Risks with a “Do It Yourself” Approach to Software Licensing

SoftwareKey works with a wide range of businesses, budgets, licensing requirements, and staff skill levels.  Frequently, we find that customers underestimate the level of detail involved in successfully launching and maintaining a licensed application throughout its lifetime.

Consider What You Don't Know

When it comes to software licensing, as with so many things in this world, often you don’t know what you don’t know.

The correct implementation of licensing is essential to the smooth operation of your software product.    By opting for the most professional and secure implementation and design, you can be confident that your investment will lead to profits.

Do It Yourself Approach Works Well With Simple Licensing

Most customers who have simple licensing requirements, or those who have senior-level staff with licensing experience, can implement the SoftwareKey System inside of their software using our Do It Yourself approach.   And you can always contact us if you get stuck: we’re happy to answer simple questions under our Standard Support plan.

Consider These Risks with Do It Yourself Approach

BUT, remember that there can definitely be risks if you choose the Do It Yourself approach, especially if your staff is new to software licensing technology:

  • Trying to bring together multiple different licensing models in the same application can create inter-dependencies that are easy to miss or not realize until it is too late.  What may seem simple can become complex very quickly.
  • Responses to questions posted to our Standard Support staff will come from one of the many skilled people on our team. However, on this level you do not benefit from a central project manager who understands your licensing goals in detail. And unfortunately, answering questions in piecemeal bites without understanding your overall goals is possibly going to result in extra time being spent by all parties involved.
  • You don't want to be surprised if a flaw in your implementation is discovered after the software is released.  Patching security or implementation flaws on released software can sometimes involve significant time and money, and may even generate customer dissatisfaction.
  • Finally, even during normal operations, licensing flaws can sometimes open up exploitable holes that could allow customers or hackers to steal your software more easily.
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Andre Martinez Executive Business Services, Inc.

Flexible and Stable for Thousands of Users

We have used Protection PLUS for many years with thousands of users, and it has been a very flexible and stable product. We recently encountered an issue requiring FIPS-compliance in our software in order to participate with some US government contracts. We contacted SoftwareKey support to inquire about a FIPS-compliant version of Protection PLUS. Even though it required a special build of their library, they researched the issue and provided a solution very quickly. This was a big deal for us to support some large companies evaluating our product.

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Heloise Laight Co-owner / Canonbury Publishing Ltd

Customized Integration We Couldn't Find Anywhere Else

We used to have a very cumbersome, manual process for distributing our software licenses. After trying unsuccessfully to find a suitable solution with other licensing providers, we worked with SoftwareKey to fully-automate a customized connection to our Customer Relationship Management System. Now through a simple process in our CRM, customers are immediately notified of their license credentials and can activate 24 hours a day!

The SoftwareKey team is great! They provided a robust and professional solution and their support was fantastic - I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

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Leo Revzin Owner / Zevrix Solutions

Stellar Customer Support

Team SoftwareKey provides stellar customer support, which is fast and efficient.

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Jerry Kramskoy CEO/CTO MusicIncite Ltd

Support is Excellent - They Genuinely Want to Help

Based on my experience, I would definitely recommend The SoftwareKey System, especially as the cost is very reasonable. From an integration viewpoint, this was straight-forward, starting from the supplied SDK, and modifying to suit. There is a lot of flexibility in the system, meaning we can consider feature-unlocking based on license type sold, while shipping one executable. That's a big win. Support is excellent ... these guys understand what support really is. They genuinely want to help.

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Bill Roach Partner / ExhibitView Solutions, LLC

SoftwareKey's service and support are truly first rate.

My company, ExhibitView Solutions, LLC, has been using the SoftwareKey System for over a year now. We used to use a very developer-intensive system for our licensing. So, when we decided to launch a completely-revamped product, I knew I needed to simplify the licensing process. After searching online, my first phone call to SoftwareKey was to discuss how their system works. I was impressed that I never felt any pressure to end the conversation during that rather long phone call. My developers were able to implement the system in under one hour after I set up a short paid one-on-one tutorial with the SoftwareKey staff.

After the initial product launch, we implemented the system into all of our 3 products. I could not be happier. I would be happy to speak with anyone about my experience and would also encourage any other software company or entrepreneur to investigate SoftwareKey. The service and support are truly first rate, and I have certainly received a great value for my money.

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Chao Han President, VirtualGrid

Excellent Service

I would like to thank the SoftwareKey team for the excellent service we received during the past years. I won’t hesitate to recommend your services to others!

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Abhay Deshpande Partner, Global Financial Datafeeds LLP

The SoftwareKey System and Support are Rock Solid!

We have been building data products for the financial market since 2008 - mostly for Indian stock markets.

SoftwareKey products are rock solid, you use them for your product protection, license management and it JUST WORKS! In last 10 years, thousands of trials & paid licenses were created & managed on SOLO Server Automation with no issues whatsoever. Their support is top-notch and always to the point. Their team understands what a customer is saying and on rare occasions when you need support, they are more than willing to help.

The SoftwareKey System made the license management aspect of our business so effortless that we were able to confidently make our software sales a primary focus.

Since 2008, we have immensely enjoyed the SoftwareKey System to protect and manage our software products. It is one of those rare companies which scores on every point!

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Matthew Friedman National Instruments

Big Value that delivers!

We spent a lot of time integrating the SoftwareKey platform with our platform, that was a really big value add that delivers productivity and value to our development community by having tight integration with our tools. Being able to work together [with SoftwareKey] like that enabled us to bring this additional value that would not have been possible otherwise.

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Ann Rutter Product Development Manager / The Electric Quilt Company

Getting a real person on the phone was easy

A very, very strong aspect of the company [SoftwareKey] is the customer support which follows the purchase of the product. Getting a real person on the phone was easy and the expertise I was met with was great.

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Peter Mason Scientific Programmer, CSIRO Mineral Resources

A Powerful and Flexible Solution with Very Good Customer Service

We use Protection PLUS 5 Native along with Instant SOLO server. It's a powerful, flexible solution that gives us a lot of choice in how we would like our licenses to work, and it extends easily to a complete e-commerce solution. It's a good solution with very good customer service.

I have contacted SoftwareKey support on a broad range of issues from licensing ideas to technical Protection PLUS 5 programming problems. They always respond rapidly and knowledgeably. I have never had a box-ticking or tunnel-vision experience with them. There's a clear impression of involvement and commitment.

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