Here’s an interesting article about the relationship between CIOs and CFOs, written by Scott Rosenberg of Miro Consulting. In the column, Rosenberg asserts that CIOs and CFOs frequently don’t see eye-to-eye not because of competing agendas, but because budget is typically prioritized and allocated based on the profitability of any given division. Ironically, therefore, CIOs often find themselves with inadequate budget to effectively accomplish the initiatives intended to support those very groups.
What does this have to do with software license management? Well, one issue that compounds the problem is that all too often, organizations are vastly over-licensed on software. However, CFOs, who are preoccupied with opportunities to reduce unnecessary spending, don’t have the expertise or tools to identify such problem areas. If CIOs can bring this problem to light, they can strengthen their partnership through a shared agenda and free up precious funds by renegotiating license agreements that more closely reflect actual software usage.
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Tags: license management, software audit
Topics: Best Practices
Ouch! A New York-based brokerage company, Euro Brokers, is being sued by IBM for an undisclosed amount for allegedly downloading unlicensed software valued at more than $1.7 million. According to an InformationWeek article, Euro Brokers was once a legitimate IBM customer, having purchased licenses for Informix database software. But a software audit performed by KPMG revealed that over the course of several years the company had installed additional copies that it hadn’t paid for.
Here’s the chronology of events as described by IBM in the lawsuit: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: license compliance, piracy, software license management
Topics: Industry News
A lot of folks must be rubbing their eyes in disbelief: Microsoft has actually introduced a licensing option that makes life easier for businesses that lease or “rent” Microsoft Windows and Office software to their customers on a per-use basis. Companies that will theoretically benefit from Microsoft’s new “Rental Rights” include internet cafes, print shops, kiosk companies, and office equipment leasing firms that allow customers to pay a fee to use their machines. Previously, such companies were required to purchase a Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA), a licensing scheme that can be prohibitively costly and complicated for small businesses. Evidently (and not surprisingly), the lack of flexible licensing options led to an increased piracy rate among businesses that offer equipment rental services to its customers. Microsoft first piloted the program in countries where the per capita piracy rate is unusually high, such as Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and Thailand.
According to Eric Ligman, Global Partner Experience Lead with the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group, “Rental Rights licenses are one-time licenses that are valid for the term of the underlying software agreement or the life of the PC. These rental rights are available as an additive license to Microsoft Open License, Select License, and Select Plus Volume Licensing agreements.”
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Tags: Microsoft
Topics: Industry News
Over the last few months, I’ve come across several LinkedIn Groups with great discussions taking place about asset management technology and best practices. The “IT Asset Management – Global” Group (3,500+ members), the “Software Asset Management” Group (1,500+ members), and the newer “ITAM Review” Group (400 members) have some illuminating posts (and at times, heated debate) regarding such topics as software recognition databases, asset discovery, license reconciliation, and software tagging, to name just a few.
If you’re a LinkedIn member, be sure to join these groups to access and weigh in on the discussions. If you’re not a registered member, it may be worth taking five minutes to do so.
Tags: IT Asset Management, ITAM Review
Topics: Best Practices, Industry News
In one corner we have the “do-everything” enterprise asset management suite that competes based on its heavyweight status—dripping with functionality and desktop management features that accompany its software license management capabilities. In the other corner we have the slender, agile point product that delivers swift punches with a narrower set of capabilities. So who wins the match?
I will start this post by saying that I’m biased. This blog exists to accomplish more than to satisfy my desire for celebrity and to impress my friends. I work for a company that has spent 10+ years cultivating a software license management point product that meets a targeted set of customer needs. But still, I will try to be objective.
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Tags: Express Software Manager, software license management
Topics: Best Practices, Technical Tips
If you Google the term “software vendor audit,” you’ll find no shortage of information on the topic, particularly related to how to avoid and/or survive them. Frankly, though I try to stay on top of all the current research and frequently talk to customers who provide good anecdotal insight, I’ve seen very little recent material that sheds any new light on the matter. But I confess I was taken aback by some of the information revealed in Forrester’s software licensing report, released January 4th.
First, Forrester reports a year-over-year increase in software audit activity during 2009. This comes as no surprise; as software sales slumped during the economic downturn, vendors sought new ways to bolster their revenue streams; one way of doing so is to more aggressively audit their customers and force them to correct their license deficits.
What did surprise me, however, were some of the anecdotes Forrester cited in which vendors required customers to pony up, apparently in a single-minded attempt to extract extra revenue. According to Forrester, “In addition to spotting genuine under-licensing, many vendors’ audit teams seemed to want to meet their revenue targets by exploiting technicalities and loopholes.”
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Tags: Forrester, license compliance, research, software audit
Topics: Best Practices, Industry News
[Warning: Those who know me know that I’m somewhat prone to hyperbole; this post is no exception.]
I woke up this morning feeling something like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day.” On NPR: yet more bad economic news from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Despite forecasts predicting a December turnaround in the employment market, the economy actually shed another 85,000 jobs. Seriously? Again?
You may recall in the economic downturn of 2001, George Bush famously pleaded for consumers to “go shopping” as a patriotic duty that would help lift the nation out of recession. Well, if, like me, you’re not inclined to go spend your recently decimated nest egg, given the tepid “jobless recovery” that seems to be underway. But maybe you’re more inclined to spend a little of your company’s money as a patriotic act of economic stimulus known as “software license management.”
Still with me? If so, hear me out:
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Tags: BSA, license compliance, piracy, software audit, software license management
Topics: Industry News
With the start of a new year, I thought I’d provide a sneak preview of the kinds of enhancements you can expect to find in the 2010 release of our software and hardware asset management solution, Express Software Manager. We believe our current and prospective customers will be thrilled with Version 9.5, expected to ship in Q2 of this year. Here’s what’s in the works:
Purchasing Module: The introduction of a purchasing module is the primary focus of this release. For customers already using Express Software Manager, it will transform your ability to track and manage the countless details related to your hardware and software purchases, maintenance contracts, and leases. The module will have an independent Web interface that allows you to enter/import, organize, summarize, and filter on virtually any piece of purchasing data related to your IT assets. Stored data can then be reconciled with inventoried hardware devices and software applications.
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Tags: Express Metrix, Express Software Manager
Topics: Updates
Happy New Year!
If you’re anything like me, the first weeks of January usually involve a Herculean effort to work off the extra pounds you packed on as a result of all the holiday excess. But this task is dwarfed in comparison to the effort your company may face as a result of the past decade’s technology excesses: blind overpurchasing of applications, lax software usage policies, unfettered adoption of new enterprise and consumer technologies, and a pervasive “Wild West” attitude toward responsible licensing practices. All these have led to a glut of shelfware, institutionalized overspending, and unprecedented software piracy risk among many organizations–leaving IT departments with a colossal mess to clean up.
Related to all this, I thought I’d post a timely and well-written article about the ever-evolving pitfalls related to software licensing, written by Dan Tynan of InfoWorld. The column is a good primer on software license management, especially for those looking to get a handle on their license position. (Our own Kris Barker was tapped by Dan to lend his expertise about driving down application and support costs by metering software usage, along with navigating the licensing landmines associated with virtualized systems and software.)
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Tags: license compliance, software license management, software metering
Topics: Best Practices, Industry News
I saw this on Miro Consulting’s blog and couldn’t resist re-posting it. Look familiar?
Tags: software audit
Topics: Best Practices
