Five Mistakes To Avoid When Acquiring Software
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Five Mistakes To Avoid When Acquiring Software
- 1. Five Mistakes to Avoid When Acquiring Software March 12, 2009 Conference Call: 866-740-1260 Access Code: 6339392 Sponsored by
- 4. Five Mistakes to Avoid When Acquiring Software Facilitator: Kami Griffiths, TechSoup Presenters: Zac Mutrux, Sarai Sponsored by
- 6. Today’s Speakers Volunteers: Chris Peters, Gregory Seeley (TechSoup) Kami Griffiths TechSoup Zac Mutrux Sarai
- 7. 1) Not Paying Enough for Software
- 8. 2) Paying Too Much for Software Big Box, Inc. $ $ $ $
- 9. 2) Paying Too Much for Software
- 10. 3) Buying the Wrong Quantity
- 11. 4) Assuming Tech Support is Included
- 12. 5) Mismanaging Software Assets Installation Media (CDs, files) License keys
- 14. Questions? Submit your questions using the chat box.
- 18. Thank you to our Webinar Sponsor!
- 19. Thank you! For more information contact: Kami Griffiths [email_address] 415-633-9392 www.techsoup.org
Editor's Notes
- What do I mean by this? Organizations which are cash poor are often tempted to “borrow” software from others. This activity has the benefit of seeming inexpensive, but it has hidden costs which should be taken into account. As an example, many organizations use AVG Free as their anti-virus software, even though this practice is expressly forbidden by the makers of the software. I have a client that installed a single retail copy of Windows XP Pro on about a half dozen computers. The result is that they are unable to install any software updates on those computers, a side-effect of failing Windows activation. In another case a client had installed a borrowed copy of FileMaker Pro on a computer. Which later on proved to be a problem when they needed to reinstall the software and realized they do not have the disk. A few years ago I met an IT manager from a social service nonprofit in Philadelphia who was audited by Microsoft for failing to license all their software installations. They ended up paying a hefty settlement. At times organizations will pay for software but in an attempt to save money will buy software that doesn’t actually do the job. An example is buying computers with Windows XP Home or Windows Vista Basic Home instead of Windows XP Pro or Windows Vista Business Edition. Organizations with a Windows server have difficulty using these less-expensive operating systems on their network. Or if the organization grows and eventually requires a Windows server, they must then upgrade the software on their desktop computers, which is more expensive than if the computers had been originally purchased with the business-oriented system to begin with.
- We could probably spend the entire webinar on this one mistake, because it is the issue that nonprofit managers are most concerned about. The main reason nonprofit managers pay too much for software is that they are unaware of all their options. Some organizations do not realize they can receive a donation of many software titles through TechSoup Global. Presumably everyone listening today is familiar with the donation program. But even nonprofit managers familiar with TechSoup Global may not realize that major software vendors often have specially discounted software licensing programs for nonprofit organizations. A few quick examples: Adobe has a special discounted licensing program for nonprofit organizations. This discounted software can only be obtained from resellers (including, but not limited to my own company, Sarai). AVG mentioned earlier offers nonprofit organizations a substantial discount on the full version of their products, but only if you order directly from the company. FileMaker offers nonprofit organizations a discount on their software, but only if you purchase directly from the company, and only if you ask for it or mention you are a nonprofit organization. Microsoft offers nonprofit organizations software at discounts of 60% - 85% via their Charity Licensing program. This discounted software can only be obtained from a limited number of software resellers. The complete list will be made available to you following this presentation. Symantec offers nonprofit organizations discounted software via their Academic licensing program. A key point here is that while software vendors do often have special pricing for educational organizations, nonprofit organizations not involved in education are not always eligible to participate. But with Symantec nonprofits of all stripes are included. As with Adobe, these special licenses are only available through resellers. You might wonder why an organization would buy software discounted for nonprofits when TechSoup Global is distributing donated software licenses. The answer is that not all organizations are qualified to obtain software donations from all vendors. Or the organization may have already placed their one order for the year for a particular vendor only to discover that they need additional licenses. Perhaps they are a large organization and require more copies of a software package than they can obtain from TechSoup. But the point is that if an organization cannot obtain donated software from TechSoup, their next step should be to determine whether the software vendor has a special discounted licensing program or policy for nonprofit organizations.
- We could probably spend the entire webinar on this one mistake, because it is the issue that nonprofit managers are most concerned about. The main reason nonprofit managers pay too much for software is that they are unaware of all their options. Some organizations do not realize they can receive a donation of many software titles through TechSoup Global. Presumably everyone listening today is familiar with the donation program. But even nonprofit managers familiar with TechSoup Global may not realize that major software vendors often have specially discounted software licensing programs for nonprofit organizations. A few quick examples: Adobe has a special discounted licensing program for nonprofit organizations. This discounted software can only be obtained from resellers (including, but not limited to my own company, Sarai). AVG mentioned earlier offers nonprofit organizations a substantial discount on the full version of their products, but only if you order directly from the company. FileMaker offers nonprofit organizations a discount on their software, but only if you purchase directly from the company, and only if you ask for it or mention you are a nonprofit organization. Microsoft offers nonprofit organizations software at discounts of 60% - 85% via their Charity Licensing program. This discounted software can only be obtained from a limited number of software resellers. The complete list will be made available to you following this presentation. Symantec offers nonprofit organizations discounted software via their Academic licensing program. A key point here is that while software vendors do often have special pricing for educational organizations, nonprofit organizations not involved in education are not always eligible to participate. But with Symantec nonprofits of all stripes are included. As with Adobe, these special licenses are only available through resellers. You might wonder why an organization would buy software discounted for nonprofits when TechSoup Global is distributing donated software licenses. The answer is that not all organizations are qualified to obtain software donations from all vendors. Or the organization may have already placed their one order for the year for a particular vendor only to discover that they need additional licenses. Perhaps they are a large organization and require more copies of a software package than they can obtain from TechSoup. But the point is that if an organization cannot obtain donated software from TechSoup, their next step should be to determine whether the software vendor has a special discounted licensing program or policy for nonprofit organizations.
- It’s important to order the correct number of licenses, because vendors donating software through TechSoup Global may limit how often a request may be made. For example, only one request for donated Microsoft software may be made in a 12-month period, and Symantec limits requests to two times each fiscal year. What this means is that if an organization wants to get the most benefit from these donation programs, they must plan ahead. When requesting donation of software from a vendor with this type of restriction (such as Microsoft or Adobe), think forward in time. Is there any chance new computers will be added to the organization in the next 6-12 months? If so, better request donation of the licenses now. Are there products you do not need now, but might need in 6 months, or 8? Go ahead and request them now just in case. Organizations which do not plan ahead when requesting donated software are often disappointed later on when they find they must buy software which they could have had donated at significantly lower cost. In addition to obtaining too few licenses through a donation program, nonprofits may also obtain too many software licenses unnecessarily. One example: popular software titles from Adobe may be installed on up to two computers per license. So organizations should obtain a number of licenses equal to half the number of computers that need the software. Another common situation is related to Microsoft software. When nonprofit organizations receive donated software licenses from Microsoft through TechSoup Global, they receive a package of benefits called “software assurance”. One of the benefits included with software assurance is a “free upgrade.” Let’s say 18 months ago your organization licensed Microsoft Office 2003. Maybe you recently purchased some new computers and now you want to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007. You might think you need to request a new donation for the current version—but with software assurance you are entitled to install the new version
- We might also have named this mistake “missing hidden costs.” In order for an organization to make use of software, training and technical support are necessary components often overlooked. Generally speaking, technical support from the software vendor is not available when organizations receive donated software. When software is licensed through a discounted or commercial volume license program, tech support may be available but only for a limited time, or may be limited to installation troubleshooting. When licensing software, organizations should understand what ancillary costs might be associated with the acquisition and budget appropriately.
- After obtaining software, organizations may fail to keep track of the materials and information required to use it. This is particularly a concern when staff turnover means that the location of items is lost. Even though organizations may obtain donated software from TechSoup at minimal cost, the installation files, disks, and license key codes represent property worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Our recommendation is that organizations treat software license assets the same way they would any other valuable property. Keep disks in a locked cabinet. Do not “loan” the disks to others. If it is necessary to provide the disk to a branch office or remote worker, duplicate the disk and retain the original. Where Microsoft licenses are concerned it is particularly important to print out the license keys as soon as they are available, since it may be difficult to locate this information later on.