There are numerous global, regional as well as national laws and regulations focusing on information assets protection that require professional consideration. Notably, at the global level, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization have constructed legally binding derivative protection agreements. While regionally, trans-border coalitions that have adopted or enacted information assets protection-related laws, regulations, or treaties include the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the Organization of American States, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Lastly, the United Kingdom Computer Misuse Act of 1990, the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, the Trinidad and Tobago Act No. 86 of 2000, as well as the Japanese Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of 2006 are clear examples of information assets protection national legislation that can affect an enterprise’s control framework.

Despite growing available information and training materials about the critical value of Software Asset Management, many organizations still find themselves unprepared when it comes to software compliance audit situations. In this webinar, you will understand the different approaches to achieve contract compliance in the area of Software License Management. A software license audit can cause severe disruption and takes time and resources away from business as usual. It is unrealistic to believe you can avoid an examination altogether. However, preparation and planning can mean you will come out of your audit relatively pain-free. How far progressed is your organization towards software compliance audit readiness?

Management should ensure adequate resource allocations and safeguarding. Typically, safeguarding information assets translates into providing resources are acquired, utilized, and disposed of through proper procedures and approvals. When information security governance misalignment to enterprise governance and information technology governance occurs; financial, legal, operational and reputational risks can escalate beyond demarcated tolerance levels. Management should sustain accountability. Regarding risk posturing, administrators must accept as well as own the software licensing decisions made with all the possible imposable penalties.

If you are anticipating a software license audit – and, let us face it, you should be – you are most likely concerned with non-compliance: the fear of uncovering that the number of licenses purchased differs significantly from the number of people accessing software. Being under-licensed can introduce substantial costs as well as even heftier fines while being over-licensed suggests precious resources misallocations. One thing you do not want to happen to your firm is for a software license audit to occur when you are unprepared. A software audit can be time-consuming, disruptive, and if you are noncompliant, very expensive. In this Software Licensing Webinar, information systems management expert Dr. Robert E. Davis, CISA, CICA will guide you through appropriate action steps to obtain compliance and readiness for an audit.