Technology licenses & agreements are killing your business.

Here's the thing: The technology agreements that legally bind your company are not merely onerous; they're downright deadly. And the most chilling factor is that most enterprises are not even aware that they're in trouble--frequently paying serious money for phantom value.

Don't believe me? Try this simple test: Look at the license for any item of software your company uses. Look under "Disclaimer of Warranty" for the phrase "fitness for use" and tell me what it says. Can't find it? Here's a hint...

The software publisher "...makes no warranty or representation, either express or implied, with respect to (the) software, its quality, performance, merchantibility, or fitness for a particular purpose...and you're assuming the entire risk of quality and performance..."

This clause is pretty much standard in nearly every operating system or software licensing agreement. It's meaning is clear:

This mission critical product doesn't have to do anything we said it was going to do. It can be completely defective and, when it fails to deliver value, it isn't our problem, it's yours.

Let me ask a simple question series. Maybe it will bring home the message.

• Would you purchase a car with this warranty?
• How about purchasing a ticket on a cross-country flight where the aircraft was covered under the same warranty?
• Any chance you'd accept the services of a hospital or surgeon with this one?
• Then why are you permitting the software industry players to force this clause on you?

I suggest you look over the Knowledge Briefings on the BizTechNet.org site covering Acquisition Criteria, Product Functionality, and/or Acceptance Testing. When you spend money--invest serious company revenue in a product that purports to deliver a specific value--you deserve to GET that value.

Is your enterprise in the business of financially supporting the technology industry vendors/suppliers? Or are you in business to deliver a specific product or service using the productivity tools provided by these vendors/suppliers? Are you working to improve your business, or theirs?

Reduce Business Technology Costs: Avoid Superceding Licenses

We should all know better--but, for some odd reason, we don't. According to some industry experts, we fail to negotiate as much as 75% of software license agreements. As a result, the typical enterprise is leaking serious cash from the technology budget.

Real World - We gain as little as $1 in actual business value from every $14 we spend on technologies.

Consider the following risk to your budget:

• You finally invest a little time negotiating a software license agreement. You get favorable terms and conditions as well as a decent price (decidedly NOT typical).
• Six months later an employee downloads an update to the product and you discover that your carefully negotiated license has been superceded by a conveniently stealthy click wrap license.
  

Yes, Virginia, it happens quite frequently. The software industry is very aware that your employees and technical consultants rarely take the time to read license agreements. The result is a distinct set of considerably onerous clauses slipped quietly into alternative licenses that legally supercede your existing agreements.

For examples of how these alternative licenses can cause serious financial damage to your business, check out the brief article covering shrink wrap and click wrap embedded in the title link. (Sign in is necessary but it costs you nothing.)

Lead, Follow, or Get Out Of the Way!

Every time I teach a course, be it software life cycle management, asset management, project management, negotiations, or some related business process improvement content, I run into the same problem. Way too many of the people attending the course make the same comment:

Committment: Our company wants to improve the way we do (this or that) but, when it comes down to actually making the move, there isn't any executive support--no follow-through.

I'm sure you've seen this, too. The enterprise--as a whole--is aware that there are more effective ways to accomplish certain tasks or projects, but it has no formal process for approaching, planning, and implementing a change initiative. What's more, executive management--leadership?--does not, or will not, take a visible role in enacting the business process improvement or change. THIS is where my title content comes into play.

My politically incorrect message to management is this:
Lead, Follow, or Get Out of The Way!

Result? How many times have you heard the lament:

Employee Quote: "I spent the time and effort attending this training, or that seminar, (or the company spend the money) and identified a specific way (or two, or ten) that we could improve business processes in our company. Then, when I came back to work, I wasn't encouraged (permitted?) to make anything happen."

In this tough economy--in ANY economy--a company lives and/or dies by its abilities--its willingness--to evolve. To read more of this post, go HERE