Software asset management (SAM) tools are used to document and manage the software licenses used by a business. Traditionally used to track local, on-premises software licenses, many SAM tools have broadened their scope to include tracking SaaS assets as well. Companies use SAM software for various reasons, including cost tracking, contract management and compliance, and license management solutions, making them prime tools for internal asset and user access managers.
SAM tools share similarities with a few solutions that also manage and track technology assets, including IT asset management software, which also covers physical assets and SaaS operations management software, which focuses particularly on as-a-service software management.
To qualify for inclusion in the Software Asset Management category, a product must:
- Provide tools to build a software inventory
- Track local, on-premises software solutions; many track as-a-service software solutions, as well
- Document software licenses and deployments to determine license compliance position
- Provide compliance management capabilities for software programs