fulfillment
One of the largest cost areas in the licensing domain is in supporting manual license key generation. The lack of automated systems results in costly headcount, slow delivery times and a poor customer experience.
Do you have too many manual processes in the generation and delivery of license keys?
License key generators
Most software companies have at least one license enforcement technology in their products resulting in the customer needing license key in order to unlock the software. As companies grow, they tend to acquire multiple types of licensing technologies requiring varying tools and business processes.
How many license key generators do you currently support?
Software licensing program management
As companies grow, so does the need to have a well-defined set of software licensing policies with the goal of standardizing licensing implementation across your product line and delivering a consistent and repeatable user experience.
Does your company have a centralized organization that governs and defines company-wide software licensing and monetization policies/procedures?
Software license monitoring & enforcement technology
Many software products have embedded technology designed to help the end customer stay compliant. These technologies are commonly in the form of license keys that unlock the product and monitoring software that tracks usage.
How do you monitor and enforce contract compliance?
Software fulfillment through the channel
It is common for vendors to sell and deliver products and services through a network of channel partners that could include distributors, VARs and retailers. The channel can pose significant challenges to vendors who use license keys to ensure compliance. Most channel partners need a clean and easy way to move software entitlements through the fulfillment chain and vendors want insight into the end-customer usage of the licenses.
Do you face challenges supporting sales through multi-tier sales channel relationships?
Electronic software distribution
A good customer experience usually involves giving the customer instant access to download the software to which they are entitled. This includes downloading software associated with new products as well as software updates to products already deployed.
Do you provide your customers with the ability to access downloads of entitled software and upgrades?
Software billing
With the trend in the marketplace towards consumption-based license models like pay-per-use, vendors need to be able to bill customers for their software usage. It is common for companies without automated usage billing capabilities leverage third party cloud billing solutions like Aria Systems.
How capable are your back-office systems in keeping up with your current or planned software selling models?
Renewals
A mature licensing system needs to be able to support a seamless customer experience when your customer renews their maintenance contracts or subscriptions. The updated renewal information factors into allowing the customer to get access to updated software and license keys.
How well does your software license management software handle your maintenance renewal process?
Customer and channel web portals
Giving your customers and channel partners online access to viewing entitlements, downloading software, activating and managing their software licenses can greatly increase customer satisfaction while reducing operating expense.
How successful are you in giving your customers visibility into the status of their software licenses, activations, renewals etc.?
Reporting
One of the most powerful features of a license management system is the information you have at your fingertips. Reporting from the entitlement and licensing system can give insight about how your products are deployed and which features are used most. Your customers can benefit from getting license deployment and usage information on demand.
How easily can your Product Management organization analyze product adoption and usage information?
Do you know where you stand?
- Scores of 50 and below clearly indicate that the software monetization issues should be addressed immediately.
- Scores of 50-70 suggest that the organization is facing software monetization issues that should be addressed as soon as possible.
- Organizations that score above 70 can be proud that they are following industry best practices for software licensing and monetization, but should also stay abreast of the rapidly changing requirements of today’s marketplace.
Lifecycle Methodology and Implementation Plan
A Roadmap to Optimizing Your Software Licensing and Monetization Operations.
This white paper describes the proven methodology that our consulting services has accumulated and uses in their consulting framework, and best practices gleamed over thousands of client engagements.
Market leading companies can achieve their business objectives by adopting a Software Licensing Solution Design process like Gemalto has developed. This process can help organizations thoroughly assess their software licensing and monetization requirements and analyze their alternatives. The Software Monetization Best Practices Lifecycle Methodology also enables companies to act quickly to implement repeatable software licensing and monetization policies. These policies should be supported by agile technologies which can automate their business processes and optimize their effectiveness.
Results
Needs Tuning
Needs Updating
Needs Overhaul
- Your score 0
Your score suggests that you are just getting started on the path to implementing your Software Monetization strategy. Gemalto's Software Monetization Consulting Services can help! We have services that will guide you step by step through the whole process. From developing a comprehensive Licensing and Monetization Policy, to deploying the technologies and process changes required, Gemalto's Consultants can reduce risk and accelerate deployment. For a good overview of what lies ahead, read our White Paper, "Software Monetization Best Practices: Lifecycle Methodology and Implementation Plan". Be sure to check out "Key Organizational Considerations" on the bottom of Page 4. - Your score 0
Your score suggests that you have gotten a good start down the path towards Software Monetization, but are still facing significant challenges. Gemalto's Software Monetization Consulting Services can help! We can tailor a plan to help "fill in the gaps". For instance, we can audit any Licensing and Monetization Policy documents, review your overall Licensing and Entitilement Management solution architecture, or analyze the best way to support your sales channels. Gemalto's Consultants can reduce risk, accelerate deployment, and reduce the time to realization of the benefits of your Software Monetization program. For some ideas as to where you might need to fill in your current plan, read our White Paper, "Software Monetization Best Practices: Lifecycle Methodology and Implementation Plan". Be sure to review "Establishing a World-Class Software Licensing and Monetization Process" starting on Page 5 for topics that you may have missed. - Your score 0
Your score suggests that you are well on your way to implementing your Software Monetization strategy. Gemalto's Software Monetization Consulting Services can help get you across the goal line! We have services that will review your plan to make sure that you have covered all the bases, and then help you move forward to implement your plan. the technologies and process changes required. Gemalto's Consultants can reduce risk, accelerate deployment, and reduce the time to realization of the benefits of your Software Monetization program. For some ideas as to where you might need to fill in your current plan, read our White Paper, "Software Monetization Best Practices: Lifecycle Methodology and Implementation Plan". Be sure to take a look at the implementation approach described starting on page 7, "Gemalto’s Software Monetization Best Practices Lifecycle Methodology".
Lifecycle Methodology and Implementation Plan
A Roadmap to Optimizing Your Software Licensing and Monetization Operations.
Download Whitepaper
More and more of the things we use and touch in the world are being run with software. Many traditional hardware vendors now consider software to be their competitive differentiator and have transformed themselves into companies where software is now a core competence and a key pillar of the business.