How To Avoid Microsoft Software Audits

It was reported earlier this year that Microsoft is planning to continually increase the check-ups it carries out on software usage by its customers to ensure that the licensing laws are being met.

The company’s licensing agreements are notoriously complex to deal with, and can lead to substantial fines being issued.

Needless to say, this means that companies should be doing all they can to minimize the risk of an audit by the big ‘M’.  There are several ways to do this.

Maintain your receipts

It might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised to find out how many companies suffer audits simply because of poor record keeping rather than anything unscrupulous.  You need to be able to prove that you’ve paid for the software you’re using, and your receipts for this remain best way of doing so.  Also, keep electronic copies as well, in case the physical ones are lost.

Carry out your own audits in advance

It will mean that you will have to sacrifice a bit of time and man-power, but there’s definitely a case for conducting your own audit to make sure that you’re sticking to the necessary regulations.  There are two benefits to this.

Firstly, it will mean that you’ll discover if you’re short on software licenses before anybody else does, which will enable you to pro-actively obtain them (removing the risk of a fine).  Secondly, it’ll mean that you might be able to save money by discovering which software you’re using, and which you’re not.  Licenses can be sold on in some cases.

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Use free tools where possible

If you’ve got twelve licenses and thirteen employees, and you’re not planning on hiring anyone else for the next few months, it can save you a lot of hassle to use free, open-source tools until buying four licenses at once is a real necessity.

Almost every Microsoft program has a free version which works just as effectively – both OpenOffice and LibreOffice, for instance, provide all of the same office suite capabilities as Microsoft’s own and cost virtually nothing.  They can also save in Microsoft formats to ensure that you don’t have issues when sharing documents with clients and other companies.

Make one person take charge

Part of the problem with licensing often comes because several people have purchased software on behalf of the company, and there’s no central record being kept of the purchases.  It’s easy for the information to get lost this way!

If you have one person be responsible for both organizing and purchasing software, then they’ll be able to keep a comprehensive record of everything, and anyone in the company can refer to it.  You’ll also know who’s responsible if anything goes wrong!

Ask for assistance

If you’re genuinely completely stumped as to which licenses you have, which you don’t and whether or not you owe money or not, then it’s actually common sense to be pro-active and approach Microsoft yourself, rather than waiting for them to come to you.

You’re far less likely to incur a fine if you approach a company openly and ask for assistance. This way, they’re more likely to get on your side and try to solve the issue in a more low-key, friendly way.

Damian Coates

About the Author:

Damian Coates is the ICT Business Support Director at Utilize, an Essex-based IT support company that partners with a wide range of businesses in the South East of England.