Featured Article from Software Licensing

It’s always a challenge when you’re in business – sticking to your core competencies when there are so many other opportunities on the horizon. How do you make the decision to move forward with one and stick to another? This question is often on the forefront when companies need to take a new product to market, expand into new territory or simply get more value out of their investments. Do they go it alone or trust a proven provider?

Overture Networks (News - Alert) had this exact challenge when they sought to leverage software monetization as part of their software licensing strategy. Richard Jenny, Director of Program Management and DevOps at Overture Networks, was featured in a recent Flexera Software blog, sharing the story of how Overture Networks opted to work with a proven provider instead of building their own software licensing, software update and entitlement management functionality.

Here, the company demonstrates the value of sticking with core competencies and allowing those who specialize in a certain area to deliver value.

“Our CFO understood the reasons and needs to get more into software licensing formally,” said Jenny. “So, as a senior person he stepped up and became a sponsor. He and my manager, asked me to make a recommendation and evaluate the field on what solution to go with. Part of that of course is, ‘do we make our own?’ We were in the middle of introducing products and I don’t mind saying we had four products in the infancy stage. We were going down a path of pretty much four independent or mostly independent solutions in the making on that path.”

In the process, Jenny evaluated a number of different suppliers in relation to what was going on with a number of the company’s products and concluded that the use of internal talent to recreate software licensing solutions wasn’t an affordable option. Plus, what the company was working on was positioned more for license generation and not end-to-end management practices. When working with outside vendors, Flexera Software provided to be the clear leader, delivering an experience that was enjoyable, painless and seamless in information sharing.

“We were easily able to conclude that Flexera was going to be a good partner,” added Jenny. “There is some good competition but Flexera stood out in their behavior, the people, their responsibilities, the quality of the product. Flexera was a great partner to go with the process and come to a fair contract. I am pleased to go forward with that.”

When key players are ready with the expertise to complete that next step for you at a lower investment than using your own resources, it only makes sense to stick to core competencies and trust proven partners.