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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Sterren Fisher Lead Software Developer at Atkins Transportation

Fantastic Solutions Provider Who Will Bend Over Backwards to Help

We have been able to provide entitlement management and software protection capabilities to two new .NET software products we are in the process of launching. The SoftwareKey team really puts their customers first and responds very quickly and effectively to support queries raised. Their software is also well designed and powerfully featured.

I recommend that you take advantage of their fantastic support.

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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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Jason Grabowski Owner / Baseline Achieved, LLC

I Feel Like an Important Customer, Not Just Another Number

Customer service was absolutely the most important feature I was looking for. I knew that whichever licensing solution I selected, I would be partnered with that company for a long time! Tanner and the team at SoftwareKey were awesome. I used two hours of Jump Start services to get everything up and running, and a third hour to review everything and to make some tweaks to my licensing strategy. Now I am up and running and couldn't be happier! And I know that the SoftwareKey team is just an email away to answer any of my questions as they come up. SoftwareKey offers a complete licensing solution that is easy to implement. And if you are a coder that is not familiar with licensing, they offer great customer care to get you up and running.

In my opinion, what separates SoftwareKey from other licensing solutions is the customer care. They are very responsive to emails and they offer an excellent Jump Start service to get you up and running. They want my business and they are willing to work with me and support me to keep it. I feel like an important customer with SoftwareKey, not just another number. Not to mention that the licensing solution is great as well!

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Brooks Wait Owner & Certified LabVIEW Architect, Brooks Consulting LLC

Invaluable Customer Support!

I wrote a custom software dialog that gives our user the ability to evaluate our software or activate it, which is an advanced application that requires API calls and custom modifications to the license to activate both licenses. The SoftwareKey API has lots of options, so I worked with Tanner to activate their software and another licensed feature needed for our custom software licensing use case. Tanner's knowledge and support was invaluable throughout the process. I don't believe I would have been able to accomplish this task in an efficient manner without him.

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Henry He Overland Conveyor Company Inc.

Brilliant!

Thank you! I'd also simply like to say you guys have been amazing, I've sent multiple tickets the past few weeks and the promptness and fullness of your replies has been brilliant!

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Deb Babbitt Software and Engineering Associates, Inc.

A++++ Support from SoftwareKey

A++++ support from SoftwareKey! First your software is easy to use and flexible enough to accommodate new and legacy products. More importantly, your support team is phenomenal. The dedication you showed to solving our unique situation was more than just appreciated, it was praised. The ultimate result was a flawless installation and activation by our customers ... a definite tribute to SoftwareKey.

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Mark Daniel Director of Explicit Business Solutions Ltd

The Jump Start Service Was Great and Helped Me Relax and Sort Things Out

We are a new startup business and will initially be selling software to the construction industry and providing consulting services.

What I really like about the SoftwareKey System is that it's quick to setup, provides full automation when using SOLO Server for customers to download and activate software instantly and it will also integrate with FastSpring for payments.

We are in the process of launching our first product. I went with the SoftwareKey System as the system looked relatively easy to implement and the fact that the client can purchase, download and activate automatically without me having to deal with that side of things is a great time saver.

I researched a lot of different products and kept coming back to SoftwareKey for the below reasons. They have a large amount of online information including online tutorials, webinars and tips, etc. which is great. As I am totally new to the licensing of software, one massive thing for me was good customer support for which I have only read good reviews about in regards to SoftwareKey. I also found their pricing to be very reasonable - especially important to me was that I did not want to be paying out huge amounts for the software automation for downloading and activating the software. This was important to me as a new start up company and not having massive cash reserves to rely on until the product gets some traction.

I used the Jump Start Service a few nights ago to make sure I was doing things correctly etc. Dan from SoftwareKey was who I dealt with and I have got to say he was great - relaxed and helped me sort things out - no worries. So yes the customer service is great. I would not hesitate for a second in recommending SoftwareKey.

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Clint Monari Lead UI Developer, Bridge Software Institute

SoftwareKey's support is extremely responsive!

The SoftwareKey team has been extremely responsive in assisting us with implementation of cloud-controlled network licensing. They've answered our questions and helped with troubleshooting on multiple occasions, including outside of normal business hours.

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Nancy Canty VP of Product Management, Blue Ridge Networks, Inc.

The SoftwareKey Team is Always Committed to Our Success

We've been using the SoftwareKey System for several years. We engaged SoftwareKey as part of our development team to extend their standard system functionality to meet new requirements as well as design a scalable hosting platform. This project was a major success, and we were impressed with the depth and breadth of their team's technical abilities.

We later used SoftwareKey to create a subscription version of our product and provide a deep integration with our ecommerce system. They defined an elegant solution, completed their tasks quickly, and provided clear documentation. The SoftwareKey team was committed to the success of each project, leading to smooth product launches.

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Ian Mead IDM Computer Solutions, Inc.

Quality product - easy to use

SoftwareKey has provided IDM a 21st century software license solution that is on par with any major publisher we know of... that includes quality and excellent customer service and support. Easy to register, extensible to multi-platforms, and easy for our users to stay current!

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