IT Support Manchester

You may be familiar with the term escrow, knowing that it protects two parties by using a third, a trusted escrow agent, so it will hardly surprise you to learn that software escrow is a way to protect both the buyer and the seller of expensive software. It has not always been possible to use escrow for intellectual property like software, but then there hasn’t always been software, but not everyone is aware of its use.

For the developers of software, using software escrow is a way to reassure a buyer, since if you default on the agreement, the software source code may be given to the buyer by the escrow agent. This only occurs when certain events are triggered documented in the escrow agreement, like not maintaining the software, but it does reassure the purchaser having this in place for expensive software. If you look at escrow through their eyes, you need some sort of reassurance that, after time, you or your company will still be around supporting the software you are using, otherwise they may have to throw your software out and start all over with another company. Obviously, this is hugely time consuming, and expensive, so it makes sense that the purchaser of pricey software would like software escrow to be in place before they purchase it. Then they have the reassurance of knowing that if something occurs beyond their control, perhaps your company goes bankrupt, then in the worst case scenario they will still have the source code of the software to work with.

Naturally there are a variety of software agreements in escrow out there, but most can be easily adjusted to suit your individual needs. If you are the seller of computer software that is pakaged, then you are more likely to need a multi user plan, not the single user plan that is in use for companies who purchase software that is highly customized, that is extremely unlikely to ever be sold to anyone else. Software escrow services can supply you with these documents, which you can then adjust to suit your particular requirements.

When you are choosing a software escrow service to use, remember to do your due diligence, making sure that the company is reputable, that there are no negative comments concerning them on the internet, and check with the Better Business Bureau too to see if there have been any conscerns documented there.

Confirm that they have been around for a time offering escrow services, and of course, ask for the pricing for their escrow service. When you have done this, go with the one that you feel most suits your needs, and then adjust the escrow agreement so that it reflects your needs. Of course, the party you are dealing with may also need to make some adjustments, so find out from the escrow company to see if they will charge you for these updates. {It is useful to know this in advance.Knowing in advance what your fees are liable to be is very valuable}.

Then, having chosen your escrow service, you can get your software escrow agreement finalised and set in motion, and the buyer, the seller and the escrow agent will be satisfied with the escrow agreement.