172288 Resource 149173 155860 149257 1182183859177 1182187719823 Controlled Small Businesses and Proper Software Management

Partnership to provide software strategies and copyright compliance tools for small businesses

If maintaining your computer and keeping up with the latest software is not one of your strong suits, you’re not alone. In fact, small business owners are often so busy trying to gain new business, maintain customer relations and keep up with the flow of cash, the upkeep of a computer system is often the last thing on the to-do list. If you can relate to this, then you’ll be interested in a new effort to help small businesses with this issue. This month, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Business Software Alliance (BSA), an organization that promotes a safe and legal digital environment, announced a partnership to educate nearly 100,000 small businesses on proper software management and the risks associated with the use of unlicensed software. Coined “Software Strategies for Small Businesses,” the multi-year partnership will provide small businesses and SBA resource partners—including SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business,” Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers and SBA district offices—with a set of software asset management tools and educational materials that will help small businesses establish, communicate and enforce policies that ensure copyright compliance in the work force. According to the BSA, small businesses paid over $11.4 million in fines to settle software piracy claims in 2006 alone. Last year, the United States lost $6.9 billion as a result of software piracy. The “Software Strategies for Small Businesses” initiative encompasses the following: <UL> <LI>Developing “best practices” publications that communicate guidelines for small businesses on implementing software asset management programs; <LI>Producing and disseminating educational materials such as a guide to software management, “Ten Steps for Software Compliance” fact sheet, “Software Piracy and the Law” fact sheet and software audit tools; <LI>Creating an interactive Web page to include free software audit tools, fact sheets, topical software management articles and above-mentioned educational materials; <LI>Developing a software management article for placement in SBA’s Small Business Success magazine; <LI>Creating software asset management content for SBA e-newsletters; <LI>Hosting an interactive Webinar with SBA and its resource partners; and <LI>Conducting an educational media outreach program to help promote this significant campaign. </LI></UL> If you'd like more information about SBA and BSA’s “Software Strategies for Small Businesses” partnership, visit <A href="http://www.smartaboutsoftware.org/">http://www.smartaboutsoftware.org/</A>. 10 application/xml false compliance tools copyright compliance copyright compliance tools proper software management small businesses software management software strategies tools for small business Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 cmalmstrom false true false false true 189572 false false true false false false true 149173 blog blogsite/FreedomVoice/web