Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Illinois)

In spite of the escalating intensity of the rhetoric surrounding the upcoming presidential elections, I do think there’s one thing we can all agree on no matter what our political leanings: the government should make every effort to cut wasteful spending.

Illinois congressman, Joe Walsh, has taken steps to root out waste within a relatively small, yet still significant, portion of the government’s budget: $40 billion in annual software spending. Congressman Walsh recognizes what companies in the private sector have known for a long time: that establishing some very simple software license management processes can help eliminate significant amounts of waste. According to Walsh, “There is a tremendous amount of waste currently institutionalized in the federal government’s current system (or lack thereof) in procuring and using software… Adopting best practices from the private sector around software asset management and license optimization is a painless and efficient way to eliminate this wasteful spending, while increasing the value being delivered to government employees.”

As such, Walsh has proposed a House amendment to the 2012 Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) authorization bill, which holds the department accountable for reigning in superfluous software spending. The amendment contains specific language requiring that the CIO:

(more…)

For those of you interested in the legal aspects of license compliance and software audits, here’s an interesting development that took place in the D.C. Court of Appeals just a few weeks ago:  After an anonymous employee filed a bogus piracy claim with the SIIA against his/her company, Solers Inc, the firm filed a defamation lawsuit against the “John Doe” informant and tried to subpoena the SIIA to reveal the defendant’s identity. Unfortunately for Solers (and fortunately for the defendant), the Court of Appeals ruled that because Solers couldn’t provide sufficient evidence that it had suffered economic or other losses as a result of the false accusation, the subpoena would be quashed and the case dismissed.

Although the ruling doesn’t apply to areas outside the District of Columbia, it still potentially serves as a precedent both to businesses and would-be whistle-blowers. First, businesses may be more or less inclined to pursue the identity of a John Doe depending on their ability to furnish evidence of economic damages, and the perceived strength of such “proof.” Perhaps more interestingly, employees considering filing a confidential license infringement claim to the BSA or SIIA may think again if they know that under certain circumstances, particularly when economic harm results, their anonymity may not be protected in the event of a subpoena.

(more…)

As we turn our sights toward 2012, I wanted to take a brief moment to thank all our customers, both new and old, for their trust and loyalty. Those who’ve used our software for an extended period of time know we are deeply committed to listening to our customers and evolving our IT asset management offerings in ways that help make their jobs easier. We also take enormous pride in the quality of our customer service, both within the sales and technical support departments. Where else can you speak directly to a developer about a custom report you need or have more than a reasonably good chance of speaking to a live person when you run into technical issues?

While these are areas our customers experience on a day-to-day basis, I thought it would be fun to highlight a few other aspects of our corporate culture that you’re probably not aware of that will make you feel additionally good about doing business with Express Metrix!

(more…)

Jenny Schuchert, Content & Development Director, IAITAM

Every year around this time, asset management vendors like ourselves take to the blogs to share their opinions and takeaways from the IAITAM Annual Conference & Exhibition.  This year, however, I was interested in hearing the insights of an insider at the organization that actually hosted the event.  Specifically, I wondered how the conference has evolved over time in terms of attendee profiles, vendor participation, and topics of interest.  

I reached out to Jenny Shuchert, Content & Development Director of the International Association of IT Asset Managers (IAITAM), and she was kind enough to share her observations about this year’s conference, as well as those of years past.  Enjoy!

(more…)

From time to time, we have the privilege of circling back with individual customers and hearing their inside stories about the strides they’ve made over the years through the use of our product.  Last month, we were able to connect with Luke Fine, IT Coordinator at ACS Technologies, who has used Express Software Manager for over four years, and has since become one of the product’s strongest customer advocates. 

Here’s a brief summary of his story: 

(more…)