Generally speaking, net-new license reservations refer to the additional licenses an organization may sign each year for new employees. It’s a sensible enough idea, in theory – new teammates equal new licenses – but in practice, net-new license reservations often mean unnecessary spending, chaotic IT networks, and a lack of optimization for companies, as so many already reserved licenses are likely going unused.

So, how can you reduce net-new license reservations and enhance your approach to license optimization, thus reducing this chaos? It’s an excellent question, and one of our team of solution architects (or SAs) is fully equipped to answer.

Here are our top four rules for getting your license management under control, plus a few tips and tricks of the trade.

1. Take Control of Your Inventory

Think of net-new license reservations like shopping for groceries: Taking stock of the ingredients and goods you already have is key, especially when you’ve got limited pantry space (and budget).

Before investing in net-new license reservations, be sure to evaluate your current inventory and collect the data. This will allow you to see if and where there may be gaps, opportunities to transfer licenses, or even overstock.

From there, you can devise a plan.

2. Get Granular with Reporting

Once you’ve taken a look at your inventory and captured the appropriate data, utilize in-depth reporting tools to dig into that data and activity.

Can this be an unruly process? Absolutely. But Microsoft 365 management tools (like, ahem, CoreView) can help you navigate it with automation and ease, unearthing insights you didn’t even know to look for.

For example, let’s say a company gave everyone in their organization an E5 license in an effort to keep things simple, which comes with an enormous price tag. There’s a good chance you can move a number of employees from an E5 to the less expensive F5 license, but you’d have to understand who’s doing what with the licenses currently in place. CoreView allows you to break down and understand where you may be over-or under-licensing, thus reducing net-new license reservations.

3. Automate License Pools

Once you’ve assessed the data, you can begin to action against it. And one major way to take action here is to create and automate license pools.

A license pool essentially refers to any collection of content your company has purchased – including Microsoft 365 licenses – which is then grouped by category (e.g., department, type of license, etc.). Oftentimes, an unused license will sit long hereafter an employee has left a company, going unused and wasting precious dollars. By automating the process of placing these unused licenses into pools, however, you’re not only able to see how in-action licenses are being used, but you’re also able to pull from the pool and assign dormant licenses to new employees (saving you the trouble of buying and reserving new licenses).

4. Manage Licenses at a Lower Level

Another advantage of license pools? Because licenses are grouped by feature, they become easier to account for and manage at a lower, more granular level – by department, by office, etc. With this level of insight, you can then see which licenses are being used (or not used) by which teams, charging back to the appropriate divisions if and as needed.

Understanding all of the above should be simple, but without a management partner like CoreView, it can often become unnecessarily complicated. We’re here to provide in-depth reporting, alerts, and full comprehension to you – reducing net-new license reservations and boosting optimization across your IT network. At the end of the day, this can’t help but save you money.

Care to see for yourself? Request a CoreView demo today.