One of the most stressful problems a growing business can have is a licensing audit. While you may have careful record keeping of every computer in your business, this is often not enough.
Typically, these audits come in the form of a legal notice and a large settlement request. The process is to evaluate their claims and provide documentation supporting your side. It will be a back and fourth while you try to reduce the settlement within reason. The outcome is always dependant on how organized your record keeping, documentation, deployment policies, and visibility are.
There are several triggers for an audit:
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Disgruntled employee – There are rewards for people that turn in their (former) employers.
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Malware on your network – Malware can be used to abuse online services or even steal license keys from systems.
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Improper deployment – Licensing EULA’s can be unclear, ambiguous or even changed without notice.
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On purpose – Unfortunately, this happens.
All of these are very real threats that could trigger an audit as your business grows.
IBC’s methodology of asset management, and cyber security framework puts in place checks and balances to combat these audits. The cyclic nature of the framework means we’re continuously keeping things up to date and protecting you against potential litigation or large fines.