What is the service?
In a pre-audit software compliance assessment, Canyon uses proprietary methodologies to do the following:
- Identify software gaps by conducting a thorough analyis of your company’s licensing entitlements vs. software deployment (installation and actual usage).
- Utilize tools required by the publisher (e.g. ILMT required for IBM) to generate the information that will be requested during a potential future audit.
- Develop a detailed estimate of potential financial risk based on publishers's terms & conditions as well as auditors' approaches and tactics.
- Generate options for remediation based on your company's IT environment and business objectives.*
- Provide corporate staff with an in-depth understanding of how publishers' T&Cs, product changes, renewals, and other factors (e.g. IBM subcapacity) have driven and could, in the future, dirve non-compliance in your environment (including virtualization, LPAPs, and cloud technology).
- Familiarize your staff with the audit process, including the detailed questions and data requests that will be involved.
*Please note: Canyon Consulting is not a reseller of any software or hardware products.
Why is it important?
If you haven’t been audited over the last 1-3 years, you are probably on publisher lists: Corporations are being audited with increasing frequency. In fact, Gartner reports that firms are experiencing, on average, 2.53 audits per year. That includes the big four software publishers—IBM (including RedHat), Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft; and other vendors such as VMware, Quest, Micro Focus, Adobe, and AutoDesk.
Addressing gaps prior to audit will reduce your financial risk: In the case of an audit, unexpected, unbudgeted audit findings can be shockingly high: Management is rarely prepared for the financial ramifications and level of business risk involved. A publisher’s detailed assessment of non-compliance can exceed the amount the company has paid the publisher over the past decade, not including the penalties. Amounts demanded can range from tens of thousands to tens of millions depending on the size of the account and software deployment.
Preparation and Remediation will reduce impacts to business flow and use of staff resources: Most audits take 3-6 months, but the audit process for larger companies with more complex IT environments can be substantially longer, taking 6-18 months. You can reduce potential interruptions in business flow and decrease use of resources including executive attention, staff time, lost productivity, and legal services by ensuring compliance prior to an official audit.
Next steps
- Engage proactively in a comprehensive software compliance assessment to create optimal opportunities for analysis, planning, and remediation prior to an official audit.
- If you have already received an official software license compliance letter, please call Canyon prior to responding to the letter, if possible.
- If your audit is already in process, call us right away to discuss the ways in which we help you conduct and/or conclude this audit process to produce the best results possible. We have a strong track record of providing clients with a wide range of advantages during the audit process.