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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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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Adam Reue Senior Software Engineering Project Manager, Revcord

They Always Help Me with a Prompt, Cheerful, and Very Easy to Understand Response

We have been using SOLO Server along with Protection PLUS 4 SDK for several years. We recently upgraded to Protection PLUS 5 SDK, and the SoftwareKey support team has helped make the transition a success. With our software release date quickly approaching, things began to become a bit hectic and I had some urgent questions that needed answers. SoftwareKey support promptly supplied me with more than ample documentation, and got me on the right path to resolving my issue that night before the start of the next business day. No matter how simple (or dumb) of a question I have, they always help me towards a resolution with a prompt, cheerful, and very easy to understand response.

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Timour Koupeev Vose Software, Head of Development

Team SoftwareKey's Support is Brilliant!

Our company develops software for risk management and quantitative risk analysis. We're very impressed with the license management and license activation features of the SoftwareKey System. Implementation is intuitive and well explained in the manual and samples. We are very happy with the SoftwareKey System's set of tools - we have relied on them for more than 10 years now and they have never failed us.

Their client support is also brilliant - always helpful and timely.

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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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Ian Batey CEO, IDMB Advisory LTD

Best IT Support by a Country Mile

Every time I raise a ticket with SoftwareKey, it gets dealt with promptly and with insight. Your team should be congratulated on such a consistently good performance. TRUST me, I deal with a number of IT support sites and yours is the best by a country mile.

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Vu Nguyen Web and E-commerce Manager, RoboMatter

SoftwareKey Continues to Exceed My Expectations

We've been using SoftwareKey since 2005. They have been essential to our ability to license our software, and they haven't had any issues keeping up with our growth. SoftwareKey has been incredibly responsive with my needs and requests for features. Their support is also very proactive with issues I didn't even know I needed to fix. I can't recommend them enough when it comes to a product licensing. They are there whenever we need them, and they also continue to exceed my expectations when it comes to our company's needs.

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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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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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Stuart Nielsen Chief Information Officer / Tools4FIM (OXFORD COMPUTER GROUP)

Support like this is hard to find.

Over my 25 years, of all the companies I have encountered, Mike and his team rank in the top five in customer support, responsiveness and help. I suppose in this day in age that is probably the highest commendation that I can give Mike and his team.

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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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