Oracle License Audit Support
Our Oracle audit defense experts will help you avoid the pitfalls involved with Oracle’s aggressive license audit process and support you to come out on top.
Why does Oracle audit licenses?
While a real audit is supposed to find the ultimate truth, an Oracle license audit is not designed to be fair, open and independent. It’s meant to give Oracle maximum leverage over you, push you to run Oracle Cloud, and increase your Oracle fees. Help is at hand! Palisade Compliance’s Oracle experts can help you organize a successful defense when you receive an audit letter from Oracle regarding your use of Oracle Database and Software products.
'Soft audits' by Oracle? The risks are the same
Oracle audits their customers in many ways. We even wrote a whitepaper on hidden Oracle audits about all the different audit paths.
Oracle can use “soft audits”, which come in many shapes and sizes, as a way to move you to their cloud and their Java. Soft audits can be employed by Oracle sales or audit teams. Whether it’s a formal audit or a soft audit, the risks are the same; your IT budget can be torched in either scenario.
Official audits vs soft audits
With an “official” audit, you get notified by Oracle that they are exercising their contractual right to audit your usage of Oracle software or cloud services. A soft audit is basically everything else.
Soft audits occur when Oracle offers to “help” you with your Unlimited License Agreement (ULA) certification. Or when you approach Oracle and ask for help managing your licenses. Soft audits can occur when you give your information to Oracle consultants or sales people, and they pass it on to Oracle’s audit team. We’ve even seen Oracle sales people conduct soft audits when they tell clients they are out of compliance because they are using Oracle on VMware, or they made an acquisition and their new company can’t use the software. Oracle Java sales people have been employing soft audits for some time now.
Recently, the three biggest sources of soft audits have originated from:
- companies at the end of their ULA,
- companies moving to the cloud, and
- companies using Oracle Java.
In these cases, Oracle auditors and sales people are offering “free” help. But nothing is really free. In these engagements, you pay big time.
No cost savings with soft audits
Whether or not you get an audit letter from Oracle, you should consider that “anything you say to Oracle may be used against you later”.
To be fair, you have to talk to Oracle if you rely on their technology to run your business. But don’t think for an instant that Oracle is going to help you spend less with them. They may help you move money around from support to cloud, but the bill always goes up.
Ask Oracle LMS (License Management Services) what percentage of customers spend more on Oracle after one of these audits vs the percentage that spend less; you can probably guess the answer.
Oracle license audit process
Why are we subject to an Oracle software license audit?
The simple answer is – to make money! Oracle wants to meet their bottom line. If they think your software is not licensed properly according to their licensing policies, they will audit you. This can result in large fines and needing to pay millions to Oracle.
What can trigger an Oracle audit?
It can be triggered by just giving Oracle information related to your internal audit. We like to say, “Anything you say can and will be used against you by Oracle.” Oracle may audit you if they have the slightest inclination that you’re out of compliance with their license requirements or you’re unsure of your license position. Mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, etc may all trigger an audit. One of our clients was doing marketing around their new subsidiaries when they received an audit notification from Oracle.
What risks are associated with an audit?
Mainly accruing large financial penalties from Oracle for being out of compliance with license agreements. Staying compliant with your software license terms is an important part of being able to defend yourself in an Oracle software license audit. You may not need to be audited in the first place if accurate Oracle server worksheets are maintained.
What are we facing with an Oracle license audit?
If you’re an Oracle customer and you’re being audited by Oracle LMS, then you’re probably:
- unsure of the process
- worried about the outcome
- at risk of losing millions of dollars
There are good reasons for feeling this way. Ultimately, Oracle doesn’t have to prove you’re out of compliance to get your money. They only have to make you doubt your license compliance position.
Can we navigate an Oracle LMS audit ourselves?
It’s possible. We had a client that attempted to do this, but they found it was far too daunting, especially as they didn’t have the knowledge or resources to go up against Oracle in a software audit. It’s better to work with someone who knows what they’re doing. Since Palisade Compliance employees helped to build the audit teams at Oracle, we’re the best option when it comes to navigating Oracle audits, negotiating with Oracle, and Oracle license compliance.
Oracle audit defense - it's better not to go it alone
Oracle has been auditing for more than 35 years, focusing on compliance with their license agreements. They have conducted upwards of 100,000 audits, have spent hundreds of millions of dollars perfecting their audit approach, and have generated billions of dollars by auditing their customers’ use of Oracle products. How confident are you about mounting your own defense against Oracle’s license audit findings?
Whether you’ve just received the audit letter and haven’t yet responded, or you’re going through an audit and feeling that it’s getting out of control, or you’re at the “end” of the process, with Oracle’s License Management Services final audit report in hand, Palisade Compliance can help you.
It’s never too late to seek assistance from our expert global licensing and advisory service!
Oracle audit case study
How we helped Pets Best level the playing field with Oracle
Pets Best Insurance is an online pet insurance company that operates in all 50 US states and insures more than 80,000 pets. The company had run its insurance solution using Oracle software since its founding in 2005. At that time, Oracle helped specify the software packages and license entitlements. Pets Best designed its systems to separate their Oracle environment from everything else.
What happened?
Everything was running smoothly for more than a decade. Although the company paid careful attention to complying with its Oracle license agreements over the years, Pets Best eventually received a formal Oracle audit notice.
The VP of IT reviewed their licenses and saw that contrary to what he’d been told, their customer portal, which accessed Oracle, should not have been running as a named license. Changes would be needed. The question was what to do with Oracle’s requests for information and demand to pay up. Despite having only 60 employees and two servers, Oracle’s solution was a huge expense, representing more than 60% of the pet insurer’s total IT budget.
Palisade Compliance advised Pets Best to take a step back, slow down, get organized, and determine their goals.
Palisade Compliance advised Pets Best to take a step back, slow down, get organized, and determine their goals.
The solution for managing Oracle
Oracle’s request for information sounded cordial. But as Pets Best began filling out the Oracle worksheet and reviewing Oracle’s scripts, the VP became concerned and started looking for help with the audit. After interviewing two or three Oracle advisors, the company chose Palisade Compliance. Our first step was to have Pets Best take a step back from Oracle’s requests, slow down, get organized, and create an audit response plan.
With our guidance, Pets Best ran the scripts they were comfortable with (some were overly invasive), and filled out the worksheet. Together, we reviewed system architecture, corporate goals and budget requirements. We took all that information and created several licensing scenarios. Pets Best used our results, optimized their Oracle deployments, and chose a licensing option that fitted their business model and budget.
We advised Pets Best that Oracle’s ask would be high. It was unreasonable for a company with 60 employees. So, we created a plan and execution strategy to move Oracle off their demands and agree to the licensing model that was best for Pets Best.
The outcome
Pets Best took their time and executed the plan. Oracle asked for more information or to run more scripts, and Pets Best, with us advising them, pushed back, asserting their contractual rights and ensuring a level playing field.
Pets Best started the negotiations by suggesting a particular licensing model, knowing they really wanted more flexibility. As predicted, this proposal was countered by Oracle. Pets Best went on to negotiate a license that fitted with their business model and what they already had budgeted for Oracle. Oracle’s unreasonable request was off the table and the pet insurer had the technology they required to run their business at a fair cost.
Working with us allowed Pets Best to thoroughly understand their current Oracle commitments and future needs when entering into negotiations.
Pets Best biggest learning? That Oracle audits are actually driven by sales. Oracle’s word is not the law; Oracle is simply a company that has negotiated a contract. Having Palisade Compliance at their side helped the pet insurer meet their business goals – and pay Oracle less.
Help – Oracle License Management Services is auditing me!
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