A software licensing audit or software compliance audit is an investigation of the software installed on the computers in an organisation with the purpose of ensuring that it is all legal and authorised. It is an important sub-set of software asset management and component of corporate risk management. When a company is unaware of what software is installed and being used on its machines, it can result in multiple layers of exposure.
The primary benefits a corporation receives from performing a software licensing audit are greater control and various forms of cost savings. The audit is used both as an efficiency mechanism to improve software distribution within an organization and as a preventative mechanism to avoid copyright infringement prosecution by software companies. Software licensing audits are an important part of software asset management, but also serve as a method of corporate reputation management by ensuring that the company is operating within legal and ethical guidelines.
Software audits should not be confused with code audits, which are carried out on the source code of a software project.
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