Summer 2009, the Business Software Alliance launched a campaign to eliminate illegal software, with one in five installations found to be illegal London.

June 2009, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) announced the start of a two-month campaign which calls upon London businesses to eliminate software piracy. London is responsible for more reports of software piracy than any other place in the UK, with one in five pieces of software in the capital being used illegally, according to figures released today. The research from IDC, launched to coincide with the campaign, finds that London businesses are installing pirated software worth £149m each year.

The BSA is launching a regional initiative to raise awareness of software piracy’s impact, on businesses and the local economy, and informing companies about benefits of effective management. This follows similar successful campaigns in other illegal software hotspots, Glasgow and Manchester.

The BSA is directly contacting over 1,000 London companies to offer a ‘Software Health Check,’ encouraging them to complete and return a simple self-audit form. This will ensure the software installed is legal and licenced in a way that guarantees they are getting value for money. BSA is also offering free consultancy from Software Asset Management (SAM) resellers to help businesses effectively manage their software assets. More information can be found on the BSA site.

Software piracy represents a significant threat to businesses and the BSA is already investigating several companies in the London area for using unlicensed software. As a result, these businesses face the prospect of legal proceedings and the BSA is urging other businesses to avoid being subject to the same fate. In the current economic climate, London’s businesses cannot afford to waste money on legal actions, subsequent financial settlements and the unplanned purchase of legitimate software. Unlicenced software can also mean firms are exposed to major threats to their IT systems, including security and software failure, file corruption and data loss, in addition to the considerable and potentially irreversible damage to a firm’s reputation for getting caught.

Alyna Cope, spokesperson for the BSA country committee, explains: “The current downturn in the economy does not negate the need for businesses to keep the software they are using up-to-date and legal. We want to promote the value of software and educate businesses in the capital on how it should be better managed, helping to save them money at a time when it is most needed and reducing the risk of facing legal action further down the line.” There are, however, wider implications for London’s economy; software piracy drains revenues that technology and creative companies would otherwise invest in R&D and jobs, stifling the growth and development in a sector that employs over half a million people and is responsible for 20% of job creation in the capital each year. Alyna Cope continued: “We urge London businesses to come forward and ensure that their software licencing is up to scratch, checking all software - from office productivity suites, to design packages and fonts. Software piracy deprives developers of the rewards of their work and innovation, with the greatest financial impact felt by smaller firms and start-up software companies, and we need to ensure resource and expertise is not being lost at the base of the sector.”

Further Action

What should companies do?

Contact EJC IT for a free review of your current systems and software and advice on how to ensure compliance and maximise the benefits to your business of proper licensing.  Click here for your free review. 

Also visit www.bsa.org/london for information on the software health check. You can access self audit forms, find out more about the risks of software piracy, and download a variety of supporting tools.

About BSA The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organisation dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programmes foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. BSA members include: Adobe, Altium, Apple, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, Corel, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation, Embarcadero, Famatech, FrontRange Solutions, Mamut, Materialise Software, Microsoft, Mindjet, Monotype Imaging, NedGraphics, O&O Software, Ringler-Informatik, Scalable Software, Siemens, Staff & Line, Symantec, Tekla and The MathWorks.