HP has launched a subscription management service to make it easier for SMBs to manage Microsoft cloud-based licensing, following the release of Windows 365 earlier this year.

HP Subscription Management Service is designed for small and medium-sized companies to make software investment decisions based on reliable workforce intelligence. The service provides license management of Microsoft 365 as well as the full list of Microsoft cloud subscription services.

The product displays online visibility of software analytics and usage trending by user, department, or geography, helping IT teams to easily shift and scale their subscriptions as needed, said HP.

For channel partners, the new service offers a one-stop cloud-based product that allows them to sell Microsoft 365 and the full Microsoft cloud subscription library to their customers, along with HP’s licensing analytics and its premier partner support.

The company said there are additional features to help companies reduce costs and administration overheads too, while increasing security and compliance. HP customers can flex licenses up or down through pay-as-you-go subscription options, ensuring software spend is the right size as business needs change.

Through HP Subscription Management, companies can also secure their workforce from wherever they work with cloud security health checks optimised for the hybrid workplace.

“While IT leaders see managing costs and usage of SaaS applications as a top business priority, more than half still rely on dated internal tools and manual spreadsheets to track and monitor their subscriptions and renewals,” said Sumeer Chandra, global head and general manager of personal systems services at HP.

“As a result, it’s challenging for IT to know when renewals are happening, or how much is being spent on software licenses.”

The HP Subscription Management Service is expected to be available in the UK, France, Germany, and Chile by the end of 2021, whereas the US and additional countries will have to wait until the first quarter of 2022.

As part of the announcement, HP is also launching an Enablement Service for Windows Autopilot to help automate new device setup across the internet with little or no need to touch the device, a simpler and faster way for SMBs to provision new Windows 10 or Windows 11 hardware.

Additionally, it’s releasing HP Proactive Insights Experience Management to make it easy for IT teams to gauge employee sentiment and perceptions in the context of their IT environment.

Lastly, it revealed its Enhancement to HP Proactive Insights, providing advanced remediation capabilities like new security, system stability, and performance optimisations through automatic updates.

The launch of HP’s products follows the release of Windows 365 in August, Microsoft’s PC as a service offering, offering benefits like remote access to virtual endpoints, apps, and data from any device registered with Microsoft Cloud. This reduces the need for businesses to invest in virtual desktop infrastructure, cuts hardware costs, and makes patch management simpler for IT teams.