I love this time of year:  Spring has sprung, new software and new content products are out in the marketplace, and of course the 2009 NFL Draft was conducted!  But for the time being I must hold off my dreams of the Redskins XLIV Super Bowl glory and concentrate on currently bigger issues...  Bigger issues like how to manage all these new license agreements that come with new content and software products.  Yes, I know my thoughts are a little off for actually thinking about license agreements, but call me crazy.

As I have previously mentioned in an earlier blog about SaaS in terms of managing compliance and the license; the management is not easy, not for the publisher or the buyer.  The same difficulties that the SaaS model faces of compliance and management, can be applied to when content comes into an organization.  Challenges pop up when a buyer has to properly distribute a PDF of a professional journal internally within the organization without violating any terms of the agreement, while at the same time trying to make sure that same professional journal is actually being read (used) in order to justify the price tag that came with its license agreement.  Management is not easy. 

Some tactics that an organization may consider when trying to be an effective manager of licenses within the organization is to make sure there are effective policies and procedures in place revolving around both software and content procurement and management.  End users within an organization must have the proper knowledge on how to properly procure software and/or content within the organization, this will help to provide some control of these assets once in the organization.  A properly enforced copyright management plan is a necessity for any organization to effectively manage their rights not only for compliance reasons, but for also having the knowledge of how much the assets are used.  The goal of any organization should be to maintain compliance while also maintaining their bottom line by only buying software and/or content that they truly need and use.

Who knew that The Jeffersons had predicted the future with the theme song “Movin’ On Up”, but it looks like they nailed it on the head.  Technology is now up in the “clouds”. 

Cloud computing, by its most basic definition, is a computing environment where software and data are accessed over a network (e.g. the Internet), rather than stored on a local desktop or server.  With this model, users have the feel of software applications and data residing in the “clouds.” By more technical definition, the network of servers and connections is collectively known as “the cloud.” Computing at the scale of the cloud allows users to access supercomputer-level power. Using a thin client or other access point, like an iPhone, BlackBerry or laptop, users can reach into the cloud for resources as they need them. Other similar terms often used to refer to the cloud computing model are “on-demand computing,” and “Software as a Service,” or “SaaS.”More...

A question I often times hear when discussing “backing up” ones software is:  “How many “back ups” am I allowed to make?”   And as the great Hip Hop legends, Run-DMC, once rapped It's Tricky!

To me making a “back up” or an archival copy of any software program that I have licensed should be a no-brainer.  I do not want to have to worry about any issues if my computer crashes or gets stolen, I want to be sure that I have “back ups” for emergency purposes.  However, where it gets confusing is if I have multiple “back ups”, which I am sure is why the question is asked in the first place.  Typically organizations will have an onsite “back up” of all software programs, while in addition have additional “back ups” at an offsite facility for disaster planning and recovery.  And these disaster planning and testing sites are what can throw a wrench into the issue of “how many “back ups” am I allowed to have” of software programs. More...