Software Audits on the Rise

Software audits are on the rise. In both 2009 and 2010 the economy pressured software vendors into seeking new sources of revenue. Invariably they turn to software audits as most organizations simply do not have SAM under control. A recent survey by the Federation Against Software Theft showed 55% of organizations to have been audited by software companies in the last 12 months alone.

The challenge for IT is that when it comes to these audits, the vendors are always better prepared. Teams of experts, exist within the larger software organizations, whose sole responsibility is to generate revenue from non-compliance. Software Audits are all they do, all day long. If they are not executing an audit, they are preparing for one. Compare that experience profile with the hapless IT executive who is juggling dozens of competing priorities. The situation is compounded by the fact that Software Audits, at this level, are a recent phenomenon. Organizations have simply not prepared themselves for such events ad historically have treated software asset management as a relatively low-priority task. It has been seen as an expense rather than a way to save money.

Software Asset Management, as a way to prepare for software audits, is really like buying insurance in the same way an organization carries directors and officers insurance or product liability insurance. With software audits on the rise, organizations needs to budget for software asset management accordingly, as unlicensed use of software will happen regardless of the controls in place, and its resolution costs significantly less if it is discovered internally rather than as a result of a software audit