Minimize software piracy
Use case: when an architectural engineering design (AED) software company uncovered widespread illegal use of their software, they implemented SmartFlow. Learn how using SmartFlow helped the AED company enhance their internal compliance program, aided their financial recovery and protected their legal customers.
Challenge
An architectural engineering design (AED) software company became aware that their software was being pirated. Several of the company’s customers reported knowledge of competitors who were using the software illegally. In addition, users who were not customers were contacting the company and asking for product support.
The company faced reputational damage, unhappy customers and loss of revenue.
The AED company was unsure of how big the issue was, and concerned about the impact that an anti-piracy program would have on legitimate customers. However, after launching an initial compliance investigation, they realized that the extent of the problem was huge.
The company’s compliance team tried to develop models to estimate the amount of revenue lost to illegal usage, and create internal tools to address the problem – but these were insufficient.
Benefit
With SmartFlow, the AED company can monitor, report and take action on all types of illegal software usage all around the world. The solution supports a non-punitive approach that focuses on recovering license fees by converting infringing organizations into paying customers.
SmartFlow uses unique data points and sophisticated telemetry data to identify infringing machines and link them to organizations with a low false positive rate. Advanced business logic and a powerful correlation engine deliver higher match rates, while automated data analysis, cleansing and case prioritization increase productivity and throughput.
The AED company’s customers are happy, knowing that the company is actively working to prevent unfair competition and protect their industry. The company’s compliance program has been upgraded and their piracy problem has been minimized. And the financial impact of recovered license fees provides an added revenue stream.
Due to its success, the company plans to expand use of SmartFlow throughout the organization.
minimizing piracy
compliance program
revenue from illegal use
product and brand
customers
What the company says about SmartFlow
“The advice I would give to other companies experiencing unlicensed usage issues is that choosing SmartFlow is a good idea.”
“All of the information we have collected using SmartFlow remains with our company, so it is a long-term venture that we have adopted.”
“While companies may be concerned that they are being fair to their legal customers and protecting their privacy, these issues are absolutely solved with the use of SmartFlow because you can specify what kind of people you want to look at.”
“One of the many benefits of SmartFlow is to our customers, who have been pushing us to pursue illegal users because of unfair competition. Piracy is not going away any time soon and we can do something to minimize this problem.”