Leveraging Software Assurance and Other Microsoft Licensing Benefits to Improve your IT Environment

Transitions are at the core of many IT organizations considerations as they evaluate technology deployments and determine their future technology mix. A central tenant of the Enterprise Agreement (EA) is to offer the flexibility needed to accommodate a range of deployment choices, whether deploying Microsoft products on-premises, via the cloud, or in hybrid environments that combine cloud services with on-premises software solutions.

As your organization considers moving to the cloud (or perhaps it’s already happening?) you can do so gradually or rapidly with Microsoft without worrying about a perceived double payment for both on-premises and online services licensing through the EA.

A Microsoft Volume Licensing Expert Answers your Burning Questions on the Enterprise Agreement

This month on the blog we’ve provided a number of resources designed to help our customers get the most of their Enterprise Agreement (EA), featuring benefits available through the EA along with a case study on how a U.K.-based customer cut costs and boost automation with the Enrollment for Core Infrastructure.

Andrew Wolfe, senior product manager for the Enterprise Agreement from the Microsoft Worldwide Licensing and Pricing Group, has answered a few Q&A on the EA that you may find useful. Specifically, his answers provide information about Online Services Enterprise Enrollment, the benefits of CAL Suite Bridges and price re-leveling in a True-up scenario.

Microsoft Worldwide Licensing and Pricing will be attending the Gartner IT Asset Management Conference Thursday, Sept. 13, in Orlando, Florida. We'll be sure to Tweet nuggets of wisdom heard during presentations by Gartner licensing experts Frances O’Brien and Dolores Ianni to name a few. (Check out the summit agenda for the full schedule.)

Our colleagues in the UK recently wrote about a customer looking to reduce the costs of virtualization charged by the incumbent vendor.  The case study is interesting in that it demonstrates the strategic role that volume licensing can play, particularly as customer uptick increases for virtualization and the private cloud. 

For those who may not know, Microsoft’s volume licensing offers enrollment options that help customers deploy and license suites of Microsoft application, system and infrastructure products – a bundle that helps simplify the enrollment and gets at the heart of the customer need.