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Close the Gaps in Your IT Governance Before Regulators or Clients Find Them

ESCROWSURE helps you meet compliance, audit, and risk requirements tied to third-party software under South Africa’s Joint Standards for IT Governance & Risk Management, ISO 27001, COBIT, NIST, and other global operational resilience frameworks such as the PRA and DORA – without losing control or visibility.

The Risks

If you can’t prove control over your third-party software, you’re exposed to audit failure, non-compliance, and reputational damage.

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How We Help

ESCROWSURE plugs governance gaps by securing vendor software dependencies under verifiable, audit-ready escrow and release frameworks.

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Who It’s For

Designed for compliance officers, CIOs, and legal teams tasked with upholding IT governance and avoiding regulatory fallout.

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The Risks

Without control over your third-party software, you’re gambling with audit results, compliance obligations, and business continuity.
  • Non-Compliance Exposure
    Regulators expect proof of operational resilience. Unprotected vendor software can trigger audit failures and legal penalties.
  • No Evidence of Control
    If you can’t demonstrate control over critical software assets, you’re seen as high risk in governance assessments.
  • Reputational Fallout
    Failing to meet IT governance standards erodes client and stakeholder trust – especially in finance, healthcare, and public sectors.

How We Help

ESCROWSURE helps you meet governance standards and prove control over critical third-party software in audits and assessments.

  • Prove Compliance Readiness
    We provide verifiable evidence that your business can maintain operations even if a key software supplier fails or withdraws support.
  • Strengthen IT Governance
    By formalising continuity safeguards through escrow, you align with ISO, COBIT, NIST, and local regulatory expectations (Joint Standards) around operational risk.
  • Demonstrate Control in Audits
    Escrow agreements backed by technical verification show regulators and auditors that your software dependencies are under control – not a risk.

Compliance Isn’t Optional. Your Software Continuity Shouldn’t Be Either.

Our escrow services help you meet IT governance standards by ensuring your vendor-dependent systems are protected and verifiable.

Source Code Escrow

Secure the source code, documentation, and deployment assets of critical on-premise or SaaS applications. Prove that you can maintain functionality and compliance even if the vendor is compromised or disappears.

SaaS Escrow

Ensure access or mirror your live SaaS environment. Secure uptime to key systems with operational data, configurations, and password protocols. Maintain compliance by demonstrating continuity, control, and recoverability of outsourced cloud applications.

Made for the Teams That Carry Governance Risk on Their Shoulders

Whether you manage audits, software vendors, or risk strategy, ESCROWSURE helps you meet your obligations with confidence.

Compliance Officers

You’re expected to prove operational resilience across every dependency. ESCROWSURE closes gaps and backs your governance claims with hard evidence.

IT Governance Leads

You’re responsible for aligning software use with frameworks like ISO 27001, COBIT, NIST and IT regulatory standards. We give you a verifiable way to do it.

Risk and Audit Teams

Your job is to identify, document, and reduce risk. ESCROWSURE provides verified, enforceable controls that satisfy even the most stringent audit trails.

Procurement and Legal Teams

You’re tasked with managing vendor contracts and protecting the business from risk exposure. Our escrow agreements reduce risk without derailing relationships.

Set Up Your Free
Consultation

ESCROWSURE helps you meet today’s IT governance demands – and prepare for tomorrow’s audits.

Prove Control. Stay Compliant. Protect Your Business.

  • Meet ISO, COBIT, NIST, and global regulatory requirements
  • Secure critical third-party software under enforceable legal terms
  • Demonstrate operational continuity to auditors and stakeholders
  • Strengthen governance without increasing vendor friction
  • Avoid fines, failures, and reputational damage due to compliance gaps
  • Align your risk framework with tested, verifiable controls

Frequently Asked Questions

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Yes, absolutely. We believe that each escrow environment is unique and requires a customized approach. ESCROWSURE’s in-house legal counsel will craft a bespoke escrow agreement tailoring the provisions to meet the needs of your specific requirements.

How does software escrow support our IT governance obligations?

Software escrow strengthens your IT governance framework by providing a legally backed mechanism to ensure operational continuity for third-party software. Under standards like ISO 27001, COBIT, and South Africa’s Joint Standards, organisations must prove they can maintain critical services even if suppliers fail. ESCROWSURE enables this by securing source code or SaaS environments, verifying their integrity, and setting clear, auditable release conditions. This proves to auditors and regulators that you’ve identified key dependencies and implemented proactive controls – not just documentation. It’s governance that goes beyond theory and delivers real-world assurance.

Is escrow really necessary if we already have service-level agreements (SLAs)?

SLAs are important but they only offer recourse if a vendor is still around to honor them. They do nothing if the supplier becomes insolvent, is acquired, or simply stops supporting your software. Escrow provides a critical layer of control by giving you access to the software assets you depend on – even if the vendor cannot deliver. This isn’t a replacement for SLAs, but a reinforcement that ensures business continuity and compliance with governance expectations for contingency and resilience planning.

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With SaaS applications, software is not accessed on a server located on the end users premises, but instead, is hosted remotely in the cloud by a hosting services provider usually paid for by the software vendor. This introduces an additional layer of risk as it adds to the supply chain dependencies.

In addition, the data generated by the application is hosted in the cloud too. This means that if the software Vendor were to stop answering the phone, both application and data could be beyond the reach of the end user immediately.

Some end users believe that a migration to a cloud service eliminates the need for an escrow arrangement.

But this is not true.

If anything, the need for escrow is greater for SaaS applications, because of the additional layer of risk which puts both the software and the data at risk if the worst should happen.

How does ESCROWSURE fit into our existing compliance and risk processes?

ESCROWSURE integrates easily with your existing compliance and risk governance practices. We work with your legal, IT, and risk teams to identify critical software assets and create escrow agreements tailored to your business and regulatory context. We manage verification, secure storage, and release protocols, and we provide ongoing documentation that aligns with your internal controls and external reporting needs. This makes it easier to demonstrate compliance and reduces the manual effort required during audits or risk reviews.

What’s the difference between source code escrow and SaaS escrow for compliance purposes?

Source code escrow applies to on-premise or licensed software and involves securing the source code and documentation needed to recreate or maintain the system if the vendor fails. SaaS escrow, on the other hand, applies to cloud-based platforms and includes not just the code, but also the configuration, databases, and operational infrastructure. Both types support compliance by proving you have a tested plan in place to maintain access and functionality – regardless of how the software is delivered. Choosing the right type depends on how your critical software is hosted and integrated in your business.