Software Licensing: This Man Thinks It's Time Someone Stood Up For The End User

Software licensing is often impenetrable and costly for the CIO who makes a mistake. Mark Flynn leads a new body that aims to redress the balance and fight the corner for end-user companies.

Software licensing can be fiendishly complicated even for the smartest CIO, and the consequences of getting it wrong can be very painful.  "If you, as an end user, are faced with trying to manage complex licensing agreements that are not manageable, you're staring down the barrel of an enforced audit," said Mark Flynn, the newly-appointed CEO of the Campaign for Clear Licensing.  "For that end-user organisation, that is a lonely place to be, and for the individual responsible for it, it's quite career-limiting," he said.

Analyst firm Gartner estimates that more than $400bn was spent on software worldwide last year, with between five to six percent of the total generated by audits.  "That can be a fractious, unpleasant exercise, where vendors go after end-user organisations, saying you're incorrectly licensed and you owe us more money," Flynn said.   The Campaign for Clear Licensing is a subscription- and event-financed membership lobbying body that plans to expand, with US and German operations starting within the next six months. The UK is currently recruiting members.

"We believe end-user organisations need effective representation because everybody wants to be legal, everybody wants to invest in software. But often licensing agreements are incredibly complicated. You often need a law degree as an IT person or a buyer really to understand them."...