But Will They Follow?

Akuity's Hanify cites a "general apathy" among businesses about managing software assets. "It's not high on the list of what people are focused on right now."

But Keogh sees an opportunity for MSPs if they can focus more on "checkbook compliance" rather than software license compliance. He also cites a potential conflict of interest for an MSP that also resells software. But he sees a change among MSPs that play in the software asset management (SAM) space.

"I see more and more managed service providers disconnecting their SAM functions and their asset management advisory functions from the software sales parts of their business, or I see a number of independent SAM advisers who are not selling software," he told IT Best of Breed.

The bottom line, Keogh added, is that businesses that are paying for licenses "that aren't actually driving any value [are] compliant, but it's not sensible."