Enterprise Software Licensing and Audit Trends - 2022

Despite all of the advances of IT provisioning and supply in recent years (BYOL, managed instances, cloud based offerings etc) it seems nothing in the context of software compliance and audit outcomes has really changed - companies are still getting slammed.

Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc., surveyed the readership of its Database Trends and Applications publication, which consisted of database managers, developers, CIOs, and IT directors.  The survey, which sought views and experiences with software licensing and audits, was conducted in partnership with LicenseFortress gathering a total of 283 usable responses of which 155, or 69% of survey respondents, reported having been audited within the past three years, and 79% reported having been subject to a software audit within past five years. 

And the key findings? - the same fundamental approach and issues persist:

• Moving to the cloud has not alleviated issues or concerns with software licensing and audits. Close to eight in ten enterprises report software compliance issues have either increased or remained the same after moving to the cloud.
• More than half of enterprises in the survey report being audited by one or more software vendors. Of respondents reporting audits within the past three years, Microsoft was the most frequently cited vendor requesting audits. Activating features outside of original contracts and confusion over virtualization are creating the most license issues.
• Companies being audited by Oracle incurred the greatest costs. There are hidden costs as well, even if the vendor does not levy additional charges. Most audit processes required at least three employees, and 40% of companies had their CIOs involved with the process.
• A majority of audited companies did not seek outside assistance to guide them through the process. While many depend on tools or software asset management to support their efforts, a majority fail to keep track of software changes on a continuous basis.

Lets take a closer look ...

Interestingly, with all the hype and suggested benefits and advantages of moving to the cloud, close to 80% report that it has not changed their software compliance issues, or, in the case of 38% of respondents, it has increased compliance concerns. Only about one-fifth - 21% - say cloud has reduced their compliance issues. And even with close to half - 46% - reporting significant amounts of applications and data in the cloud (defined as greater than 25%), more than half of enterprises reported being audited by one or more software vendors!

Similarly, audits themselves haven't changed much at all with 60% of respondents reporting their software audits lasting up to two months, 30% reporting audits lasting between three to six months, and 10% had audits extending more than six months into a year and beyond. The length of audits had 41% of smaller companies wrapping` up audits within a month, while half say the process lasted beyond three months, and 64% incurring additional charges for noncompliance. A substantial portion, 35%, had to pay $100,000 or more to achieve compliance with the vendor, while 10% saw $1 million or more in fees.

So, in summary :

Unsurprisingly, given the outcomes haven't essentially changed, the underlying good practice principles have also not changed - Software Asset Management is seen as critical to mitigating the impact of software audits by a significant share of respondents. Close to half, 44%, see SAM as essential to reducing the costs of their software, which is impacted by vendor audits. Another 41% cite the importance of SAM in avoiding compliance issues, with the leading choice being an internal software asset management/IT asset management (SAM/ITAM) team supported by SAM specific third-party tools. Disappointingly, it seems many respondents still remain reliant on vendor resources to support their audit. 

For some of the key underlying data click through the graphs below ...