Solutions
Software Asset Management Platform
LICENSEWARE is modular software: connect the inventory you already run, whether that is Lansweeper, ServiceNow, NinjaOne or RVTools, then add the per-vendor apps that turn it into a saving, an audit defense or a renewal number.
Definition
What software asset management is
Software asset management (SAM) is the practice of managing software across its whole life so an organization controls what it spends, what it risks and what it can prove. The reconciliation of entitlements against deployments and usage is the mechanic underneath those compliance and cost questions. It is where LICENSEWARE works.
Entitlements
What you are entitled to
Perpetual licenses, subscriptions, unlimited agreements, support terms and the contract clauses that qualify them. Held per publisher rather than per invoice, and dated, so a renewal is visible months before it lands.
Deployments
What is actually installed and running
Installs, instances, virtual machines, containers, and the cluster or host each one is counted on. Read from the inventory tools already in place, not from a new agent pushed to every machine.
Usage
How much of it anyone touches
Active seats, enabled features, measured consumption. Usage is the difference between a license you need and a license you have renewed out of habit for three years.
Why now
It matters more now than it used to
The number has to exist before an auditor or a renewal forces the question. Oracle and Microsoft mine usage telemetry before they call, and spend shifts from perpetual licenses nobody touches to SaaS renewals nobody renegotiates. A SAM program turns a guess into a defensible number: see the effective license position guide or the software license management guide.
SAM vs ITAM
Software asset management vs IT asset management
IT asset management is the wider discipline: hardware and software assets tracked from purchase to retirement. Software asset management is its licensing subset, needing that inventory first. LICENSEWARE is SAM and ITAM software built on what you run, not a replacement for it.
IT asset management
Hardware and software tracked end to end: procurement, deployment, maintenance, retirement. The inventory layer: what Lansweeper, ServiceNow and NinjaOne give you. LICENSEWARE reads it through the data sources rather than collecting it again.
Software asset management
Entitlements, deployments, usage and licensing cost for software specifically. The compliance layer, built on the ITAM inventory rather than replacing it. SAM tool vs ITAM tool has the full comparison.
Inside the platform
Three stages, one effective license position
The same pipeline runs behind every LICENSEWARE app. Data in from the tools you already have, the vendor's own licensing rules applied to it, a position out with the evidence still attached to each number.
01Discover
Installs, virtual machines and containers pulled from the tools you run, normalized into one record, versions and infrastructure mapped to the cluster.
02Entitle
Contracts, purchase orders, subscriptions and support agreements matched to product records, with quantity, metric and end date, not a spreadsheet line.
03Reconcile
Requirement measured against entitlement on the publisher's metric, whether processors, users or devices, with surplus and shortfall traceable to deployment and contract.
How LICENSEWARE does it
Specialized apps for the decisions that cost money
Software inventory & rationalization
Discovers what's installed across the estate and finds the redundant, unused and end-of-life software to retire.
Contracts & entitlements
Entitlements, contracts and renewal dates in one place, matched against what's actually deployed.
Infrastructure mapping
Maps the physical and virtual infrastructure a license position depends on: clusters, hosts and hypervisors.
Oracle Database
Oracle's own licensing rules applied to your database estate automatically, editions and options included.
Microsoft 365 & licensing
Microsoft's editions and bundles reconciled against actual usage, so overpaid seats surface on their own.
NEO, the AI SAM Analyst
Turns any app's data into a report you can hand to the board, with the evidence behind every finding.
Six more apps cover the rest of the estate. See all twelve on the apps page.
Any source
Data agnostic by design
Whatever your estate produces is what LICENSEWARE reads: Lansweeper, ServiceNow, Flexera, Snow, BigFix, NinjaOne, Device42, a script, a spreadsheet. Nothing ripped out or collected twice.
Any format
However it arrives
APIs, vendor scripts and collector output land in one normalized record, so your data's shape is our problem. The data sources page lists what connects.
Minutes
Data in, answers out
Load the data and the reconciliation runs in minutes, not a consulting engagement that reports back next quarter, with evidence behind every finding.
Outcomes
What a SAM program buys you
Four jobs the same reconciled data does, each with its own apps and its own report.
Audit defense
Build the position before the vendor does: entitlements reconciled against deployments for Oracle, Microsoft, Red Hat and Java, evidence ready.
LCMODBMOMWMOJDMMDMRDMIFMPCost optimization
Idle licenses, over-provisioned editions and overlap surfaced across every vendor, turned into a right-sizing decision before the next invoice.
SIMMDMADMRDMODBMOMWMOJDMNEORenewal optimization
Walk into the negotiation with the position ready: dates centralized, requirement set against usage, NEO reading the contract for risk.
LCMMDMNEOSIMADMSoftware rationalization
Cut tool sprawl: inventory de-duplicated into one record, redundant software exposed, a shortlist to standardize on.
SIMNEOSASIFMPFAQ
Frequently asked questions
Definition What is software asset management?
Software asset management (SAM) is the practice of managing, tracking and optimizing an organization's software licenses: matching what you're entitled to against what's deployed and used, so you know whether you're compliant, over-licensed or exposed to an audit finding.
Tooling What is asset management software?
Asset management software is any tool that tracks assets through their lifecycle. Software asset management tools are the licensing-focused kind: they reconcile entitlements, deployments and usage into a license position, rather than just listing what hardware or software exists.
Tooling What are software asset management tools?
Software asset management tools discover installed software, hold your entitlements and contracts, and compute a license position per vendor. Some cover every publisher generically; others, like LICENSEWARE's per-vendor apps, apply a vendor's own licensing rules automatically, counting the cores, processors or named users the way the vendor itself counts them.
SAM vs ITAM What is hardware and software asset management?
Hardware and software asset management, usually called IT asset management (ITAM), covers every physical and software asset through its lifecycle. Software asset management is the licensing and compliance subset of that: the entitlements, deployments and usage of software specifically, built on the hardware and software inventory ITAM already tracks.
Choosing How do you choose the right asset management software?
Start with the inventory you already run. Most teams have one, whether that's Lansweeper, ServiceNow or NinjaOne. Then pick software asset management solutions that connect to it rather than replace it, apply the licensing rules of the vendors that actually cost you money, and hand you evidence, not just a dashboard, when an audit letter arrives.
Get your license position
Connect your inventory and see your first effective license position on the free plan, or talk to sales about the vendors that matter most to you.
Further reading