Is Software Licensing at a Breaking Point?

It's no secret that software licensing has become a giant thorn in the side of both IT departments and the business in general. Not only is today's licensing environment incredibly complex and becoming tougher, it's also undergoing radical change. Virtualization, clouds, software as a service (SaaS), mobile apps and entirely new digital delivery models introduce both opportunities and challenges—and alter the stakes dramatically. A new report from digital security firm Gemalto, "Software Licensing: Expectations, Challenges and the Future," notes that new and evolving models are affecting the way software vendors and buyers interact. The key themes the report identifies include: the need for a framework that supports anywhere, anytime access; user-centric licensing that revolves around individuals and not machines; better usage tracking and pricing models; and a common-use experience that spans on-premise use, clouds and various devices. Here are some of the key findings from the survey of 600 enterprise software users and 180 software vendors.