Revenera Monetization Monitor Highlights Benefits of Software Usage Analytics

“Well-managed collection of software usage data provides significant advantages for technology companies. Those who do it well make data-driven decisions, deliver on customer needs, stop revenue leakage and often run a more successful business overall,” said Nicole Segerer, vice president of product management & marketing at Revenera. “Many software companies still struggle to collect accurate and detailed insight into usage or are stuck with limited homegrown analyses. As budgets grow tighter and as the need for efficiency grows, software usage analytics is increasingly important.”

Highlights from the Revenera Monetization Monitor: Software Usage Analytics 2020report include:

• Interest in usage data is growing: Software suppliers show an ongoing interest in collecting and understanding usage data: today, 60 percent collect usage data; a total of more than 75 percent will do so in the next two years. Usage data collection practices vary across deployment models. SaaS companies are in the lead, with 100 percent either already collecting or planning to collect usage data in the next two years; other deployment models aren't far behind (68 percent of on-premises and 71 percent of embedded software suppliers). Accurate usage insights play a vital role in change management, digital transformation initiatives, and in the growing reliance on usage-based monetization models.
• Some technical barriers remain, but those who overcome them see the rewards: Some companies need greater understanding of software usage data in order to unlock new business models and align price with the product’s perceived value, regardless of the monetization models they offer or plan to offer. Among suppliers that don’t collect usage data, only 29 percent can see if customers are using their software; this number jumps to 58% of suppliers who collect usage data, giving them 2x greater visibility into this fundamental metric. Significantly, more than a quarter (27 percent) of suppliers that do not collect usage data have no visibility into common metrics like feature usage, trending usage or version adoption. Less than half (46 percent) of all respondents report that pricing is aligned with value; this number improves to 58 percent among companies that are already very good at collecting usage data.
• Usage data can help identify and resolve revenue leakage: Effective usage intelligence can be used to ensure license compliance. Many suppliers aren’t aware of how much revenue they’re losing to intentional or unintentional overuse: 48 percent don’t know how much revenue is lost to piracy and 42 percent don’t know how much revenue is lost to overuse. One in five suppliers aren’t sure of the causes of revenue leakage. While the buyers of software invest in understanding how well they utilize what they bought and with Software Asset Management (SAM) being an important strategy for CIOs, software suppliers must prepare for growing customer demands for usage insights, as a means for strengthening the customer relationship.

Methodology

In 2020 Revenera conducted a global survey among software suppliers. Of the 250 survey respondents, 30 percent are director and above, 28 percent are manager/team leader and 42 percent are individual contributors/consultants.