Leader: Vendors must quit 'bully' tactics

The prickly subject of software licence audits once again got the backs of corporate IT departments up this week, as users accused cynical vendors of using them as a tool to squeeze more money out of buyers.

Despite the fact that most medium and large organisations rarely set out to deliberately use unlicensed copies of software - something the suppliers readily admit - IT professionals claim the vendors are getting increasingly heavy-handed, with unreasonable and costly licence audit demands.

The evidence suggests most IT departments are trying their hardest to keep their estates in order despite the often complex licensing terms of suppliers.

Just under half of silicon.com's CIO Jury agreed with that picture, saying audits are becoming more frequent and are more about increasing revenue than tackling piracy. One IT director even declined to publicly join the debate for fear of being targeted by unscrupulous suppliers.

Members of IT user group the Corporate IT Forum have also hit out at what they see as underhand sales tactics of some suppliers with regards to licence audits at a time when many IT departments have been forced to invest in software asset management tools.

In particular IT directors claim suppliers are using merger and acquisition activity and big business change projects as opportunities to demand audits and increase licence revenue or use the audits to punish users who reduce or take business away from them.

Clearly no one is advocating piracy or the deliberate use of unlicensed software but the evidence suggests most IT departments are trying their hardest to keep their estates in order despite the often complex licensing terms of suppliers.

What the bully-boy tactics demonstrate is a lack of trust. As Rorie Devine, CTO of Betfair, told silicon.com: "Software suppliers should be trying to build a win-win partnership with their customers."

Software piracy is damaging for the entire IT industry but this kind of hostile tactic used against largely innocent business buyers is not the answer. The suppliers and corporate IT departments need to engage on more co-operative terms if the problem of piracy is to be genuinely tackled.