Technology Vendor Compliance Audit Protection
Our expert team can intervene on your behalf at any stage of a compliance audit launched by your technology vendor. We can also minimize risk by helping you stay protected against future audits.
Which technology vendors audit their customers?
The average enterprise engages well over 100 technology vendors to run their business. From the largest most well-known firms like Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, and Broadcom to smaller lesser-known companies like Anaconda, Quest, and AutoDesk, these tech companies have one thing in common – they all audit their customers.
Compliance audits are on the rise and they are not limited to legacy on-premise software usage. SaaS companies are actively auditing their clients as well.
Odds are your company will face 3-5 official license audits per year. Each technology company that audits you has engineered their contracts, software, and sales teams to use audits to extract the maximum amount of revenue from you and lock you into their ecosystem. These audits are not the search for the ultimate truth, they are the search for the ultimate payday.
What choices do you have for audit protection?
When you get hit with an audit letter, you have choices. You can go it alone and take your chances in a rigged process designed to find you guilty, or you can get help from an expert firm such as Palisade Compliance.
We thoroughly understand software and SaaS compliance auditing. Our compliance audit protection/intervention team has an average of 15 years’ license audit experience per team member, including working for some of the largest technology vendors, building these audit practices! We also specialize in Oracle license audit defense services.
Complete the form below to meet with a Palisade Compliance team member
Did you know most tech compliance audits are avoidable?
Technology vendors will do anything to protect their IP and generate revenue. Auditing is one of the main tools at their disposal. While there is no way to completely free yourself from the risk of a compliance audit, 70% of these audits are avoidable.
Here are three ways to avoid a tech compliance audit:
1 – Don’t ask to be audited! The biggest mistake is when a company asks their technology vendor to help them understand their compliance position. Going to a software company and admitting you don’t know if you’re compliant is just asking for an audit. Make sure you know the answer to anything you ask your vendor.
2 – Don’t rely on advice from someone trying to sell you more of that product. For example, don’t ask a software or SaaS partner if you need additional licenses. That partner gets paid more when you buy more licenses. Typically, they will suggest it, and if you don’t buy more, that partner may go back to the vendor and suggest they audit you. Yes, that happens!
3 – Negotiate your contracts! Don’t accept the vendor’s standard provisions on audits and self-reporting. You can get better terms and conditions. Be careful, though … you don’t want to over-negotiate and add audit provisions that can be used against you later. How these provisions work in a contract is both an art and a science.
Listen to our podcast episode where two Palisade Compliance experts reveal strategies you can follow to avoid common audit traps.
We can't decide if our licenses are compliant with our tech vendors!
Did you know tech companies have 9 ways to audit you?
Complete our form to meet with a Palisade Compliance team member.