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Software Monetization: Post-Acquisition Software Licensing

September 26, 2012

While acquisitions bring many benefits – including an expanded customer base and more revenue – they can also bring along a fair amount of baggage.

In some cases, the acquiring companies will inherit homegrown software licensing systems that might be totally incompatible with their own. Despite this challenge, it is still possible to expand – and without the additional headache of managing disparate licensing systems. In a recent blog post, Alexandra Lating, assistant product marketing specialist in SafeNet’s (News - Alert) software rights management division, provided a synopsis of a relevant software licensing case study.

Sage – an international business software, services and support company working primarily with small and medium sized businesses – had acquired other companies over the years, which allowed the firm to continue to expand globally. However, these acquisitions also led to multiple homegrown licensing systems that did not work cohesively, according to Lating.

“Sage is an expert on our customers and internal process; however, we needed a system that would also protect against anti-piracy and simplify the modeling of new products. Our former licensing systems did not solve this problem,” explained Ingo Sievers, marketing director at Sage.

According to the case study, SafeNet Sentinel RMS streamlined Sage’s back-office systems, creating harmony for the growing company. In addition, Sage used the capabilities in the Sentinel product to create flexible licensing models for their customers. “Sentinel RMS is extremely flexible, our customers can buy the modules of our software that they need for the way they really needed it,” Sievers said.

Sievers also noted that, after implementing Sentinel RMS, Sage was also able to discover additional untapped revenue opportunities.

“The customer registration process brought a lot of licensing history to the surface and exposed many unregistered customers,” Sievers said. “We were able to generate additional business by clearing up the discrepancies with these customers and receiving the compensation we were owed.”

While acquisitions can help businesses grow, there are ways to make sure they do not create serious challenges with your back-office.

To learn more about how Sage and other companies implemented SafeNet Sentinel RMS to streamline their back-office, click here.

Edited by Peter Bernstein

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