Here's what is really worrying Indian CIOs

FP Staff • September 5, 2014, 16:18:48 IST

Non-compliance with software licenses is the biggest concern for one in three Indian CIOs, followed by overspending on software CIO, according to the BSA survey.

Here's what is really worrying Indian CIOs

Non-compliance with software licenses is the biggest concern for Indian CIOs today, reveals a new survey by BSA, the global software alliance. Non-compliance with software licenses is the biggest concern for one in three Indian CIOs, followed by overspending on software CIO, according to the survey.

The survey, conducted among 300 CIOs in India, focuses on CIOs’ top concerns and views on Software Asset Management (SAM) and its state of adoption in India.

“Today software is embedded in the DNA of a company and keeps companies agile. It is imperative that CEO’s understand their software assets and leverages it effectively to drive value and productivity,” said Yolynd Lobo, India Director, BSA.

According to the survey, 60 percent of organisations are neither able to judiciously use software assets, nor are they able to assess the compliance risk due to a lack of visibility into their software assets

Most organisations are subjected to compliance audits every year by software vendors and 25 percent of CIOs said the frequency of audit requests has been increasing over the years.

The survey further revealed that 58 percent of CIOs see audits as a nuisance or distraction, but believe they are well prepared for them (69 percent).

Awareness of the ISO SAM certification and Verafirm-Certified is high (74 percent), though there is a lack of in-depth knowledge, the study found. Also, about half of the organisations have allocated budgets for SAM initiatives. However, most prefer to implement SAM themselves.

“Software forms a large part of any organisation’s IT investments. Today, the biggest impediment for CIOs to make the most of their software investments is lack of complete visibility into their software inventory,” said, Pranav Kumar, Executive Vice President & Head - CIO Forum, IMA.

The survey was conducted among CIOs and IT Heads of medium and large-sized organisations across manufacturing, banking and financial services, information technology, FMCG and healthcare sectors.