Mission-critical enterprise applications are often distributed without technical restrictions on deployment. To address this, most software licence agreements include audit clauses, allowing vendors to assess customer usage against authorised metrics and purchased volumes.

Initially aimed at protecting intellectual property, audits have evolved into a major revenue stream. Vendors routinely uncover unintentional non-compliance and apply legal or commercial pressure to extract payments or promote cloud and AI upsells. Even with the shift to subscription-based cloud models, compliance revenue remains a key contributor to vendor profits.

Software vendors often enjoy several unfair advantages in audit scenarios: (1) owning the right to interpret software licence terms; (2) developed complex audit tools that require specialist skills to use (e.g., IBM ILMT, SAP LAW and Oracle LMS) and (3) often leverage third-party specialists for audits (e.g., the Big Four accounting firms). Additionally, the high switching costs further strengthen the negotiating position of large vendors.

Level the playing field

By working with our Audit Defence Advisors, your team will gain instant access to our deep vertical expertise in vendor licensing and two decades of hands-on experience in both conducting and defending against license compliance audits.

Leveraging facts discovered using our tools and methodologies identical to those employed by vendors’ auditors, you will gain an advanced understanding of your risk position and, more importantly, an opportunity to reduce or eliminate any risk exposure through remediation. You will be supported throughout the audit lifecycle, with a trusted advisor by your side at the negotiation table.

Our Lifecycle Audit Defence Methodology