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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[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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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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Any software vendor that’s been paying attention to its customers in recent months will tell you that software licensing preferences are changing–and quickly.  The past year, in particular, has brought about an appetite for more flexible licensing models that are less user-centric and more usage-centric.  As IT organizations continue to chisel away unnecessary spending and take a more strategic approach to software asset management, they’re increasingly demanding “pay-per-use” (i.e. usage-based licensing) and “pay as you go” (i.e. subscription-based licensing) scenarios that are more directly correlated with the benefits received through the use of any given application. And vendors are listening.  

According to a Computerworld article by Eric Lai, vendors are rapidly adjusting their license offerings to accommodate and take advantage of this shift. The article notes that 43% of vendors have changed or expanded their licensing options to include such approaches as usage-based and subscription-based pricing.  (Subscription pricing, which has long dominated the SaaS market, is now becoming commonplace among on-premise offerings). And, according to IDC, these trends are only expected to accelerate. 

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I just read an utterly scathing column in ComputerWorld in which James Gaskin blasts the BSA for what he claims is a common practice of using “extortion tactics” that are especially punitive to small businesses. In his indictment, Gaskin lists a number of grievances he suggests exemplify the “Big Three” software vendors’ (Microsoft, Adobe, AutoDesk) contempt for small businesses.  Gaskin asserts that the BSA is notorious for “bullying small companies that don’t understand all the rules, lose their paperwork, or have proof stolen by a reward-hungry disgruntled employee.”  

I’ve never been through a software audit myself, so I can’t offer any validation or repudiation of his accusations. As such, my biggest criticism of the article is that Gaskin offers up no examples of or testimony from specific companies or individuals that have actually undergone a BSA audit. His only source on record for the article is a law firm, Scott & Scott LLP, who specializes in defending companies targeted by the BSA—not exactly the most impartial source, if you ask me. 

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