What is a cloud-based software licensing platform? In today’s fast-paced world, more and more products are moving to the cloud. And sure, there are many benefits with the cloud, such as increased accessibility, reduced infrastructure cost, and greater integration capabilities. But what about cloud-based licensing? Why are many companies moving from physical license keys to the cloud? In today’s blog, we will answer that question and show you how switching to a cloud-based software licensing platform can improve and modernize your business.
If you would rather watch a YouTube video on this topic, here’s one that we have made:
Cloud-Based Software Licensing Platform
First of all, how does non-cloud-based licensing work? One old-school way is to sell a software application on a CD that comes with a license key string on a physical paper. The customer then has to insert the license key string into the application in order to access it. Another physical license key example would be licensing dongles. Software applications then comes with a USB stick which has to be inserted into the computer in order for the software product to be accessible. Neither of these methods feels modern, and keeping track of the physical keys quickly becomes a nightmare. Cloud-based licensing solves this problem!
A cloud-based software licensing platform is a place in the cloud, usually in a web browser. There, you can easily see all of your customer’s license keys, relevant information such as the expiry date, and analytics data regarding how the customer uses your product. So is this method as safe as having physical license keys? Yes, it still keeps the product from being copied and used by non-customers! You can even automate a lot of processes, such as payments, by integrating the platform with other third-party providers.
The cloud-based solution also gives you more flexibility when it comes to licensing models. Subscriptions, usage-based models, and floating or node-locked models are very easy to set up and manage in the cloud. Each model has its own benefits. In general, the different models give you the ability to price your software product more effectively. A powerful way to implement cloud-based licenses is to also implement a licensing model called account-based licensing. Then, all of a customer’s license keys are stored under a username and password. A customer can sign in with their usual user account, and they never have to worry about keeping track of their unique license key. The customer experience is so much smoother, and with cloud-based licensing, your company has a lot more control and flexibility to manage the license keys.
Implementing Cloud-Based Licensing
So if cloud-based licensing is so much better, how do you migrate to the cloud? Well, the easiest and most cost-effective way of doing so is to outsource software licensing to a Licensing as a Service (LaaS) provider. Then, you don’t need to invest a lot of time and money to code it and maintain it yourself, and you get a lot of integrations and advanced features from day 1. We have already made a blog post that tells you how to choose the best provider for your business. We also have a page about the process of migrating license keys to Cryptolens. I now hope you know more about cloud-based licensing, and why so many products in general are moving to the cloud.
Thank you for reading!