Fresno County paid IBM almost $2.3 million after a software licensing audit discovered that too many people were using unlicensed IBM software programs in county departments. The bill, which was paid in March, is leading to changes in how the county buys and uses the software. County officials say the invoice might have been lots worse. “We got a hell of a deal,” Board of Supervisors’ Chairman Pal Mendes said.
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First, IBM sought nearly $4.5 million to settle the audit declaration. However, the county negotiated to get the invoice lowered. In a few instances, software was on the computers of lengthy-retired employees and never eliminated, stated Robert Bash, the county’s chief facts officer. Different expenses stemmed from a misunderstanding of the settlement, he said. After supervisors authorized the fee, an anonymous letter transmitted tthroughinner county emails counseled the county’s software difficulty stemmed from management problems within the internal offerings branch.
$2.3 million
Quantity paid using Fresno County to IBM after software licensing audit
Mendes credits Bash for decreasing the charge and bringing the years-long hassle to supervisors’ interest. “It changed into the system’s fault,” Mendes said. “That changed into being accomplished for years.” Supervisors accepted a contract in July 2014 that paid $five million in software program, associated maintenance, and customer service for 5 years. In early 2015, IBM paid for a 3rd-birthday celebration audit to decide how Fresno County turned into the usage of its software, which uncovered the unlicensed software program users.
IBM’s audit protected 12 months in the past and 365 days into the destiny, assuming comparable use levels. The almost $ 2 trillion can pay for software program licensing and maintenance for the years. Such audits are pretty ordinary and not clean to combat, stated Fresno County Recommend Dan Cederborg. He said the county weighed its options, but felony action towards IBM wasn’t advised because the agency is chargeable for confirming its range of licenses and charging as a consequence. “Manifestly, we checked all our options, but that wasn’t one of the possible ones,” he stated. “I suppose the (inner offerings) branch did a great job working down the number.”
Longtime issue
A little software program misuse troubles, Bash stated, date returned to the past due Nineties, even though they weren’t a part of the audit. Bash changed into named leader facts officer in early 2014. County files said that the most significantly misused software program became inside the county’s department of Social offerings. Beneath the agreement, the county will pay for new licensing and returned preservation for software program overuse, he stated. In Other instances, the the software program hadn’t been used for long intervals because contemporary and previous employees retained the the software program on their private computers but hadn’t deleted it, Bash said.
Another cause of the fee drop was that IBM desired to charge the county for having more than 7,000 employees admission to the positive software. In contrast, one department had a maximum of the unlicensed software program established, Bash stated. “We have been speculated to do software reconciliations as we went alongside, and that wasn’t taking place,” he said. “It has to show up daily, and you have to pay for what you set up.” County officials’ idea of the agreement alleged to allow a positive variety of users on software at one time, but the settlement became extra stringent.
