Welcome to Part II of our in-depth series on navigating Oracle’s End of Fiscal Year (EOFY). In this installment, we dive into a critical aspect that can significantly impact your Oracle licensing strategy: analyzing license usage. Understanding how your organization utilizes Oracle products is not only essential for compliance but also for optimizing your licensing costs as you approach the EOFY.
In our previous blog, Navigating Oracle’s EOFY: Part I – Internal Audit and Data Gathering, we laid the groundwork for a successful EOFY strategy. We discussed the importance of conducting a thorough internal audit and the steps involved in effective data gathering. This process, crucial for identifying your current Oracle footprint, involves reviewing your existing contracts, understanding your deployment, and ensuring that your license usage aligns with your entitlements. By establishing a clear picture of your Oracle landscape, you can better navigate the complexities of Oracle’s licensing rules and avoid potential compliance pitfalls.
Now, as we move into the analysis phase, it’s time to build upon that foundation. In this part of the series, we will explore how to analyze your Oracle license usage data effectively. This includes identifying underutilized resources, uncovering potential compliance issues, and understanding license usage trends that could affect your licensing needs as the EOFY approaches. Stay tuned as we dive deeper into these topics, providing you with the insights and strategies needed to manage your Oracle licenses effectively and prepare for a successful end to the fiscal year.
Analyzing License Usage
In this section, we concentrate on evaluating the effectiveness of your Oracle licenses, a crucial step for ensuring optimal software utilization. This evaluation not only highlights areas for improvement but also helps in maintaining compliance and avoiding unnecessary expenditures. Additionally, it provides a strategic overview of your licensing landscape, enabling informed decision-making and facilitating a more streamlined and cost-effective management of your Oracle resources.
Traditional software asset management firms focus on license entitlements and license installations. However to properly optimize the deployment of database licenses, you need to go further, taking the time to understand how those licenses are used across current infrastructure and the next three to five-year technology roadmap.
Understanding utilization across all your databases is a critical metric for success for companies, whatever mix of on-premises or cloud-hosted infrastructure is used. Utilization is a critical metric for customers contemplating moving to the cloud.
An underutilized database with spare capacity is a potential candidate for consolidation and an opportunity to free up a license or reduce the number of CPU cores or other resources used to support it. These reductions in the use of infrastructure resources can then be taken as savings or used to increase the resources available to other databases that might be under stress because they are under-resourced and negatively impact application users because of slow performance.
Detailed License Review
Start by conducting a thorough review of your existing Oracle licenses. This involves not just listing them, but understanding their specific terms and conditions. Tools like The ArxPlatform can assist in accurately identifying what licenses you own and how they are being utilized.
Usage Metrics Analysis
Examine your system’s license usage data. Look for patterns such as peak usage times and underutilization of resources. This step is vital for identifying potential cost-saving opportunities or areas where you might need additional resources.
To add the measurement of database and application utilization to the capabilities of the ArxPlatform, LicenseFortress turned to a trusted partner, Application Performance Ltd. They have over three decades of experience building databases and application performance monitoring tools. We collaborated with them to incorporate essential functions of their state-of-the-art database and application performance management tool, Database Insight, into ArxAware.
Database Insight ensures that the infrastructure allocated to each database is optimal, balancing resources to ensure that database performance meets business requirements and freeing up database licenses for other new projects or future savings at renewal time. For customers contemplating a move to the cloud, this provides the needed insight to do it optimally.
Compliance Verification
Cross-reference your usage with Oracle’s licensing terms. Non-compliance can lead to hefty penalties, so it’s crucial to address any discrepancies promptly. Services like LicenseFortress’ Compliance & Optimization Review (COR) can help ensure you stay within the bounds of your agreements. A typical COR on average costs organizations $50k, and produces $3.2 million in savings opportunities.
Assessing Needs
Now we will focus on aligning your Oracle licenses with your organization’s evolving requirements. This alignment is essential for staying ahead of future demands and technological advancements. By proactively evaluating your future needs and technological changes, and aligning them with your budget, you ensure that your Oracle licensing strategy not only meets your current demands but is also well-positioned to adapt to future challenges and opportunities. This forward-thinking approach is key to maintaining efficiency and cost-effectiveness in your software investments.
Forecasting Future Requirements
Evaluate your organization’s future needs in relation to your current Oracle setup. Especially, consider upcoming projects, expected growth, and potential changes in technology requirements. This foresight helps in planning for license adjustments proactively.
Evaluating Technological Changes
Keep abreast of the latest Oracle technologies and updates, because new features or services might offer more efficient solutions or require different licensing models. Setting up a Google Alert for ‘Oracle licensing‘ will deliver industry news and updates directly to your inbox. Additionally, regularly reviewing industry blogs can provide valuable insights from leading Oracle professionals.
Budget Alignment
Finally, you should reconcile your licensing needs with your budget. This involves not just looking at current costs, but forecasting future expenses based on your analysis. A financial analysis can aid in aligning your Oracle licensing strategy with your financial constraints.
Conclusion
This phase of analyzing current license usage and needs is pivotal in shaping an effective Oracle licensing strategy. It sets the stage for making informed decisions that align with both your technological and financial objectives. Next month, we’ll explore how to define organizational goals in the context of Oracle licensing, a crucial step in aligning your IT strategy with your business objectives. Stay tuned!
And of course if you’d like additional help, we’d love to discuss your options. Book a meeting.
