SOFTWARE CONTRACT RENEWAL
Take control: Optimize your software contract renewals for maximum value
Software contract renewals present a critical opportunity to optimize spend and align software investments with business needs. However, without clear visibility into usage, entitlements and upcoming renewal dates, organizations often overspend or miss chances for better terms. Flexera empowers you to approach every software contract renewal strategically, armed with the data to reduce costs and mitigate risks.
Reactive management
The pitfalls of reactive management
Don't let renewals drain your budget
Many organizations approach software contract renewals reactively, often realizing a contract is due only weeks before its expiration. This lack of foresight leads to rushed decisions, unfavorable terms and significant overspending on underutilized or unnecessary software.
Discover the common challenges that turn renewals into costly burdens:
- Automatic renewals at unfavorable terms: Getting locked into expensive contracts for software you no longer fully need
- Overspending on shelfware: Paying for licenses that are unused or underutilized across the organization
- Lack of negotiating power: Entering discussions with vendors without accurate usage data or understanding of your true needs
- Missed cost-saving opportunities: Failing to identify redundant applications or opportunities to consolidate licenses
- Compliance risks from misaligned contracts: Renewing contracts that don't accurately reflect your current deployment and usage, potentially leading to audit issues
Proactive software contract renewal
Proactive software contract renewal management with Flexera
Flexera enables a proactive, data-driven approach to software contract renewals. Our solutions provide a centralized view of your software portfolio, complete with usage insights, entitlement data and renewal calendars, so you can prepare for negotiations well in advance and make informed decisions that optimize spend and support your business objectives.
Software contract renewal
- Centralized renewal calendar: Track all software contract renewal dates and terms in one place to avoid surprises
- Accurate usage data: Understand exactly how software is being used across on-premises, SaaS and cloud environments to prevent over-buying
- Entitlement and product use rights management: Clearly define what you own and how it can be used to ensure compliance and leverage favorable terms
- Spend forecasting and budgeting: Predict future licensing needs based on current usage patterns and upcoming projects
- Identification of optimization opportunities: Pinpoint redundant applications, underutilized licenses and opportunities for consolidation or downgrading to premium tiers
Negotiate smarter
Negotiate smarter
Key strategies for better software contract terms
Effective negotiation is key to unlocking savings during software contract renewals. Flexera provides the data and insights you need to build a strong negotiating position with your software vendors.
- Start early: Begin your renewal preparation process at least 6-12 months in advance
- Know your actual usage: Leverage detailed utilization data to rightsize your license count
- Understand your contract terms: Be clear on product use rights, metrics and any changes in vendor licensing models
- Identify alternatives: Explore if newer, more cost-effective applications could meet employee needs
- Consolidate agreements: Where possible, consolidate multiple contracts with a single vendor for better volume discounts
Renew with confidence
The role of accurate data and Technopedia
Inaccurate or incomplete data is a primary reason for poor renewal outcomes. Flexera solutions, powered by Technopedia® provide the world's largest and most comprehensive catalog of IT asset data. This ensures your software inventory is accurately identified, normalized and enriched, giving you a trusted foundation for all renewal decisions.
Renew with confidence
- Accurate software recognition: Correctly identify deployed software against a massive catalog
- Normalized data: Ensure consistency in software titles, versions and publisher information
- Enriched information: Gain insights into product use rights, EOL/EOS dates, application categories and licensing models
- Reduced audit risk during renewals: Ensure your renewed contracts align with your actual, verified deployments
Flexera's IT Asset Management (ITAM)
Flexera in action: Streamlining your software contract renewals
Flexera's IT Asset Management (ITAM) solutions offer specific functionalities designed to make your software contract renewal process more efficient, predictable and cost-effective.
From identifying what you have, to understanding how it's used, to planning for what you need, Flexera provides end-to-end support for your software contract renewals.
Visibility and planning |
Optimization and negotiation support |
|---|---|
| Automated renewal alerts: Never miss an upcoming renewal deadline | License optimization engine: Recommendations to rightsize licenses and reduce spend |
| SaaS renewal management: Specialized capabilities for tracking and optimizing SaaS subscriptions | Contractual data repository: Import all contract documents and key terms |
| Usage metering and analysis: Detailed insights into who is using what software and how often | Scenario modeling: Understand the cost implications of different renewal options |
Proactively manage software renewals to reduce spend
Prepare for a contract renewal
Prevent over-buying when renewing
If you don’t understand how much software you’re utilizing, how can you know which applications and how many licenses to renew? Flexera delivers the key insights you need across your entire software portfolio (SaaS, on-premises and cloud licenses) so that you can remove applications no longer in use, downgrade licenses from premium tiers, reduce the number of licenses required and consolidate agreements to obtain the most favorable terms and volume discounts.
Accurate data
Gather better insights with accurate data
Inaccurate data won’t help you with a software renewal and may even lead to an audit. Flexera can help you obtain information about your software licenses from multiple sources and automatically cleanse, normalize, standardize and enrich that data with curated content from the world’s largest technology catalog, Technopedia.
Forecast spend
Estimate future needs based on current usage
Choosing what and how much software to renew based on what you purchased before will not help your organization reduce spend and reign in complexity. Get true insights into your current actual software usage with Flexera and fine-tune your new software contract to your actual needs, not just what was purchased previously. With the software market changing so rapidly, assess what new applications employees are using to determine if there is a better option on the market than your prior enterprise standard.
TRUSTED DATA AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Renew software with trusted data
You can’t have a prudent software renewal with inaccurate data. Flexera didn’t happen upon being a leader in software asset management. We understand that effective asset management hinges on trustworthy data. Flexera has the largest software catalog (across SaaS, on-premises and cloud environments) in the industry and our solutions are verified for data accuracy against all categories of Oracle products. Trustworthy and verified data helps you prepare for renewals faster with confidence.
What our clients say: Real savings, real control: Flexera's impact on renewals
Flexera has helped us gain clearer visibility over our software estate, improving compliance and reducing unnecessary spend through more accurate license tracking. It's enabled our team to identify underused applications and reclaim licences more efficiently, which supports better decision-making around renewals and procurement. The reporting capabilities have also improved stakeholder engagement by providing clearer insights into usage and value.
FAQ’s: Your software renewal questions answered
Data normalization rates are a useful metric to measure efficiency and data accuracy, but these rates can be manipulated with selective data inclusion, loosening matching criteria and over-generalization.
Software vendors are starting to verify SAM solutions to ease this burden on customers to ensure they know which solutions they can trust.
Depending on the complexity of your license position, a reasonable time frame can be up to six-months prior to renewal. You’ll need to gather your current ITAM data, analyze this data with your internal stakeholders, assemble a negotiation team, define the outcomes you expect from the negotiation and engage with your software vendor.
- Evaluate current usage and performance
- Review how the software is currently being used across the organization
- Conduct a needs assessment
- Reevaluate your current and future business requirements to ensure the software continues to meet your needs
- Conduct a financial review
- Review the total cost of ownership, including licensing fees, maintenance costs, and any additional expenses. Compare this with the value and benefits derived from the software
- Engage stakeholders
- Ensure that you have support of senior management for the renewal process before you make any potential changes to the contract.
- Negotiate terms and conditions
- Review the current terms and conditions and identify key areas for negotiation such as pricing, service levels, support and flexibility.
For significant contracts, especially with major vendors like Microsoft, Oracle or SAP, it's advisable to start the preparation process 9-12 months, or at minimum 6 months, before the renewal date to allow ample time for data collection, analysis, and negotiation.
A common mistake is not having accurate data on current software usage and entitlements. This leads to either overpaying for unnecessary licenses or facing compliance issues down the line.
Flexera provides tools to discover all SaaS applications in use (including shadow IT), track usage, manage renewal dates for myriad subscriptions and identify redundant or underutilized SaaS tools to optimize spend.
Yes, Flexera can help rapidly gather and analyze your usage data to provide insights that can strengthen your current negotiating position, even if the process has already begun.
Vendor-verified data means that the software vendor trusts the accuracy of the data presented by Flexera's tools. This can simplify negotiations and reduce the likelihood of disputes over your declared license position during renewal discussions.
Master your renewals: Expert insights and best practices
Informing IT, Transforming IT
Transform your software renewals from a cost center to a value driver
Stop overspending and start optimizing. Flexera’s team is ready to show you how to gain control over your software contract renewals, ensure compliance and significantly reduce unnecessary software costs.