Software Watch in the Neighborhood

Have you heard on the radio recently, the advertisement for the Business Software Alliance (also known as BSA.org)?  Well it's that time of year again to be on the look out and making sure your business software is in check.  What does this mean you ask?  Here's a quick checklist of questions you can ask yourself or whoever is managing your business software to determine if you are compliant or licensed properly.

1.  Do I have proof of purchase (copy of invoice, printed receipt) for software I am using on my desktop, laptops, or servers?
2.  Do I know my license keys, license serial number, or certificate number associated to the software products installed on my desktop, laptops, or servers?
3.  Do I own the right number of licenses for the software products I have installed?
4.  Am I using the right version, edition, or type of software for my business?

If you can't answer these questions, then you may need an experienced IT Professional that specializes in IT Asset Management or Software License Management to review your environment and provide advice and recommendations on your business software status.  You might not get audited by a software supplier or the BSA, but then again, you might.  Copyright violations can be as small as $10K per incident but the fines can grow exponentially and then jail time for blatant violators is possible.  Compliance in this area of IT should be taken seriously and attention definitely needs to be warranted.

In these tough economic times, even software publishers/suppliers are looking for quick revenue or a way to replace their normal sales revenue.  Software audits are an easy way to target companies that are smaller and may not have the tools and systems in place to monitor or track their IT assets.  Software licensing is one of those assets that can easily get out of control if there are no parameters or guidelines provided in an organization on how it should be used, tracked, distributed, copied, or otherwise. 

For advice and recommendations or questions in this area, find a good IT Asset Management partner to work with to get a handle on your environment if you don't have the internal resources.  Chronic Behavior LLC specializes in this area and will provide an initial free one hour consult to discuss your business requirements.  Words of advice for today - know what software you have installed and if you truly own it, and if you don't, start finding out now.....don't wait until it's too late......