Almost eight out of ten UK businesses could be paying too much for their software licenses.

Only 22 per cent of people responding to a FAST survey were sure they had the right number of licenses. Another 11 per cent did not know if their business was over or under-licensed and 41 per cent thought they were probably over-licensing.

The warning comes from the Federation Against Software Theft Corporate Services - a body more usually concerned that business is not buying enough licenses.

Geoff Webster, chief executive of FAST Corporate Services, told us the problem is getting worse. He said: "For a period we have seen people over licensing - it's getting to the point where it's silly. It's easier for firms to do it this - few companies even count PCs accurately so they round-up the number of licenses they think they need."

Webster advised businesses: "Do the boring housekeeping stuff - you need to know how many PCs you're using and what software they have on them. It's not just big companies either - smaller firms are paying too much too."

The survey received 83 anonymous responses from FAST members via its website.®

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