Software vendors audit because they have a legal right to do so and a duty to protect their technology from unauthorized use. Triggers for software audits include:
Change in spend, including a reduction in volume needed at renewal, moving support to a third party or contract termination
Changing licensing model by the vendor
Mergers, acquisitions or divestitures
Historical proof of entitlement (PoE) requests
Periodic audits usually aligned to renewal dates
Unhappy employees notifying the vendor of compliance issues
Be aware of information requests from vendors offering an assessment review. These are essentially an audit request and an attempt to covertly find you out of compliance. Do not send any data to the requestor, simply state your Information Security guidelines around not sending company confidential data to third parties. This is an ideal time to review your compliance for that software vendor and address known issues as it’s likely the vendor will issue a formal audit notification in the not-too-distant future.