What Is Software Escrow?
Why Would I Need To Protect My Business Critical Applications?
Every business relies on at least one critical application, whether its financial software, your CRM system, stock control or logistics. But what would the impact be if you were no longer able to access these critical applications?
You could invest in new applications, but procuring suitable replacements is a time consuming and costly process, especially if your former applications were highly customised or bespoke. It’s also important to consider the impact to your business in the meantime with no access to your critical applications.
Software Escrow provides a way of ensuring access to your critical applications until a suitable replacement can be found and implemented.
Why is Software Escrow required?
For End Users, a Software Escrow Agreement provides protection for your business critical applications. It involves a copy of your applications source code being securely stored in Escrow so that in the event your developer is no longer being able to support you, the source code can be release back to you. This enables you to continue to develop and maintain your application to the point a suitable replacement can be procured.
For Software Developers, an Escrow Agreement helps build credibility and trust that you have your clients interests at heart.
When Would You Need Software Escrow?
There are many standard trigger events where a business may need Software Escrow. Standard release events include:
- The software developer ceasing to trade.
- The software developer entering into insolvency proceedings.
- A breach of the maintenance agreement between the software developer and end user.
- The software developer merging with, or being acquired by, another organisation and the intellectual property rights (IPR) being transferred.
Clients we've helped
Software Escrow Services tailored to your business
At SES we have broken our core Software Escrow services into four distinct service levels to make it easier for our customers to choose the right protection for their business. All of our Escrow Agreements can be used to protect both on-premise and hosted software applications, are secured to ISO: 27001 standards and include the highest liability indemnity insurance available (£5 million).
Already have an Escrow Agreement in place with another supplier? Our Free Transfer Offer enables you to transfer your existing Escrow portfolio to SES at no additional cost. There are no setup fees and SES will manage the entire process on your behalf.
Level 1 - Basic
Level 2 - Code Validation
Level 3 - Code & Deployment Validation
Level 4 - Continuity 365
Our expertise. Your questions answered
Why do I need a Software Escrow Agreement?
For End Users of business-critical applications, a Software Escrow Agreement protects you against the developer of your business-critical applications no longer being able to support their applications.
For Software Developers, an Escrow Agreement helps build credibility and trust that you have your clients interests at heart.
How does a Software Escrow Agreement work?
In its simplest form, an Escrow Agreement is a tri-party agreement between an End User, a Software Developer and a third party Software Escrow Agent. The Developer licenses the application to the End User as usual but also deposits a copy of the source code for the application and any other material required to accurately redeploy the application into Escrow which can then be released to the End User if a release event contained within the Escrow Agreement is triggered.
How much does a Software Escrow Agreement cost?
The answer to this is entirely dependent on the level of protection you need. SES offers a range of Software Escrow Agreements depending on how many clients will be added to the agreement (for Software Developers), how many business-critical applications the agreement will be used to cover (for End Users) and whether the application/s in question is installed on-premise or delivered through a SaaS model.