Anti-piracy initiative
Stay compliant: Effective ongoing software administration
Systematic audits and planning
Software audits should be a regularly scheduled part of your ongoing software administration process. To help reduce the costs of software administration and improve employee productivity, consider these simple steps:
- Your software audit will provide you with additional information to help you manage software costs and employee productivity. Look for old licenses and standardize on the most recent version. Is a new type of software becoming more popular throughout your organization? If so, you may wish to consider volume licensing programs to simultaneously lower costs and improve employee productivity.
- Consider centralizing software purchasing and record keeping, so you will always get the best price for your volume orders. Centralized software purchases make it much easier to track the status of software spending against budget allocation.
- Adobe® Open Options volume licensing programs not only help you obtain value pricing, but can also help you stay compliant and provide easy, online access to your licensing information through a custom Web site. Several volume licensing programs are long-term contracts that incorporate systematic checkups of software licenses over time, helping you to stay compliant.
Effective employee communication
To make people aware of the potential costs of software piracy as well as the benefits of being in full compliance with intellectual property law, implement the following processes:
- Have all employees sign a copy of your organization's policy regarding appropriate use of software. View a sample form (PDF: 6k).
- Ensure up-to-date information regarding your organization's software licensing policies is readily available in hard copy form and on your organization's intranet. Publicize the correct processes for adding new computers, new applications, or new employees.
- Discourage individual purchases. Make employees aware of any existing volume pricing contracts for software so your organization can achieve maximum discounts.
- Provide employees with easy access to straightforward guidelines that will help them avoid software piracy. For example, post documents like 10 Important Facts About Adobe Software Licensing (PDF: 397k) on your intranet site.
- If employees are found to have pirated software, act in accordance with your organization's software policy.
- Formally revisit these topics on a regular basis (for example, semiannually) to prevent piracy problems.
