Anti-piracy body the Business Software Alliance has called on enterprise IT leaders to set an example of best practice in asset management, for smaller organisations to follow, in an attempt to reduce the UK software piracy rate.

Speaking to IT Week on the day that annual BSA research found UK software piracy rates have dropped for the first time in three years, the chair of the organisation's UK member committee, Julie Strawson argued that CIOs should take a "leadership role in championing software asset management" and provide "an ethical example of how to run a business".

The amount of illegal or unlicensed software on PCs in the UK fell by one percentage point to 26 per cent last year, according to the report, but losses as a result of piracy still totalled £925 million.

A BSA study released in January found that reducing software piracy by 10 per cent in the UK could generate 13,622 new jobs, contribute £4.42 billion to the UK economy and increase tax revenues by £1.08 billion to support local programmes and services.

The BSA also urged the government to tighten IP damages law, according to the recommendations made in the Gowers Review of intellectual property in 2006, and crack down on illegal software use in public sector organisations.