F-Secure Elements is introducing a usage-based security option for its products. The idea is that you only pay when the products are being used. Well, not quite and we’ll come to that later, but it’s getting there. Basically, if you don’t use an F-Secure licence for an entire calendar month, you don’t pay for that month. It’s a great idea in principal that, if replicated across the software industry, could save companies billions of pounds every year.
To get a better understanding of what F-Secure is doing, how it will work for customers and channel, Enterprise Times spoke with Dean Porter, UK & Ireland Country Manager, F-Secure. We asked Porter, how do you measure usage? Porter replied:
“This is more about whether the security licence is being consumed and the device that’s being protected is actually being used at the time. Let’s talk about the furlough. People were not working during that time, so they were handing back in their devices to being locked away in server rooms. “At that time, the device still has security on it and it couldn’t be switched on. The licence is not necessarily being consumed you shouldn’t have to pay for security in a time where you don’t actually need it.”
Does this not drive a coach and horse through the way we currently licence software?
Porter commented:
“Correct? That’s why we’re pioneering this and there’s no one else that’s doing that in the industry at the moment. We’re talking about usage-based base security, which is the right title for it.”
www.enterprisetimes.co.uk
