Software License Management Market By Application (Embedded, B2B Software, B2C Software) By Platform (Hardware, Software, Cloud) and By Region - Global Forecast To 2026

Global Software License Management Market Overview

The global software license management market was valued at US$ 447.6 Mn in 2017, and is expected to register a CAGR of over 10%.

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The report offers in-depth insights, revenue details, and other vital information regarding the global license management market and the various trends, drivers, restraints, opportunities, and threats in the target market till 2026.

The report also offers insightful and detailed information regarding the various key players operating in the global software license management market, and their financials, apart from strategies, acquisitions & mergers, and market footprint. The global software license management market is segmented on the basis of form factor, application, and region.

Software license management is the process that ensures that legal agreements that come with procured software licenses are adhered to. Software tools, and processes used by an organization to monitor, regulate, and document the company's software products in order to enforce and ensure compliance with software licenses is software license management. Software vendors can also use these tools to monitor and ensure compliance with the developer's software license, which help to prevent the developer's software from being copied, shared or pirated by non-licensed users.

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Global Software License Management Dynamics:

Software piracy, non-compliance to licenses and other abuses are on the rise. A large number of software developers and publishers lose revenue due to piracy and counterfeiting, which will fuel growth for the global software license management market. Employing counterfeit, unlicensed, and pirated software can increase the risk of having potential desktop licensing issues in any organization, resulting in downtime and other expensive remedies. Software license management solutions combat software piracy, and increase revenues by easily enabling new pricing, packaging and activation models.

In addition, vendors have realized that revenue can be generated through large fines by conducting compliance audits on companies. Vendor audits from Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, and SAP, and If companies are found to be non-compliant they can be made to pay hefty fines and legal fees. Moreover, counterfeiting is a rising problem for both publishers, and their customers. Software publishers lose substantial revenue due to piracy, and counterfeit versions of their software floating in the market. Publishers have taken strong measures against anti-counterfeiting, which will boost revenues for the global software license management market over the forecast period.

However, complex licensing schemes, and managing products from multiple vendors can add to the risk of over- and under-licensing. Concerns over the number of different versions, and editions of software running across the network include increased support burden for help desk staff, increased workload for IT team, security risks associated with older versions, different licensing rules and costs associated with it. Leading players are seeing growing competition from emerging vendors, which compete on price among other factors. This is likely to create downward pricing pressure for all vendors, which may increase the customer base, but it will restrain revenue growth rates of the global software license management market over the forecast period.

Nonetheless, adoption of software license management solutions for embedded software and intelligent device, is expected to generate significant revenue for software license management companies. Increasing reliance of on-premises software vendors on software license management providers for features such as authentication, feature management, usage tracking and billing integration, and to enable hybrid scenarios, where on premise licenses are augmented with cloud based offerings is expected to provide a lucrative opportunity for software license management companies.

Market Analysis by Form Factor:

On the basis of form factor, software segment is expected to contribute major revenue share in the global software license management market, and witness highest CAGR of over 10.0%, in terms of revenue over the forecast period, owing to rise in subscription, usage-based pricing models and end-users considering it as a safe and secure option.

Client-side enforcement can be done entirely in software or using hardware keys (dongles). Dongle sales have been declining steadily due to technology improvements, and significant adoption of all-software and cloud-based solutions has been registered.

Market Analysis by Application:

Among all the application segments, embedded segment is expected to register highest CAGR of 10.4%, owing to increasing adoption of embedded software and intelligent devices in telecommunications, industrial automation, healthcare, and robotics industries.

Embedded software includes software that run on dedicated device-based form factors, typically in tightly controlled environments and with low flexibility, low fault tolerance, and low power consumption. Devices powered by embedded software are often referred to as intelligent devices. In this segment, software license management solutions are used to manage monetization of intelligent devices.

Market Analysis by Region:

Europe market is expected to dominate the global software license management market, and is expected to account for largest market revenue share of US$ 203.9 Mn in 2020, as compared to that of markets in other regions. Dominance by Europe market is expected to continue over the forecast period. Western European region including UK, Germany, France and Italy is already a mature market for software license management and has reached saturation given the reduced rate of ongoing software innovation. Driving factors for growth of the market include presence of key players in the region such as Gemalto, Wibu-Systems AG, Inish Technology Ventures Ltd., Snow Softare AB, and others.

North America market is expected to witness the highest CAGR growth of 10.4% in the global software license management market during the forecast period, owing to the strength of an active high-end software market, rapid global expansion, and growing rates of conversion from in-house to commercial license management solutions. The North American market provides a suitable environment for startups and SMEs, in terms of government regulations and compliance, owing to this, enterprises are growing rapidly, leading to the heavy demand for license management solutions and services. The region is also the base of large vendors in the software license management market including Flexera Software, Aspera Technologies, Agilis Software, Reprise Software, and others.

Asia Pacific is also expected to register significant growth in the global software license management market, and is likely to grow at a CAGR of over 10%, since countries like China and India are less mature in enforcing IP rights, and more prone to under-licensing. Owing to this there is an increase in adoption of software license solutions to secure revenue of publishers.

Market Segmentation of Global Software License Management Market:

Segmentation by form factor:

• Hardware
• Software
• Cloud

Segmentation by application:

• Embedded
• B2B Software
• B2C Software

Segmentation by region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East & Africa