License optimization startup SoftWatch promises to help CIOs address Microsoft Office usage inefficiency as their companies contemplate transitioning from on-premise applications to cloud services. Tel Aviv-based SoftWatch today announced its new namesake online analytics tool that the company says helps CIOs identify savings opportunities based on Microsoft Office usage statistics.

Despite the rapidly growing adoption of cloud services and the resulting shift in IT spending, Microsoft’s on-premise Office software still comfortably reigns as the most widely deployed productivity suite in the enterprise. But a large gap exists between ownership and actual use—a costly disparity for already budget-tight CIOs.

SoftWatch’s online analytics tool utilizes a patent-pending monitoring technology to determine how frequently individual users access a given Microsoft Office application and for what reason they do so. SoftWatch claims this gives decision makers the data they need to make informed decisions when planning to adopt Google Apps, Salesforce and similar cloud solutions. “SoftWatch removes the fear and doubt that traps decision makers…transitioning from Microsoft to Google Apps,” said Uri Arad, co-CEO of SoftWatch.

According to a newly published survey conducted by SoftWatch, the average enterprise user spends only 48 minutes of their workday using Office applications. The survey revealed that Outlook use is predominant, followed by Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Less than one in five employees frequently use Excel, only nine percent of them use Word, and PowerPoint is not even actively used by half of the enterprise workers, according to the survey.

SoftWatch claims that its new online analytics tool can help companies reduce licensing costs by as much as 90 percent. Data protection solution provider Acronis and cloud service provider Onix—both Google Apps resellers—are already SoftWatch partners. SoftWatch plans to establish more partnerships as part of an aggressive effort to drive enterprise adoption of its online analytics tool.

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Photo credit: mansikka via photopin cc

Suzanne Kattau contributed to this story.