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BYOD and Enterprise App Stores Can Create Unexpected Software Licensing Risks

By Jacqueline Lee, Contributing Writer

The results of a recent "Application Usage Management Report" published by Flexera and IDC (News - Alert) show that BYOD and enterprise app stores can carry unanticipated software license compliance risks.

Forty-four percent of respondents have implemented software licensing optimization solutions, and 79 percent are aware of software license management. However, more than half of respondents had no plan to integrate employee self-service options, like BYOD and enterprise app stores, with software management and optimization.

Sixty-three percent of respondents deployed their enterprise app stores quickly so that employees bringing their own devices could rapidly download enterprise apps. A full 24 percent have absolutely no plan to self-police their app store licenses.

BYOD programs increase employee satisfaction, and most organizations have given in to the inevitable. About 85 percent of IDC's respondents said that they had implemented a mobile device management solution. By offering enterprise app stores, companies prevent security problems, protect their procurement strategies and maintain uniform app usage among employees.

On one hand, enterprise app stores give procurement departments a chance to invite developers to submit a wide range of competing apps as long as the app stores have a transparent and enforced curation policy. As they monitor employee usage of these apps, procurement departments can choose solutions based on employee demand.

On the other hand, to be successful over the long term, enterprise app stores need to offer a wide selection of software solutions. If choice is limited, then employees will have no incentive to shop an enterprise app store as opposed to buying apps from Google Play or Apple (News - Alert)'s App Store.

However, as solutions multiply, licensing becomes more complex. In addition to having more licenses to manage, software licensing becomes harder to optimize because users may download apps that they never actually use. A downloaded app is a purchased license for the employer whether or not the employee actually uses it.

According to Intuit (News - Alert), apps can save people an average of 11.3 hours per week, which amounts to $14,317 per year per person. However, without a strategy to blend software license management and enterprise app store deployment together, companies will lose those productivity gains when vendor audits generate expensive non-compliance costs.