Using pirated software is ethically wrong and represents poor adherence to standards, especially for a business that is competing to be among the best, locally and globally.

These are just some of the business impacts of using pirated software:

• Businesses lose almost Rs. 1.5 lakh a month due to pirated software
• The cost of maintaining a PC with pirated software is Rs 2000 per year which increases with each passing year to Rs 3500 by the 8th year
• Businesses using pirated Windows XP face system failures four times a year on an average, with each failure causing 2 hours of downtime
• The opportunity cost of each system failure is Rs 65000 per computer per month, which is double that of original (genuine) XP users
• With system failures and downtimes, the unproductive salary per PC using employee for businesses using pirated software is Rs 1579 per month
• On an average, due to system failure, Small Business lose approximately INR50,000 per month per PC
• The annual invisible cost due to system failure ranges from INR 4,92,000 or Retail till INR 7,08,000 for IT
• All users face an average of 4 system failures a year, 88% of which is accounted by Data Loss and Virus Infection problems

More importantly, the business impact of using pirated software can be quite devastating for your business. Even with the most innocuous of problems, research states that Businesses end up losing close to Rs. 1.5 Lakh per year due to frequent shutdowns caused by pirated software.

To download and read the complete IDC White Paper on the Business impact of using pirated software, click here.