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.)

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...

Business Technology Asset Management: How SaaS is Going to Cost a Bundle!

Listen in as Al Plastow discusses how software as a service is going to cost your company more money while taking away your control over the software you depend on. This quick audio excerpt was taken from a Business Technology Consumer Network software life cycle management training session.

The subject matter includes:

• Loss of perpetual licenses,

• Increased costs due to yearly software “rental,”

• Denial of service for non compliance...

Software Asset Management (SAM) is one of the core professional service areas within the over-all scope of enterprise Technology Portfolio Management (TPM). Virtually any company, of any size, could reduce the costs of business technologies by as much as 25%-30% through simple low cost changes to the business processes governing technology spending.

Click to listen to this 30 second audit cut: Business technology: How SaaS is going to cost you more—in cash and in lost control over tech!

It's Al in your head! (Now, THAT is a chilling thought...)

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

Dell RIFs 8,000+ Employees: Does It Make You Wonder About The Value of That Tech Career?

Let's See: Dell is eliminating 8,000+ North American employees in an effort to cut costs and increase shareholder revenue. Most of the newly unemployed are from the U.S. but there are many Canadians in this unfortunate group. Is this a credible socio-economic move by Dell, or just another leap in the international money game?

These conveniently ghostly figures also mean that as many as 8,000 family members are now scrambling to find new jobs--yes I mean simply JOBS--because these folks certainly won't have the creditor grace period to re-establish their careers--so they can continue paying their bills. How many of these people are highly experienced and well qualified? Having met a large number of Austin, TX employees of Dell while delivering instructional programs there, I would guess that these folks are excellent representatives of the American technology work force.

In the coming months, how many of these key American and Canadian technology workers will be forced to take whatever job comes along--or face losing everything they worked so hard to accomplish for their families?

Here's The Rub: I'm sure you will join me in questioning Mike Dell's attitude--if not financially--then ethically. Did these same workers--or did they not--essentially build the company that enables Mr. Dell to wheel and deal on the international level? Is this the way Dell employees are rewarded for their dedication to the company? More interestingly, is this the habitual way that our corporations are learning to deal with enhancing the bottom line: By dumping emloyees (or facilities) in one country in favor or lower priced employees (or facilities) in another country?

For Instance: In what ways does Dell contribute to our economy by removing all these people from the tax base? Is this by any chance the same Dell that pledged to spend $70 million on Chinese hardware across 2008?

Big News, Mike & Friends: Eventually you are going to run out of genuinely dedicated employees and, when that occurs--as it must--you and all like-minded executives are going to be forced to use more costly employment mercenaries who will respond with dedication commentary along the lines of, "Quite frankly, Scarlet..." And Mike, if you're by any chance wondering why your company is having trouble being competitively innovative, you might reflect on the reasons why ANY employee would want to contribute to YOUR bottom line--a bottom line of which THEY are not a key element.

One Might Ask: Would this also be the same Dell that spends around $60 million in executive salaries and perks. In precisely what ways have those of you Enron-wanna-bees served your enterprise--other than cruising the world in the corporate Lear?

Guess What: If it weren't for the talent that helped you grow that enterprise, the enterprise is not going anyplace. You might want to keep in mind that these folks you recently disposed of, their families, and everyone they know are also your customers--for now.

Wake Up America: If our enterprises continue to be dedicated only to their corporate bottom lines and lining the pockets of major executives, our places as world innovators and leader are very much at risk. As long as the enterprise is not dedicated to its employees--truely dedicated to them--those employees are not going to be dedicated to the enterprise.

Oh... And China, India, and all the others who are jumping on the wagon: This kind of corporate behavior is also right there in your future.

By your examples, precisely what are you teaching our kids?

Gartner says 90% of us will use open source in 2012...

In a recent report, Gartner has predicted that 90% of business technology consumers will be using open source software by 2012. When it comes to software asset management, our abilities to identify and pursue cost cutting alternative products is key to the professional abilities of life cycle managers.

Personally, I use OpenOffice for ALL my desktop productivity needs. It does everything I need it to do and the costs is, well, roughly, $300+ cheaper than the most popular alternative proprietary product.

Does your company use open source? Have you used or evaluated such products as OpenOffice? What was the experience like?