The shocking state of play behind why you’re being audited, and what can be done to challenge it.
69% of IT executives are not confident about software licensing compliance Survey by King Research.
Even though IT executives in large corporates usually implement Software Asset Management (SAM) programmes, they are not always effectively run. This means that they are not really in control of their software estate and are not able to establish a solid audit trail to prove compliance. When a Software Vendor puts in an ad-hoc request for data and large corporates cannot provide data that reflects the agreed licence terms, the risk of a formal audit skyrockets.
Software vendors are continuing their aggressive practices of auditing their customers for software licence compliance. 63% of survey respondents report audits in the last 18-14 months. 37% say that they were audited two or three times over the last 18-24 months.
Flexera survey
Large corporates are being targeted particularly heavily. For companies with US$3 billion or more in revenues, 33% of survey respondents reported being audited three times or more.
This is versus 25% for US$1-3 billion corporates, 14% for US$101-999 million and 3% for organisations with less than US$100 million in revenues.
Flexera survey
Software Vendors alleging non-compliance demand payment of fees for licence and back-support for truing-up and issue penalty fines. The larger the corporate, the higher the costs.
21% of respondents to the Flexera survey stated that their organisations were charged US$1million or more in audit true-up costs.
Considered that Oracle audit requests were not clear and easy to respond to
Maintained that communications from Oracle as to changes in licensing practices were not clear or straightforward
Thought that working with Oracle LMS would lead to a better relationship
Said that Oracle LMS had not been helpful during the audit, contract and renewal process
Large corporates and public sector bodies are being hit hard by audits and licence reviews. All indications and experience point to the fact that this aggressive audit trend is a long-term one. Many software vendors see their existing customer base (generally cooperative and loyal) as largely helpless in defending against heavy true-up demands.
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