- Software piracy is big in China, Russia and India, and growing in Germany
- Many track telemetry but do nothing with it, reducing observability.
- Clear functional pricing is the key to eradicating piracy
Despite increasingly strict measures and the growing popularity of subscription-based packages, a third (31%) of software makers now say piracy is a major source of revenue leakage.
New research from Revenera claims that unlicensed use is a major problem in China, Russia and India, while Germany rose from 11th to sixth place and appears particularly fond of engineering simulation and CAD software.
Despite the challenges, many software companies lack sufficient visibility into their software usage: 30% collect telemetry but do not analyze it, creating what Revenera says is a significant blind spot.
Unlicensed software remains a global problem
“Beyond compliance, usage insights can also help with product roadmap decisions and churn prevention, yet nearly a third of companies admit to ignoring the usage data they collect, exposing a significant blind spot that can sabotage revenue growth,” explained Senior Vice President and General Manager Nicole Segerer.
Although only 31% see piracy as a major problem and 25% see misuse of licenses as a major problem, 43% and 41% respectively see it as a moderate problem, highlighting the wide scope of inappropriately licensed software.
Revenera says software makers should use AI to improve reporting, having already established that around a third of them waste telemetry data. The need is clear: 8% aren’t even sure how they are losing revenue due to unlicensed software (up from 5% last year).
The report also revealed that converting unlicensed users into paying customers is “highly possible” in markets with strict intellectual property laws, with the right tools and data.
“The most successful companies integrate compliance into sales teams, treating breach data as a channel of qualified leads to target,” Segerer added.
Looking ahead, Revenera says predictability is crucial to reducing unlicensed usage, noting that many companies plan significant changes to their usage-based pricing by 2027. About two-fifths of each plan to adopt prepaid (38%) and postpaid (43%) models.
“Companies that approach compliance as a sales function rather than a legal compliance channel find the most success,” the report concludes.
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