Why
License costs can represent 10–20% of cloud spend (especially for Windows, SQL Server, Oracle). BYOL (Bring Your Own License) can reduce licensing costs by 40–60% for eligible workloads. Under-utilised licenses waste money; duplicate licenses across cloud and on-prem waste more.
What
Review license usage, identify under-utilised or duplicate licenses, and evaluate BYOL opportunities.
How
Map Current License Entitlements
Work with Procurement to list all software licenses: product, quantity, entitlement type (per-core, per-user, unlimited), and whether BYOL to cloud is permitted under the license agreement.
Cross-Reference with Cloud Usage
Identify cloud resources running licensed software (Windows VMs, SQL Server instances, Oracle databases). Compare against entitlements: are you paying for cloud-included licenses when you have existing entitlements that allow BYOL?
Implement BYOL Where Eligible
| Provider | BYOL Mechanism |
|---|---|
| AWS | Dedicated Hosts or Dedicated Instances for Windows/SQL |
| Azure | Azure Hybrid Benefit (Windows, SQL, Linux) |
| GCP | Sole-tenant nodes for BYOL compliance |
Coordinate with Procurement to confirm entitlement eligibility before switching. License compliance mistakes can trigger audit findings.
Deliverable Checklist
- License entitlements mapped with Procurement
- Cloud resources running licensed software identified
- BYOL opportunities quantified with savings estimate
- BYOL implemented for eligible workloads
- Under-utilised licenses flagged for decommission
- Quarterly license review scheduled