Software License Compliance

Illegally copying software, whether intentional or not, is risky business that can put your company in jeopardy. Abuse of software licenses can result in financial penalties and legal costs. Additionally, company executives can be held individually liable, both criminally and civilly, for any copyright infringement that occurs within the organization. Take this simple test to see if your company is at risk.

Are you at risk?

1. Do you know how many PCs, laptops, and servers your company currently has in use?

2. Do you have a software license copy for all software products installed on your PCs, laptops, and servers?

3. Are you confident that no company employees have made unauthorized copies of software?

4. Does any of your employees use corporately owned PCs, laptops or servers to participate in on-line file swapping services?

5. Did you acquire all the software installed on your PCs, laptops and servers from reputable sources?

6. Does your company have a written policy for copying software and/or purchasing software licenses?

How to keep your business compliant.

STEP 1

Perform a software inventory by doing the following:

Establish the number of PCs, laptops and servers your company has in use and the type of software installed on each machine. Do not just look at Microsoft Branded Software.
Compare this information against the number of legal software licenses your company owns.
Account for any license deficiencies and purchase resulting licenses to \bring your organization into compliance.

Depending on the size of your organization, and the condition of your records, this may be quite simple, or it can take a bit of effort. In any case, establishing this initial inventory is critical to effective software management and will help your organization.

STEP 2

Establishing software policies and procedures:

While the number of policies and procedures your organization needs will vary depending on company size. At minimum they should cover the following:

Software use and copyright policy:

Your company should have a clear and enforceable policy on copyrighted software which addresses your company's adherence to software license agreements and employees' responsibilities to follow the copyright laws.
Procurement policies and procedures:

Your company should have written policies covering how employees request software, responsibility for software acquisitions, approved software vendors, software installation procedures, personal software policies and disposition of software assets.

Call TekSource for assistance with any of these steps.