Software Management for a creative agency

If you run or are thinking of starting your own company here's my tip. Keep track of your software from day 1. We now have a team of 17 people and keeping track of every licence, disc and serial number is quite tough. Especially when any one of 6 people can make a purchase.

A perfect example of this is we have 7 copies of Office for Mac but only 6 Macs with two people have conflicting serials.

Other times we have the CD & box but can't find the serial or receipt and other times we have the receipt but no CD or box. Half the software if bought online with just a serial number and email as proof of purchase.

Staff borrowing and losing the CD's is also another problem.

We've tried to keep all the CD's in a CD holder and separate them from the bulky boxes as this makes it easier to find the CD you need.

Starting next week we'll do a major software stocktake and create a workflow for any future purchases. Always through the same person with serials and receipts logged in a central area. Any new installations will be run through that designated person with any conflicts fixed.

Software is a major investment with a every new staff member requiring between $4-6k worth of apps. Luckily management staff are cheaper with only about $1-2k worth of apps needed.

I'd be interested in hearing how other people manage their software or if they too have similar problems. Maybe their is an application you can get that makes this a simple process?