By Roby Uanela

In today’s rapidly evolving tech landscape, organisations increasingly depend on DevOps Platforms (Gitlab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, etc.) for improved software development processes. These platforms ensure the delivery of high-quality software by streamlining development, testing, and deployment workflows.

However, as organisations scale, managing user licenses on these platforms becomes a significant challenge. One of the more often overlooked things is effectively tracking license usage, especially as employees join, move roles, or leave the company.

Why does tracking license usage matter?

A 2023 report by Nextthink close to half of company-installed software remains largely unused by employees, resulting in billions of dollars lost globally. As we can now see, the inability to manage licenses effectively often leads to wasted costs, something that can easily be prevented. Businesses end up paying for licenses which are inactive and unaccounted for.  In some cases, users have left the company, but their subscription is still active and assigned to them. At the core, asset management could also be cited as the biggest contributing factor.

What can be done from a DevOps perspective?

As a DevOps Administrator, I have seen the direct impacts of how manual tracking of user activity and license cleanups of employees who have since left the organisation, changed roles or are inactive on these paid platforms becomes tedious and error-prone, especially in large enterprises where these changes occur frequently.

Thankfully, automation and integration with identity management tools offer practical solutions. Identity and Access Management systems allow organisations to manage the digital and user control settings of their employee, ensuring that the right people have the tools and correct access assigned to them.

For example, there are multiple strategies organisations can use to take control of tracking license consumption and cleanups:

• Automated Cleanup Scripts: Schedule scripts (written in Bash, Python, or PowerShell) using pipelines to run monthly checks on inactive users or those who’ve left. These scripts can automatically deallocate licenses and remove access.
• Integration with Identity Management Tools: Use SCIM, LDAP, or Azure AD Security Groups to sync user access automatically. This helps ensure that access permissions and license assignments are always in sync with your organisation’s identity provider.

What are the benefits of tracking license usage?

Implementing automation and identity-based access management provides significant value for organisations managing licenses across DevOps platforms. Key benefits include:

Cost Savings
As highlighted above, enterprises lose a lot of money due to mismanaged user licenses. Automatically deallocating licenses from inactive or departed users helps eliminate wasteful spending, which allows the company to use the money as it pleases.

Time Efficiency
Routine tasks that previously required hours of manual effort, such as identifying inactive users and removing access, can now be completed in minutes using scheduled pipelines (e.g., Azure Pipelines). While human oversight would still be critical, tools that make workflows more efficient will have a positive impact on the company.

Increased Accuracy
Automation scripts and identity-based rules reduce human error and ensure consistent, reliable cleanups. This minimises the risk of missed users or accidental license removals.

Enhanced Security
Integration with identity providers (e.g., SCIM, LDAP) ensures that users who leave the organisation are automatically removed from critical systems, thereby strengthening your security posture. This also goes for the ability to de-provision access rights for employees who change roles.

Scalability
As DevOps environments grow, automated solutions can seamlessly handle hundreds or even thousands of users without increasing administrative overhead.

Improved Visibility and Reporting
Automation can include the generation of license usage reports, giving teams greater insight into trends, facilitating audits, and supporting more informed decision-making for renewals and budgeting.

Getting Started With Effectively Managing Licenses

Experience has over the years proved that managing licenses effectively is necessary.  As organisations scale and undergo constant changes, the cost and complexity of manual license tracking can quickly spiral out of control. That is why at Integrove, we understand that while this is important, each enterprise has its own needs, and we can provide a tailored and future-proof cost-effective solution.

By embracing automation and integrating with identity management systems, businesses can not only reduce operational overhead but also unlock significant cost savings, improve security, and ensure compliance.