Here’s a nasty wakeup call: Every company is one disgruntled employee away from a software audit. Enforcement groups offer $50,000 rewards for tips on companies using pirated software or applications with expired licenses, so employee snitching pays well.

When the Software and Information Industry Association or the Business Software Alliance knocks on your door, the fine meter starts at $10,000 and ticks upward rapidly.

Do you know where the original CDs and license forms are for every application?

Surveys say medium to large companies juggle more than 40 software contracts. But even if you have only four employees and four workstations, you need to track the operating systems, the office type applications, and any specialty software used to run your business. All the inquisitors need is one application without a valid license on file and you're toast.

Enter CDW, the national distributor targeting small businesses with 25 to 500 computers. CDW offers a free software license tracker to customers signed up for its CDW@work program. The service automatically loads all licensing information for software purchased through CDW into the system for you.

Software tracking is one of nine areas where CDW provides free expertise. Others include: security, storage, mobility/wireless, LAN/WAN networking, power, technology services, telephony, and voice and data.

The original group of software vendors in the program are Microsoft, Adobe, Symantec and Veritas. Computer Associates and Network Associates/McAfee joined later. The service tracks all software bought from these vendors, not just products purchased through CDW. The company says 48,000 customers and License Tracker users have logged in and pulled reports about their license status since the program started last year.

BSA has not approached CDW about the program, says Tom Maloney, CDW’s director of software. Perhaps BSA doesn’t know that Maloney’s group sends e-mails to CDW customers who have purchased licensed software but aren’t enrolled in the license tracker program - e-mails warning them of when and where BSA plans to launch audits and compliance amnesty programs.

Maloney says many small businesses don't understand licensing issues (I say big companies have the same problem). Microsoft, for instance, offers pricing advantages with as few as five licenses as a way of driving customers away from retail software purchases. Microsoft offers lower cost upfront, but once you start leasing, you have to make lease payments forever. Software vendors are driving us down that road.