Speaking of Ts & Cs

Business Technology Consumers Are Not Helpless

As noted in Rita's post, Ts & Cs represent a significant set of controls that consumers have literally given away to the software publishers (and hardware vendors). Somehow the customers (that would be us) have lost our rights in the vast majority of contractual agreements. Massive legal teams representing our suppliers have created template licenses (and other agreements) that have taken on a "non-negotiable" life of their own. It's time for a change in the industry. ALL contracts are negotiable.

Technology consumers need to become very aware that form agreements are in no manner favorable to the consumer. Further, these documents represent legal contracts between two parties. This means that the interests of both parties should be represented in the Ts & Cs. Feeling helpless? You just THINK you are.

For years I have been teaching software asset managers that they need to create two living lists of Ts & Cs. The first list details clauses that they expect to see in nearly every agreement. The second contains clauses that they will not accept in agreements. Each list should be prioritized from the most important down to the least important. Once you have built these lists, your negotiators will have an enormous leg up in contract sculpting.

Will it work? Not at first. Remember, the suppliers have had their way for a long time, now. However, if enough of the +/- 23 million small businesses (in the U.S. alone) begin pushing for reform, the hardware and software industries won't be capable of effective push-back.

Have an Alternative

It is also important to have an alternative product in your hip pocket when considering a software purchase. If vendors/publishers want your business, they will have to bend each time a negotiation comes due. OpenSource is also rising, offering some viable alternatives, as demonstrated to the extreme by the Ernie Ball company. See my earlier blog entry titled "Speaking Out About Unfair Software Enforcement Actions".

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-- Rita Bowman

The Power of Your Own VLA

Who says you even have to work from the vendor's agreement?

Al hits it on the head: Software vendors' license agreements are blatantly lopsided in THEIR favor. It's worth the effort to develop your OWN license agreement template, especially for those applications that support your IT infrastructure or will be used widely in your firm.

Vendors realize that applications that become a part of your IT fabric (backups, antivirus, firewall, document mangement, etc.) can be costly and painful to move away from at renewal time, so build in adequate risk protection and future price control from the outset. If you really want to get a barometer reading of a vendor's willingness to consider your interests in the contract, include your license agreement in the RFP....

Let's face it - we all want long term relationships with software vendors. We WANT their products to do what they say they will and to experience excellent technical support. We WANT to reach the end of the contract and feel good about the choice we made at the beginning. No better time exists to help shape this future than BEFORE any money changes hands.

-br