Software escrow is an important part of any software development project. It ensures that the software end-user has access to the source code in case of a dispute or other unforeseen circumstances like a natural disaster, or even death.
When it comes to choosing the right software escrow agent to suit your individual needs, it’s important to make sure they check two particular boxes:
1. Do they offer unlimited deposits as part of their software escrow subscription agreement?
2. Do they offer integration with repositories for automated deposits?
There are some software escrow companies that might put a limit on the number of deposits included as part of your subscription, meaning you’d have to pay extra for every new deposit made into the escrow account. In other words, every time a change is made to the source code that your company is using, every time there is an update, you’d have to pay to put that updated source code into escrow. It’s one of those loopholes to look out for that often catches out customers who might not be as familiar with the world of software escrow services. In the end, it will cost you thousands of dollars extra in depositing fees.
Next, you need to look into whether your chosen escrow agent supports automatic integration with the repository that your technical team uses. A repository is a place that hosts an application’s source code, along with metadata which is essentially data that describes and gives information about other data. Some of the main repositories used by software developers include Github, Gitlab, Bitbucket, etc.
Automatic deposits and updates of deposits help streamline the process of putting any critical source code into escrow as new versions are released. This means you don’t have to worry about not having access to the updated source code your business relies on, on a daily basis, in the event of an unforeseen circumstance.
Here is a demonstration of just how easy it is to navigate our application. When you sign up with Codekeeper you have access to an extensive integrations library with over 50 repositories to choose from, and unlimited deposits are a standard inclusion in your subscription.
