Snow License Manager vs. TrackMySubs

I have said at a number of events that I have attended, where other suppliers have shown their latest and greatest new thing, it is the fundamentals that need to work, and need to work well, and this is what Snow License Manager does. It does not take a team of 100 staff to get the tool working or to keep the tool functioning, it works and is stable out of the box. We have learnt that putting the right processes in at the start means that Snow License Manager can do what it has been designed to do and what we have paid for it to do. Audits from vendors now days are relatively simple actions, with the Snow License Manager doing it's job we can quickly run a report and know exactly what our position is and then act accordingly, quick, simple and accurate data at your finger tips, as long as you put the work in to enter the license details etc. If Snow License Manager could invent a robot to go around the business and find all these bits of paper for us then that would be perfect.

Incentivized

It is well suited to a tiny business that is trying to carefully be aware of when cash flow is going out or small business to be able to check the subscriptions they have all at once to see if they can combine/cancel/negotiate any of them to free up cashflow. It's also very suited to home use for this reason. It's less suited to a bigger business where the decisions are made across the company/lots of users.

Incentivized

• Identifies where and when software applications have been used
• Checks compliance of applications to the license terms
• Warns of impending license expiries

Incentivized

• Gives customizable reminders by email at the times that suit you - And can be more than one.
• Can track how much you save on certain subscriptions (i.e. the ones you have a discount on etc).
• Can track lifetime deals to find the services you use easily.
• Use the Go and Explore features to access the websites easily (or find new helpful subscriptions!).

Incentivized

• The Snow Management and Control Center (SMACC) has inconsistent searches and filters, some functioning with wildcards and others not.
• The learning curve of Snow is quite steep.
• Recalculating compliance can slow the entire application down.

Incentivized

• Can be slightly complex to set up if you don't know all the details you need/which option to use.
• Somewhat unintuitive GUI.
• Be able to add more details immediately when you set up the new addition, rather than needing to wait until it's added.

Incentivized

While the deployment is fairly easy, updating the agent can be tedious. For one, each new version needs a request to customer support, but too it's not possible to "update" the old version rather than reinstall the new one. The lack of customization/configuration possible for the SnowAgent installer is irritating. Putting that aside, once the system is set up it's fairly easy to maintain and with very few hiccups, update. It overall runs very smoothly with little to no error.

Incentivized

The deciding factor for the decision makers was the combination of license management and utilization statistics. Our desktop people wanted the utilization and reporting to be very granular and close to real time. Snow was purchased because they promoted their real time utilization in addition to the license management, alerting and reporting. To my knowledge, only Snow was given a proof of concept before the decision was made.

Incentivized

• In the first year SLM was deployed about $1,000,000 was saved in license costs
• Departments could determine their current use and project future needs better
• The number of software providers could be consolidated

Incentivized

• It's meant I don't have fee's for not having enough money in the acct.
• I've been able to cancel subscriptions that I don't use.
• I can track lifetime deals so that I can make use of the ones that I have rather than purchasing something else.

Incentivized