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The Sales Enablement Approach to Software License Compliance

January 02, 2019

Leveraging Data to Support a Portfolio of Engagement Strategies

Both parties in the IT buying process desire a fair deal based on value, but too often wind up feeling exposed due to complexity, uncertainty, and risk surrounding software assets over time. Traditionally ISVs have relied heavily (or even exclusively) on a single-threaded approach to remediating the problems posed by the IT buying process. In that vein, the most commonly accepted industry approach is arguably the audit. However, ISVs should explore a portfolio approach to monetizing their software. A portfolio model would yield greater overall flexibility in navigating the spectrum between the sins of the past (revenue recapture) and the forward business relationship (sales enablement), and would break that “one size fits all” paradigm of audit for everyone...

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To Pop-In or Call Ahead? How to Best Serve a License Compliance Audit

October 18, 2018

The “pop-in,” one of the many terms that have become part of our popular lexicon that we can attribute to Seinfeld, is a way to describe an unannounced visit that is often unwelcomed by its receiver. 

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What’s the Right Engagement Model for Your Business?

February 06, 2018

You have actionable data on where your software is being used illegally and where your customers are not in compliance with their entitlements. You want to recover that lost revenue – fast.

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Why Do Smaller ISVs Fear Auditing Customers?

December 17, 2016

Picture this: You, as an independent software vendor, sell business solutions to Santa’s Claws, a small, but thriving vending machine manufacturer that specializes in those delightful machines with the claws that (don’t ever) grab stuffed animals. Joe Santa, the owner, loves your software, and takes pains to make sure his 80 users are licensed appropriately, and that he is within his entitlements.

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What’s the Right Engagement Model in India?

September 15, 2016

India is the fastest growing economy in the world. Last year, it rocketed past China with a growth rate of 7.5 percent, buoyed by the rising wages, lower-skilled labor shortages and shipping costs associated with doing business in China.

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Time to Settlement: Lifecycle of a Software Audit Engagement

July 14, 2016

It may seem counterintuitive, but the fact is that more customers are actually demanding that their ISVs provide licensing management services as part of their software partnerships. Customers are hip to the benefits of compliance in terms of maximizing the value of their investments – and are coming to view license management as a value-added service from their ISVs.

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How Do You Build a License Compliance Program?

June 17, 2016

Some number of years ago, a colleague of mine was on a Royal Caribbean cruise – Adventure of the Seas – a decent-sized (1,020 feet) ship. As they approached a port of call in St. Thomas, the captain of this substantial vessel felt compelled to call attention to a nearby “boat” also in port – the 454-foot Rising Sun yacht that at the time belonged to Larry Ellison.

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Taken: The Escalation Path for an Inside Sales Approach to Compliance

May 19, 2016

It starts playing in my head as soon as I sense an infringer is ducking my sales team during a piracy engagement… “What I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career…”

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How to Prepare for an Audit: Lessons for Victims of Noncompliance

April 27, 2016

Software licensing audits are on the rise – such that the likelihood of your business enduring one is almost certain. Businesses have a 68 percent chance of being audited by their vendors in a given year, according to a 2014 Gartner study.

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How to Ensure a Software Piracy Engagement is Smooth Sailing

April 05, 2016

When confronted on their misuse, the reasons pirates give for deploying unlicensed software boil down to two categories – "we didn’t know it was happening," or "we needed it to do our jobs and didn’t see another option." Clad in their excuses, when that initial letter of noncompliance crosses their desks, most targets start the process of buying legitimate licenses on the defensive. 

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