FAST for compliance officers
Avoid the threat to your business and budget of using illegal
or over-licensed software.
In a complex and fast-changing world, mitigating business risk
can be a real challenge. Latest research shows that 27%
software in UK businesses is being used illegally, while
there are 22 pieces of legislation that affect an organisation’s IT
environment.
Software licensing and the surrounding legislative framework
that governs it are complex. This complexity means many
organisations get it wrong by paying considerable sums for licences
they don't need. Conversely, they may introduce unnecessary
business risk and be in breach of the law through being
under-licensed.
Unlicensed software presents a particular threat for company
directors, whatever the size of their business. Penalties include
uncapped fines, settlement fees, and even up to 10 years’
imprisonment for software theft as stated in the Copyright Designs
and Patents Act 1988 (section 107).
Exposure to such risk is the avoidable outcome of poor control
of IT assets.
With the help of FAST, you can adopt robust software compliance
processes that will:
- Increase your confidence that you are
controlling your software assets in line with regulations,
directives and standards
- Assess your level of risk in relation to
software by using our compliance Gap Analysis tool and our licence
management tool
- Identify your high risk areas and implement
tried and tested best practice methodologies to address them
In working towards the FAST
Standard, you will be able to:
- Introduce best practice processes - draw
on our exclusive tools to help
- Achieve the software compliance
standard - a standard developed in collaboration
with the British Standards Institute
- Benefit from expert guidance and
advice