License controls and investigations increasing

I read in the Swedish online magazine Computer Sweden that more and more companies are being audited and investigated by Business Software Alliance (BSA) or software vendors that checks for unlicensed copies of software.

Why this increase? A person responsible for software asset management at Insight mentions that some companies or organizations are being audited up to five or six times per year. One reason presented is that software vendors try to find extra income this way during the recession. Another reason is that when employees are fired they might want to hit back on their old company and report them or try to find a reward from BSA as an extra income in these hard times. According to BSA in Sweden they have not increased their controls but think that the increase comes from the vendors.

There are free software audit tools from BSA that are designed to help you audit, or identify and track, licensed and unlicensed software installed on your computers and networks. Audits are a key component of any comprehensive software asset management plan.

Is your company compliant? JTB World offers JTB FlexReport as a solution to help companies to have better control on their license usage and help to ensure software compliance. JTB FlexReport also helps to prepare for the need to increase or decrease the number of licenses you have.