Tech Snack - The Importance of Accurate Software Licensing

Today's snack is about software licensing. It's that big elephant in the room everyone knows is there, but tries to ignore as much as possible. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) is out there receiving tips from all kinds of people about unlicensed software. Even if you did not know the software was installed illegally your company is still on the hook for up to $50,000 per infringement. That's not chump change. Most often tips come from disgruntled employees, either current or past. The tipster can be anonymous and get a percentage of the fines levied against the company. at $50,000 per infringement, the tipster can get a hefty pay day with just one anonymous phone call.

All companies and even individuals have been guilty at one point or another of knowingly using unlicensed software. For several years tools have been widely available to help companies identify the installed software in their network. The trouble was you had to usually do manual labor to acheive an accurate count of each installed software program. Also, there was no good way to really identify the unknown applications requiring proper licensing, without the help of a good database inventory and programmer.

Today, the landscape is filled with top notch applications designed to perform counts against known licensed software. Even the unknown licensed software can be easier to identify in these applications without complicated database queries written by a database specialist. Some of the top manufacturers of these applications include Numara, Symantec, and even ScriptLogic. The software used by these companies allows an administrator to quickly and efficiently identify software license exposure.

Trying to perform this process manually will take a monumental effort and it will never be accurate, unless you manage a very small network. There are too many variables to manage on a manual basis. Even VB scripts have limitations on efficient performance and capabilities. When it comes to picking a solution for a set of requirements I always provide the Good, Fast, and Cheap model. When I provide these options I tell my customer to pick two of the three. An example of my model is provided below.

When selecting a solution to provide insight to your software licensing exposure one of these three items will have to be left off and considered not important to the solution. Software licensing has an extremely high cost to ignore simply it. If you are using unlicensed software on a business computer, it could cost you significantly more than the most expensive software licensing tools around, even if you didn't know it was there.

The best way to handle cataloging your software is starting with what known purchases. That is your base count. The next step is to inventory all of your computers and compare the overall installed licensed software counts with your purchased counts. If the amount of installations in your computer inventory is greater than the amount you purchased, you are under licensed and need to purchase additional licenses or remove installed software where it is not required.

The next step is to identify installed licensed software in your environment detected in your inventory. If any of these applications are installed, they have most likely occurred without your consent. many times end users with administrative rights may install software on their computers without your knowledge. I know! Crazy, right!? In most organizations laptop users are the biggest culprits, due to their mobility and the fact many companies allow administrative rights on laptop computers for remote administration support. There are several ways to combat this scenario including removing administrative rights or company policies enforcing unauthorized software installations. Typically these policies have some nasty teeth, meaning suspension or termination even on the first offense.

Once the software has been identified and counts have been tallied, the company needs to take appropriate action either through true-ups at the end of the license cycle or purchase additional licenses if they are licensed independently. Software manufacturers do not like when their products have been installed illegally. I tell my clients to think of it in a way that affects them. If they made widgets and your widgets are being used by people without any payment whatsoever that affects the company's bottom line, resulting in higher prices for the widgets. Software manufacturers work the same way.

I hope this Tech Snack has helped give a better understanding of how to tackle software licensing and the negative effects it has not only on your company, but the software industry as a whole. Keeping your software licenses properly allocated and accounted for will keep your company out of harms way if an audit is performed at your company for licensed software.