With all the challenges of running a small business, the last thing you should have to worry about is whether your PCs are running illegal software.
Yet every year, millions of businesses and individuals worldwide use illegal software they have unknowingly purchased. A major study released in 2004 by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) found that more than a third of all software installed on computers worldwide in 2003 was pirated software.
It is an expensive problem, with estimates that software piracy costs customers — and national economies — huge sums every year. How does it cost small businesses like yours? To begin with, you could end up paying for software that you cannot update and software that lacks the security and reliability protections of legitimate software. Bottom line, you may have to purchase that same software again to get the product support you need to keep your business running smoothly.
Be Wary of Bargain Software
Everybody loves a good deal. But as a businessperson, before you offer your customers a discount or special rate, you run the numbers to ensure you are going to come out ahead.
It makes sense to do the same when you consider software purchases. For instance, be wary of buying software from non-authorised dealers on internet auction sites. The "deals" they offer may seem appealing, but you could be buying illegal software unknowingly.
The BSA suggests a good way to determine if a deal is too good to be true is to check catalogues or newspaper advertisements for national computer store chains. Since they purchase in such large quantities they can often offer the best prices. If you come across deals that are much better than the street prices the chains are advertising, then you should question whether the "deal" you are considering involves illegal software.
You may not even realise you have illegal software running on your PCs. An employee may have copied a friend's disk or you may have purchased a PC with illegal software already on it. Whether you know it exists on company computers or not, illegal software may lead to repercussions in some countries. Also, you may be running inferior software that could pose security risks, be missing code or contain malicious code.
Will whoever sold you the software support it? With illegal software, you just don't know.
If you don't know if you are using illegal software in your business, here are some steps you can take:
1.
Conduct a software audit. Use a simple spreadsheet to list all of your PCs and servers and document the software running on each. Indicate whether you have proper licensing and Certificates of Authenticity for everything you are using.
2.
Fix any discrepancies. If you determine you have illegal software or are running software you can't say for certain is valid, replace it with legal, licensed software that will be supported by manufacturers and eligible for upgrades and updates.
3.
Establish a software compliance policy. Explain the risks of illegal software to all of your employees and make it known that running illegal software will not be tolerated. Continue to log software purchases or upgrades on the spreadsheet created during the audit.
If you use Microsoft Windows XP, you can also take part in the company's Windows Genuine Advantage program that helps you automatically check the authenticity of your software. By participating in the Windows Genuine Advantage program you are also eligible for special downloads and other benefits.
When buying software online, be wary of purchasing "compilation disks" that contain software titles from several different publishers on the same disk or many different versions of the same software. Also steer clear of sellers who offer "back-up copies" of software. Both of these are warning signs that the software is illegal.
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