Software asset management tools in 2024

Software Asset Management (SAM) tools have become indispensable solutions, empowering organizations to streamline and optimize the deployment and utilization of software across their infrastructure. These tools help automate tasks related to following the rules set by software companies for using their products, which is crucial to avoid legal issues. They also help organizations manage assets more effectively and track software usage and spending. These tools can help reduce costs, improve performance, and make data-driven decisions, giving organizations that use them a competitive advantage.

What is software asset management (SAM)?

Essentially, SAM means managing the entire lifecycle of an IT asset, from procurement to implementation, licensing, and, ultimately, retirement. SAM tools have a range of features, from tracking licenses to ensuring compliance to monitoring inventory to devising optimization plans. SAM helps businesses see how their software is used and what licenses they are entitled to to avoid legal issues, operate more smoothly, and cut costs.

What is SAM software?

SAM software tools are designed to manage assets and licenses for a business. These software tools can monitor software licenses and installation and provide information about software usage and what devices the software is operating from. SAM tools typically have standard features like inventory normalization and discovery modules to track licenses and discover software installations. Other features include license management modules, which keep tabs on a business’s licensing agreements to make sure all license rules are followed and that no money is wasted on too many or too few licenses. Reporting and analytics tools are also vital features for creating reports about software usage and where money is being spent. Finally, usage monitoring tools help to show how software is being used in real-time.

Why is SAM software important for your business?

Effective SAM software helps businesses maximize license usage, diminish risks associated with software audits, and reduce license expenses. With SAM software, companies can see the asset lifecycle to regulate IT and software spending. Implementing SAM means businesses can better control their budget and expenses as they can track license renewals, observe software usage patterns, and monitor agreements with major software vendors. SAM also helps businesses analyze how their assets are used and provides software license management to comply with legal requirements. In terms of security, SAM helps prevent cybersecurity issues as it can identify software needing updates or at risk of security breaches.

Best software asset management software tools in 2024

Selecting the right SAM tool is crucial for businesses to maintain efficiency, security, and compliance. With many options available, finding the best SAM software involves considering factors like ease of use, robust features, scalability, and more. This list of top SAM software solutions encompasses industry-leading platforms that are well-known for their asset management abilities.

1. Freshservice

Freshservice is Freshwork's cloud-native service management solution. Freshservice stands out as an exceptional choice for SAM needs with its ability to streamline usage optimization and automate processes across all on-premise software and SaaS applications. Freshservice can utilize a wealth of integrations with leading identity providers, SaaS applications, and automated discovery to manage a business's assets. With Freshservice, companies can efficiently manage software usage and optimize licensing in one unified solution, eliminating the hassle of using multiple tools.

Key features

• Integration capabilities with leading identity providers and SaaS applications

• Contract management is streamlined by centralizing all contact-related information and providing reminders about renewal dates

• Reporting and analytics features to provide insights into software usage, expense trends, cost savings, and more

• Automated discovery for scanning the network to identify software installations for more accurate inventory management

• SaaS license management and usage tracking, expiration date monitoring, and compliance monitoring 

Advantages

Freshservice offers a multitude of advantages to streamline IT operations and enhance productivity. SaaS management enables a 360-degree view to manage a business's SaaS estate and optimize usage. The Workflow Automator and Orchestration Center allows for automating complex and time-consuming processes like employee onboarding, software provisioning, and more. Freshservice is also known for having a user-friendly interface and a wealth of features, all fully capable of handling assets, changes, releases, and more. 

Why customers rave about Freshservice

Customers rave about Freshservice's ability to meet complex requirements and manage assets across an organization, from computers to routers to other software. It is also popular for its automation capabilities when it comes to tracking assets and their location, usage, and status, as well as automatically assigning assets to other users. Its alerting capabilities help monitor the performance of assets and notify end-users if there are any changes or issues. Freshservice is also easily scalable and can adjust to all business needs. One review from G2 states that "Freshservice features lots of powerful automation that can cut the busywork out of a technician's day. The idea of a single pane-of-glass for break/fix, projects, hardware assets and software inventory, and knowledge base, coupled with these time-saving automations, was too compelling for our org to pass up."

2. Vivantio

Vivantio allows businesses to track and manage their software assets from initial discovery to ongoing optimization effortlessly. It is easily scalable to meet large and multi-site organizational needs. With its intuitive interface and advanced features, Vivantio enables businesses to effectively manage software licenses, usage, and compliance, ultimately optimizing costs and enhancing operational efficiency.

Key features

• Configuration management database to bring all configuration information into one location

• Asset categorization to distinguish between physical assets and conceptual assets

• Asset hierarchy and relationship building to determine impact on businesses 

• Unlimited custom fields for recording information relevant to each type of asset 

• Audit trail to record changes to assets over time 

Pros

• Flexible licensing with multiple licensing options 

• Easy to navigate, customizable, and consistently updated to meet business needs

• Service level timer duration is adjustable 

Cons

• As the software is highly customizable, there is a high learning curve with a high level of planning and testing 

• Lacking in ability to export descriptions and subjects into CSV files for reporting purposes  

• Lack of advanced license management features like software metering 

Price

Pricing depends on the number of system users. The named license plan for five licenses starts at $99, and the concurrent license plan starts at $149.

3. Oomnitza

Oomnitza is a versatile solution for IT asset management (ITAM) throughout their lifecycle and business technology. Oomnitza gathers IT and business systems data to create a detailed asset inventory. This makes managing technology data easier and simplifies audits. With Oomnitza, businesses can automate routine tasks to reduce manual work and security threats. 

Key features

• Over 600 integration points for a better view of software assets 

• Software asset tracking for reduced risk of disruptive audits

• Flexible data models for the creation of personalized fields 

• Workflow orchestration engine for software installation task automation

• A structure based on events makes it easier to trigger a wide range of actions based on predefined criteria 

Pros

• Cut down on shadow IT and shadow SaaS by gaining practical insight into software and cloud usage

• Detailed software inventory reports to assist with enhanced security and an organized inventory view

•  Automation software to make employee onboarding and offboarding easier

Cons

• Some users believe that there is room for improvement with reporting and self-service workflow creation 

• API for some configuration with other platforms is needed, which may take some effort to set up correctly 

• Documentation for integrations and building intricate workflows could be clearer and more up-to-date 

Price

Contact Oomnitza for the best up-to-date pricing plans.

4. Certero

Certero is a valuable tool for software asset management solutions, with a comprehensive set of tools to help organizations manage licenses and assets. Its Enterprise SAM solution leverages hyper-scalable cloud architecture to provide a service for businesses of all sizes. This approach assists enterprises in optimizing their software assets efficiently, enabling them to achieve license compliance, control costs, and maximize the value of their software investments. 

Key features

• Advanced inventory tracking and managing of complex software licenses

• Built-in analytics and custom dashboards 

• Agent-based and agentless inventory methods 

• Coverage can expand to include AWS and Azure assets 

• Software recognition database to make sure all inventoried software is accounted for 

Pros

• Highly scalable cloud architecture for smooth implementation and onboarding 

• Integration with ITSM and CMDB solutions 

• Automation capabilities for tasks like uploading license agreements and vendor entitlements

Cons

• Some users have noted room for improvement with the consistency of terminology across functions 

• Lack of ability to detect software license keys automatically

• Asset management systems can be complex to set up for some users

Price

Contact Certero for the best up-to-date pricing plans. 

5. Zluri

Zluri is a SaaS management system that can help businesses simplify the optimization and discovery of SaaS applications and improve IT service. With Zluri, companies can ensure proper security and compliance and manage third-party SaaS applications from one unified platform. Furthermore, Zluri automates time-consuming IT tasks, such as software provisioning and user access management, allowing organizations to increase productivity and focus on strategic initiatives.

Key features

• Over 225,000 applications in apps library 

• Discovery engine for managing and discovering apps

• Renewal monitoring with alerts about payments and contract updates

• Automation for employee onboarding and offboarding

• Tracking and managing the SaaS ecosystem to reduce budget waste

Pros

• Helps to find overcharges and hidden charges with contract terms 

• Automated vendor management system to help manage SaaS system 

• Integrations with over 600 apps 

Cons

• Lack of in-depth online downloadable user guides

• Functionality for reviewing IAM role and policy access could use improvement, according to some users 

• Implementation can be time-consuming, and some applications are challenging to implement

Price

Contact Zluri for up-to-date pricing information.

Choosing the right software asset management software for your business

When choosing the SAM tool for your business, it is essential to consider your business’s unique needs and objectives. For instance, deciding what factors are most important to you for a SAM tool, whether flexibility, license management proficiency, scalability, or other factors, is important. If flexibility is what you are after, consider how customizable the tool is and its capacity for integration with your existing business applications. For scalability, analyze if the tool is robust, can operate across multi-cloud environments, and can support growing business needs. Efficient license management features are another critical factor for many businesses. To evaluate a software’s license management features, consider if it is adept in license recycling, managing vendor audit requests, license optimization, and more. Other important considerations are whether or not the software has an efficient asset discovery tool for virtual and mobile software and robust measurement and reporting features for measuring operational and financial performance.

How Freshservice can meet your business software asset management needs

One reason why Freshservice is an exceptional option for fulfilling SAM needs is because it can optimize license usage. Also, this unified contract management solution eliminates the need for other tools to manage contracts and licenses. Additionally, It can improve a business’s visibility with efficient integrations and automated discovery features that help manage an on-premise SaaS portfolio and its connections with other assets. Freshservice improves visibility with its ability to maintain audit readiness effortlessly with a single system for managing all contract records and ensuring compliance by accurately tracking contract activities, including software licenses, leases, maintenance contracts, and more, with customizable contract types tailored to your business requirements. 

Freshservice helps businesses gain insight into SaaS usage, reduce costs, and streamline management by consolidating siloed subscriptions, obtaining a comprehensive view of their SaaS estate, and making informed decisions on spending and renewals based on user activity and application utilization. Its Orchestration Center is the ideal feature for automating repetitive processes across the software lifecycle. The Workflow Automator feature assists with automating complex processes like employee onboarding and software provisioning.