IRVINE, Calif. -- Uniloc USA Inc., the technology leader in device-based authentication for protecting intellectual property, today unveiled ten software licensing strategies to enhance revenue versus driving customers away. The evolution of the Internet has created greater methods of distribution and increased the options available to software developers, allowing them to design custom licensing models. As new licensing technologies come to market, creative licensing strategies allow small and mid-size software vendors to compete effectively against the market leaders.
The following software licensing strategies illustrate the benefits of leveraging next-generation license management, resulting in new revenue opportunities while tackling software piracy by embracing it.
- Turn software pirates into software resellers, allowing everyone to
make money. Instead of hosting a cracked version of software, allow the
warez boards to host affiliate versions. Each download can become revenue to
the warez site instead of being a stolen license.
- Do not succumb to the hype that all piracy is bad. Bill Gates
discussed how India's piracy ultimately created a huge market for Windows in
a recent Time magazine article. Instead, implement ideas on how to use warez
and bit torrents to expedite viral marketing.
- Do not believe all the industry reports on piracy or guess how bad
your organization's piracy problem is. If spending any effort on researching
piracy, start by figuring out just how bad the situation really is. New
tools that allow 100% accurate piracy audits define the current situation,
providing a visual on the viral marketing opportunity while giving insight
on how much to tighten licensing.
- Do not use rigid licensing models that stop people from using your
product. If licensing is harsh or evaluations result in pain, the prospect
of return business is greatly reduced. One of the advantages of new
techniques such as 'Throttling' is that software vendors can ease-up
licensing strength in regions where piracy is not an issue and tighten down
where piracy is rampant. Software copy control strategies that build-in
Throttling are capable of striking a balance between viral marketing and
piracy that is most advantageous to the software vendor.
- Base every licensing decision made on the principle of fair use. A
polite software copy control policy is the profitable choice.
- Reward consumers for sharing software with others. Create an
affiliate program that gives users an incentive to distribute a legitimate
version of software.
- Reward peer-to-peer networks with affiliate programs the same way
one tackles the issue with warez sites.
- Resist punishing users for using software on more than one or two
computers. Most people install software titles on two or more computers
within one year of buying the license and it is not motivated by theft.
- Refrain from punishing users for changing or upgrading hardware.
There is groundbreaking new technology available to software vendors that
use a concept called 'Tolerance' to recognize hardware upgrades and update a
computer fingerprint. Leveraging new licensing capabilities such as this
ensures happy users since users, like most aspects of life, are not static.
- Throttle back on licensing terms over the life cycle of a product.
This involves increasing the overall availability of seats per license over
time. Throttling allows users to re-install on their new laptop during month
15, as well as allowing the old version of product to be installed numerous
times. If not selling the software, turn it into marketing fodder for the
next release.
- One call to technical support can eat the profit margin on one or
many sales. Empower users to self serve.