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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Mark Fonseca 3000AD Systems

SoftwareKey support is second to none

I would certainly recommend the SoftwareKey System to others on the basis that SoftwareKey support is second to none. Allowing for the time difference, every e-mail I have sent – and there have been quite few – has always been answered straight away with good sound advice. Other suppliers I have dealt with sometimes take days to respond to a support call. Each support analyst is very familiar with their product and provides excellent, precise support.

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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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Dustin Armstrong VP Operations, Tenacity, Inc.

It's Nice to See Sales Come in at 3am

SoftwareKey is a one stop shop for software protection. Tenacity has been using their solutions since we opened in 2004, and I would not consider going anywhere else. I love the SoftwareKey built-in shopping cart and tools they provide to protect our software from theft. It is nice to see sales come in at 3am.

The support that these guys offer is top notch. Dealing with the lowest technician all the way to the company owner has always been a pleasure.

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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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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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Anatoliy Shishkin President, 2D Technology Group, Inc.

Confident in SoftwareKey's Products and Developer Team Competency

We are very pleased with the SoftwareKey team's dedication and professionalism in resolving complicated issues. We've been using the SoftwareKey System for several years and every time when we needed support we did get it promptly and in a friendly manner. The recent release of Protection PLUS 5 SDK expands SoftwareKey System functionality to additional platforms and processor architectures, which we are planning to start using because we are confident in the company's products and developer team competency.

Do not hesitate with SoftwareKey - it's a solid company, great competitive products and outstanding customer support.

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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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Bret McClay

Above and Beyond the Typical Level of Support

I just wanted to take the time to write this email and indicate my high level of satisfaction with the support that your team has provided throughout the trial, purchase, and setup of your software products. The support team is friendly, listens to my questions, knows your products inside and out, and conduct themselves in a manner that is highly conducive to simply getting things done. It is quite clear that they go above and beyond the typical level of support that is expected, and I hope that it is well-recognized that this is essential to procuring new business and referrals.

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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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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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