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Bespoke Software Escrow Agreements

We pride ourselves on our ability to create unique protections to fulfil our client’s requirements.

Protect Your Business Critical Applications Today

Speak to our specialists about protecting your business critical applications with Software Escrow. SES provides a full suite of Software Escrow agreements certified to UKAS ISO: 27001 and ISO: 9001 standards. 

Protect your critical applications now. Contact us today

Bespoke Software Escrow Agreements to fulfill unique requirements

For clients who require more tailored protection, SES can create bespoke Software Escrow Agreements to meet all parties’ requirements. We understand that there are many different ways of licensing software to end-users through certified software distributors or reseller channels, these circumstances can reflect who provides support and maintenance, who owns the intellectual property rights (IPR), who is responsible for depositing the source code etc. SES provides comprehensive advice as an independent third party on the most suitable Software Escrow Agreement for all parties involved.

Contact us today for further information or a free quotation.

A sample of the bespoke Software Escrow Agreements we've created for clients

Software Escrow Agreement For GitHub Code

A well-established surveillance company with a history of working with financial institutions continues to grow and excel in delivering comprehensive solutions to their clients.
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Information Software Escrow Agreement

A relatively new digital challenger bank has been operating personal accounts and lending facilities for several years. With ambitious plans to grow, SES was chosen after a detailed and rigorous tender process to provide a range of Escrow services to protect the bank and its processes.
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Master Framework Software Escrow Agreement

In recent years this well-respected Software provider to the Healthcare industry trusted by over 75% of the UK’s NHS organisations has been growing and acquiring other software companies to improve and complement its solution offering to customers.
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Software Escrow Continuity Agreement

Traditionally most software vendors provide their software on-premise. However, with the flexibility, limitless geographical reach, scalability and cost savings associated with external hosting, the company launched a SaaS-based model.
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Source Code Transfer Escrow

This award-winning online gaming company contracts a percentage of its gaming development to expert third parties, ensuring that they can create the best user experience for its customers.
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Product Escrow Agreement

This multinational client is a commercial manufacturer of electronics and electrical equipment across the globe.
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Software Escrow tailored to your business

At SES we have broken our core Software Escrow services into four distinct service levels to make it easier for our customers to choose the right protection for their business. All of our Escrow Agreements can be used to protect both on-premise and hosted software applications, are secured to ISO: 27001 standards and include the highest liability indemnity insurance available (£5 million).

Already have an Escrow Agreement in place with another supplier? Our Free Transfer Offer enables you to transfer your existing Escrow portfolio to SES at no additional cost. There are no setup fees and SES will manage the entire process on your behalf.

Level 1 - Basic


Includes contract fees and two deposits of code annually with Basic Deposit Reporting on each deposit.
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Software Escrow Agreement iA contractual agreement between an End User, a Software Developer and SES to ensure the continuity of a licensed software application.
Basic Deposit Reporting iA standard validation test applied to all Software Escrow deposits to ensure the code held in Escrow is accessible and virus free.

Level 2 - Code Validation


An annual, consultant-led validation process to ensure the application can be rebuilt from the source material held in Escrow.
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Software Escrow Agreement iA contractual agreement between an End User, a Software Developer and SES to ensure the continuity of a licensed software application.
Basic Deposit Reporting iA standard validation test applied to all Software Escrow deposits to ensure the code held in Escrow is accessible and virus free.
Code Validation Testing iInvolves an SES testing consultant witnessing a full rebuild of the application in the developer’s environment and documenting the entire process. The independent report and audio-visual recording enables an ASP to accurately redeploy the application in the event of a release.
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Level 3 - Code & Deployment Validation

Bespoke validation processes are undertaken based on the requirements of the software user.
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Software Escrow Agreement iA contractual agreement between an End User, a Software Developer and SES to ensure the continuity of a licensed software application.
Basic Deposit Reporting iA standard validation test applied to all Software Escrow deposits to ensure the code held in Escrow is accessible and virus free.
Code Validation Testing iInvolves an SES testing consultant witnessing a full rebuild of the application in the developer’s environment and documenting the entire process. The independent report and audio-visual recording enables an ASP to accurately redeploy the application in the event of a release.
Simulated Release Event iThe simulated release event demonstrates the build documentation captured as part of the Code Validation Testing is sufficient for an ASP to accurately redeploy the application upon release.

Level 4 - Continuity 365


Complete and rapid accessibility to hosted applications in the event that the supplier is no longer available.
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Software Escrow Agreement iA contractual agreement between an End User, a Software Developer and SES to ensure the continuity of a licensed software application.
Code Validation Testing iInvolves an SES testing consultant witnessing a full rebuild of the application in the developer’s environment and documenting the entire process. The independent report and audio-visual recording enables an ASP to accurately redeploy the application in the event of a release.
Interim Release Provision iFor standard Escrow, the release process varies typically between 14 to 30 days (across the Escrow industry), and additionally the recovery time can be a matter of days or weeks. While waiting for this process to complete there is a real danger to the software user of increased operational downtime. SES's LCP provides a real-time Interim Release that bridges the gap between initiating the release process and its completion.
Backup & restore for apps, data & VMs iBy ensuring critical assets are backed up regularly using advanced scheduling and targeting, you can guarantee that you and your customer’s information is protected effectively.
Live Licensee Continuity Planning iWe will help you plan your disaster recovery response and work to implement a bespoke strategy which will be continually assessed and improved after each recovery exercise.

Our expertise. Your questions answered

Why do I need a Software Escrow Agreement?

For End Users of business-critical applications, a Software Escrow Agreement protects you against the developer of your business-critical applications no longer being able to support their applications.

For Software Developers, an Escrow Agreement helps build credibility and trust that you have your clients interests at heart.

How does a Software Escrow Agreement work?

In its simplest form, an Escrow Agreement is a tri-party agreement between an End User, a Software Developer and a third party Software Escrow Agent. The Developer licenses the application to the End User as usual but also deposits a copy of the source code for the application and any other material required to accurately redeploy the application into Escrow which can then be released to the End User if a release event contained within the Escrow Agreement is triggered.

How much does a Software Escrow Agreement cost?

The answer to this is entirely dependent on the level of protection you need. SES offers a range of Software Escrow Agreements depending on how many clients will be added to the agreement (for Software Developers), how many business-critical applications the agreement will be used to cover (for End Users) and whether the application/s in question is installed on-premise or delivered through a SaaS model.

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If you would like further information, discuss your requirements, get a free no obligation quotation or just a friendly chat on how we could possibly help please fill in the details below and one of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.
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