Right now you’re likely banking on the notion that your business probably won’t have to deal with a lengthy audit this year. Your hope is to fly under the radar of your vendors and avoid detection of your outdated software licenses and assets.

What are the odds that you'll be able to pull this off? According to the most recent research from InformationWeek, not good. In fact, you may want to rethink your strategy.

As the InformationWeek 2014 Software Licensing Survey shows, over one-third (37 percent) of organizations experienced software audits from vendors in the 24 months leading up to the survey. And for organizations with 500 or more workers, this number spiked to 40 percent.

What happens if an audit finds your organization negligent? Fines can run upward of seven figures, depending on the size and scope of your business.

Your business could also be paying for software it’s not using, as is the case with shelfware—that is, software that gets purchased but not utilized and thus acts as an unnecessary drain on your bottom line. Oftentimes, this is not done intentionally. Many companies are unaware of the tools they have at their disposal, due to the fact that they don’t have asset management software.

Using ZENworks Asset Management, your business can gain a thorough understanding of all of its digital licenses and agreements. ZENworks Asset Management comes with software discovery, which will collect all of your data and prepare it for an audit. It also comes with automatic asset identification for categorizing your products, as well as license tracking and contract management.

Remember: A software audit can happen when you least expect it. But with ZENworks Asset Management, you’ll greet your auditors at the door with a smile on your face instead of your fingers crossed behind your back.

Click here for more information on ZENworks Asset Management.