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Tips & tricks for happy software development, deployment and licensing.

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POST 10 - Codekeeper_blog_week 15_cover

3 minute read

A Step-by-Step Guide to Preparing Source Code for Software Escrow.

Software escrow is a widely used practice that safeguards the intellectual property of software developers while ensuring the rights and interests of software users. In a software escrow arrangement, a neutral third-party (the escrow agent like Codekeeper) holds the source code and related materials, releasing them under predefined conditions. To ensure that the escrow process is effective and beneficial for all parties, it is essential to properly prepare your source code for escrow. In this article, we will provide a step-by-step guide to help you prepare your source code for software escrow.

POST 9 - Codekeeper_blog_week 15_cover

2 minute read

Why Startups and Early-stage Companies Should Invest in IP Escrow

Startups and early-stage companies are known for their innovation, disruption, and rapid growth. As they develop new technologies, products, or services, intellectual property (IP) becomes a critical asset for these companies.

POST 8 - Codekeeper_blog_week 15_cover

2 minute read

How Our Software Escrow Solutions Cater For Various Business Sizes

In today's competitive business environment, safeguarding software source code and ensuring uninterrupted access to mission-critical applications is vital.

POST 7 - Codekeeper_blog_week 15_cover

2 minute read

The Intersection of Software Escrow and Cybersecurity

In today's digital age, businesses rely on software applications to perform a wide range of tasks, from managing inventory to processing financial transactions.


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enterprise, source code escrow

Software Verification: What Is It?

 

Software verification is an essential step in the process of deploying new and updated software. This article goes over what exactly software verification is, how to know if you’re doing it and doing it properly, and how to recognise your own inefficient practices and turn them around for better deployments.

Let’s get started with pinpointing precisely what is meant by software verification.

 


 
 
What is software verification?
       


Some people get software verification confused with software validation, but they’re not exactly the same thing. Each of them is a component of software testing.
Software validation is the process of evaluating software towards the end of the development process in order to determine whether it satisfies specified business requirements. Software verification, however, is the process of evaluating the in-work product at specific development phases in order to determine whether it meets the specified requirements for that phase.


Put simply, software verification is asking yourself the question, “Are we building the product right?” It’s something you should be doing along the way. Or in other words, software validation is comparing what you built to the requirements you set for the product. Software verification is about analysing the process you used to build your software. So how do you determine that?

Here’s our take on it.

 

source code escrow, saas escrow, data escrow

The Ultimate Guide to Software and Source Code Escrow - Chapter 4

 

How does software escrow work? 

Software escrow agreements vary depending on the agent’s scope of services, including verification services & SaaS escrow, but the core responsibilities of the parties are more or less consistent across the board.

We will tell you about the journeys each party goes through when onboarding software escrow.

 






 
 
Escrow Process For Beneficiary 

 

 

For the beneficiary to initiate an escrow on the Codekeeper platform, the first step would be to register their account on our pricing page under the software escrow package which appropriately suits their needs. Once the account is set up, they can move towards initiating the escrow by entering all of the contact information of the relevant parties, inviting their depositor to sync up their source code repositories with our platform, and request custom terms for the escrow contract. Once the beneficiary and depositor have signed on to the agreement, the escrow is active! 

 

enterprise, source code escrow

How I Saved $50,000 on Outsourcing

 

Are you thinking about outsourcing, but are concerned how effective or cost efficient it will be?? That’s understandable. Many managers and business owners struggle to decide whether outsourcing is the right choice for their company or not.
Fortunately, there are other companies that have already made their decision to outsource, and they can share their experiences with you.

This article takes a look at one company that saved over $50,000 by outsourcing part of their activities and talks about how you can get started on the same path towards greater savings and improved efficiency.

 


 
 
Ovia Health saved $50,000 by outsourcing bookkeeping services
 


It’s no secret that in order to grow and reduce costs, companies need to be able to automate as many processes as possible. This is just as true for development processes as it is for other business processes.


For Ovia Health, their accounting department was getting stuck with manual tasks. They enlisted the help of an accounting automation solution called Bookkeeper, and the service costs them a fraction of what it would cost to employ full-time accounting personnel.

According to Ovia Health, the investment for new accounting software would have been about $50,000 for just the first year, plus the cost of hiring another bookkeeper to manage it.

You could realise the same kinds of savings by outsourcing development.

 

source code escrow, saas escrow, data escrow

The Ultimate Guide to Software and Source Code Escrow - Chapter 3

 

What’s the difference between software vs. source code vs. SaaS escrow? 

Software escrow. Source code escrow. Saas escrow. Technology escrow. Data escrow. Information escrow. Domain escrow. So many escrows!

If you’ve been researching what a software escrow agreement is—and since you’re reading this article, a wild guess would be that you have. You have  probably come across these and other terms. But what do all of them mean?

 






 
 

Software Escrow and Source Code Escrow

“Software escrow” and “source code escrow” are terms that are used interchangeably, and they essentially mean the same thing. 

 

As described throughout this article, this is the most common type of escrow, designed to store not only source code, but also build instructions and any other important documentation that would allow a licensee to update and maintain a mission-critical software application. Though they are most commonly used for traditional on-site software licenses, software escrow can also be used for development agreements, software acquisition agreements, and any other transactions involving software.

source code escrow, saas escrow, data escrow

Your FAQ’s on Data Escrow, SaaS Escrow and Source Code Escrow answered by Codekeeper

Table of contents:

 

Data Escrow, Saas Escrow, Source Code Escrow, it can all get a little confusing, this is why we accumulated all the frequently asked questions straight.

 


 
 

Data Escrow

What is Data Escrow?

Without the necessary data, it is immensely hard to bring and keep a software application in a usable and useful state. Data escrow is an effective way of ensuring that any data created and managed by a business-critical software application is never at risk of being lost or inaccessible.

 

Specifically, by deploying data escrow, the application's end-user (licensee) ensures they are always able to access the most up-to-date copy of the data they need to operate critical functions and ensure business continuity. The data in escrow can only be released to the licensee under predefined (and verified) conditions, such as in the event of a natural disaster or their licensor running out of business.

 

What does Data Escrow mean?

Data escrow is a specialized data protection solution designed to maintain the safety and integrity of data essential to the proper functioning of a mission-critical software application.

 

Who is data escrow for?

Any company that builds software applications and their clients. While data escrow is not intended to replace operational backups, security-minded companies that commission software use data escrow to bolster their risk mitigation. Software developers, on the other hand, use it to boost sales by strengthening their business case and providing more value to their clients.

 

Why do people use data escrow?

When you build and use a software application, you create data. There is no way around it. And this data can be stored in environments where software is deployed and executed, including databases in different physical locations, asset stores like AWS S3 and Microsoft Azure, in-memory databases, and many others. In case critical data suddenly becomes inaccessible for any reason, your software application would lose its normal functionality.

 

What can cause data loss?

Data loss occurs when data is accidentally deleted or something causes it to become corrupted. Viruses, physical damage, formatting errors, or a combination of these can render data unreadable by both humans and software, posing a risk to the financial health of businesses of all sizes.

 

enterprise, source code escrow

The Ultimate Guide to Software and Source Code Escrow - Chapter 2

 

Who’s who in a software escrow agreement?

We use the following terms interchangeably throughout this article:

The licensor is typically a software developer or vendor who deposits source code and other materials into escrow. They're also referred to as the depositor. The client, or the authorized end-user, is typically  referred to as the beneficiary or licensee. A neutral third party, such as Codekeeper, typically serves as the escrow agent, providing secure storage of the source code and other materials, and making available (releasing) the contents of an escrow account to its beneficiary (or, beneficiaries) — upon a release condition being met.

 


 
 

Depositor or Licensor

Typically, the depositor/licensor tends to be a smaller software development team in comparison to their beneficiary counterpart. Once one of their clients begins to rely more heavily on their software for operations, concerns usually arise over the continuity and security of that system. 

 

During renegotiation of their licensing agreement, the client might request that the system in question be deposited into escrow. Should any adverse, unforeseen event take place, the client will be able to retrieve the valuable code and IP, and resume operations as usual.


These smaller development teams can also use software escrow as a selling point for their services, reassuring potential clients that if anything happens to the firm, the IP is secure in storage, up to date, and ready to be released once a trigger event takes place.