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Reduce the cost of your SAM credential by eliminating unnecessary travel costs. Complete the core competencies of Software & Copyright Compliance Assurance (SCCA) & Software Asset Management (SAM) at your own pace without disrupting your busy schedule.

Follow the link included below to check in to the SAM training industry's only competency-based professional development system. Via our free Learning Management System (LMS) you'll build a credible portfolio of successful course & credential progression.

Read the content overviews & review over 38 cutting edge SCCA & SAM offerings. Take one or more cost-effective 20 minute to 90 minute sessions to try it out, or opt for the even more cost-effective bundled series. The programs come with over 600 pages of Workbooks to help you tailor the content to your unique enterprise & culture. These Institute for Technology Asset Management programs significantly exceed the scope & depth of virtually any alternative SAM programs on the market.

Have questions about the SCCA or SAM credentials? Feel free to ask. I'll provide whatever answers you need to succeed.

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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later an employee downloads an update to the product and you discover that your carefully negotiated license has been superceded by a conveniently stealthy click wrap license.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.)

Is that Free Software Download a Deal?

I'm not so sure. Keep in mind that, in the average corporation, nearly ANY employee could easily bind you to the license coupled to the product I am going to discuss.

Last week I found a seriously useful "free download" product that enables you to manage the power consumption of your computer--great idea, right? As one of the world's more slightly pessimistic IT consumers, I carefully reviewed the web site for functionality details. Everything looked pretty good so I decided to try it out. I initiated the "free download" and we were immediately off to what I prefer to call the software licensing sharp practice races.

For those of you who may not be aware, a majority of those free software downloads from the Internet have a licensing process entitled "click wrap" as part of the download. Most of these licenses are acceptable (barely) but many of them are deadly when placed on an enterprise computer.

My first hint that this might be a problem download was when the pre-load license popped up in its tiny little box. You know the license box I mean? It usually measures about two inches high by four inches wide on your monitor and conveniently hides three to thirty pages of highly complex and legally binding license terms and conditions. (And, yes. It has been tested in court.)

The second hint was when I wasn't permitted to copy the license text out of the box so I could read it--printing was acceptable, NOT immediate reading. (The setting on this permission, in my experience, is one of the most significant flags that you do NOT want to place this product on your system.)

So... I printed the license out. (Remember, 99 out of 100 employees--even a majority of your techies--never bother to read this type of license.)

Guess what? One of the most blatant clauses in this license is that the software publisher could download information about your computer at any time and without notifying you. Don't get me wrong. Naturally, the license included clear statements of "Oh, we're not going to..." yadda-yadda. But, in reality, this free download opened your system up for inspection by both the original software publisher AND any secondary publishers who contributed code.

What's more, and it's also very typical of these licenses, the document was absolutely loaded with onerous terms and conditions. I immediately stopped the download and removed all trace of the product from my system. Maybe you would stop it, too, but how about other personnel in your company?

Might be something to consider...

Read The Contract!

Technology asset management cost and risk reduction concept:

Read The Contract, License or Other Document...

I have been working as an adviser, corporate coach and certification trainer since the mid-90's and I can honestly state that the vast majority of companies have absolutely no idea what the terms and conditions are of the dozens--even hundreds--of legal documents to which the company is bound.

Guaranteed Cost Reduction Idea:

"Begin, immediately, reading and summarizing every software license for every product your company uses."

Why? Because software licenses are permissive documents. They clearly specify precisely how you are permitted to use the copyright protected product covered by the license. If you do not know what the licenses say you cannot possible be compliant with those licenses.

How much could you really save? The average settlement for license non compliance for an American SME is around $60,000 (plus up to 6 times that amount in punitive audit fees). You could side-step this potential loss of vital business revenue by simply matching up your permissions with your actual usage of those copyrighted products.