 |
|
|
It’s not just the law you need to worry about.
According to IDC, 27% of software used in UK
businesses is estimated to be unlicensed and
therefore illegal. However, they also estimate that
25% of software downloaded from online sources
(other than the original developer) contains
malicious or additional software. Best check your
firewall and antivirus then…
|
 |
Consider the risk from digital music piracy in the
workplace.
Honeywell, the global technology and
manufacturing firm, faced an investigation from
police and the UK music industry body, BPI, after a
whistleblower at their electronic building control
systems division reported the alleged illegal
file-sharing of thousands of music files. In 2002,
the BPI's US counterpart, the RIAA, successfully
took action against a US firm that ran a server for
its employees to store and access thousands of MP3
music files over its network. The result? A $1
million USD settlement payment by the company.
|
Licence compliance is important but so is your IT
budget.
Tracking software licence usage isn’t just
about keeping on the right side of the law: too many
licences purchased compared to applications in use
is just throwing budget away. Regular, preferably
automated, audits will keep your software inventory
up-to-date and minimise the risk of over-licensing.
|
They may be watching you.
The Business Software
Alliance (BSA) is typically investigating 100 or so
UK companies for possible software piracy at any one
time and the Federation Against Software Theft
(FAST) claims to use undercover investigators when
they go after suspected companies.
|
Automated asset management need not be complicated
or expensive.
Being smart about managing your
software (and hardware) assets means centralised
automation; a manual audit will typically be more
costly, less accurate and the data will age quickly.
With automated asset management, you will have
access to up-to-date information on what’s on your
network - illegal or otherwise – and a good ROI
within a relatively short period.
Check out the free
30-day trial download of Numara Track-It! which
offers asset management, software licence management
and help desk as a single integrated solution. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
