Compliance could come back to haunt UK firms

Most UK firms haven’t a clue whether their business software is compliant with standards and are laying themselves wide open to criminal charges or financial penalties.

Some 71% of IT managers in logistics, healthcare, retail and finance sectors claim they either know for sure their software isn’t compliant or admit ignorance, finds a survey by IT governance firm Centennial Software.

Such indifference can waste precious IT budget, as firms pay for licences or maintenance agreements they don’t need or suffer higher costs per units from decentralised purchasing.

Although 85% of companies are aware of ISO 19770 and other software asset management (SAM) targets, this isn’t backed by action.

“It seems every day we read more horror stories about companies being caught out. There’s really no excuse for this kind of apathy any more,” says Alex Hilton, Centennial’s UK vice president of sales.