Thoughts on license-first structures for non-operating infrastructure assets

I’m pressure-testing a license-before-buyout structure on a non-operating infrastructure asset and wanted to get a sense of how others here think about this in practice. This isn’t a business, software product, or anything with customers or revenue attached. It’s a control-layer asset that sits above execution and governs how systems are approved, replaced, and scaled internally rather than doing the work itself. Because of that, I’m curious how people who’ve dealt with governance-level or infrastructure-type assets view license-first approaches versus clean buyouts. In situations like this, do you see value in licensing first to validate internal fit before transferring ownership, or do you generally prefer to own outright from day one? Not listing anything here and not looking to sell. Just genuinely interested in how others have seen this structured when the asset isn’t tied to operations or execution.