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Category: Microsoft

8 Secrets Microsoft Won’t Tell You
adminCompliance, licensing, Microsoft, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Software Assurance

Microsoft keeps a lot of secrets from its clients. They can cost companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in compliance penalties and wasted expenditures. They can also cost you your job. 1. You’re Paying for Cloud Whether You Use It or Not Microsoft Enterprise Agreements typically include an “Azure Monetary Commitment” fee. This is Microsoft charging you for using their cloud, even if you didn’t want it or ever use it. Not only do Microsoft reps usually not explain what […]

Will You be Forced to Use a Microsoft CSP?
Tim HegedusCloud, Compliance, Microsoft, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Software Assurance

Discontinuing Microsoft Software Assurance is no longer an option Microsoft is significantly advancing its cloud services by transitioning their existing customer base to Office 365, Exchange Online, and the various Azure offerings. It also involves upselling existing cloud customers on a broader range of services. The most notable of these is Microsoft 365, a suite of Office 365, Windows (client), and Enterprise Mobility + Security (“EMS”). Yet another strategy has emerged as Microsoft seeks to ramp up its smaller customers. […]

5 Unusual Ways to Save on Microsoft Licenses & Subscriptions
Shawn DonohueCompliance, Core Licensing, IT Asset Management, Microsoft, Microsoft Audit, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Microsoft Licensing Tip, Microsoft Software Assurance, Microsoft Windows, software license, Windows

You know the basics, but do you know these advanced strategies for saving on your Microsoft spend? Your organization could save hundreds of thousands of dollars by taking advantage of these special techniques and Microsoft programs, but only if you know what to ask for. 1. Independent Contract Review When your contract is up for renewal, many organizations simply assume that there’s no need to review the details more than in the past. Unfortunately, a lack of diligence and oversight […]

AWS Cloud Crash Shows Why Some IT Assets Should Stay On-Premise
Shawn DonohueCloud, Compliance, IBM, licensing, Microsoft, Oracle Licensing Compliance, Uncategorized

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud located in the company’s Virginia data center crashed on February 28, 2017, causing many of the largest sites and apps on the internet to slow or stop working entirely.  Amazon referred to the incident as an “increased error rate” at the time and has now traced the issue to a mistyped command by an Amazon employee. The outage highlights what many cloud vendors don’t want their clients to know, that some assets are actually […]

Warning: Your Software Asset Management (SAM) Tool is NOT Certified
Shawn DonohueCompliance, IBM, licensing, Microsoft, Microsoft Licensing Compliance, Miro News

IT professionals must remember that a tool does not understand the rules Many software license management tools claim to be certified by Oracle, Microsoft, IBM and others, but none actually are. For example, Oracle’s LMS page does list a number of tools, but only as supplements, not as certified tools, and they often miss 90% of Oracle products. “Tools from the following vendors have been verified to provide the required data set to supplement a LMS engagement. The scope of […]

Microsoft Replaces CRM Online with Dynamics 365 and Increases Prices
adminMicrosoft

In October 2016, Microsoft announced that it was no longer going to sell the CRM Online suite.  Current users of the product will now be forced to buy Dynamics 365.  For some users this may amount to a small decrease in the price of the subscription, but for many it will be much more. CRM Online offered different per user, per month prices for different levels of functionality: Professional – $50 Basic – $23 Employee Self Service – $2 Now […]

Office 365 Price Tiers Provide Less Value Than Other Microsoft Product
adminMicrosoft

Price tiers for Office 365 represent only a 3% difference from the preceding level rather than the more traditional 7+% for other products. Both of these are reflective of cost and budgeting. For Windows Server / System Center, the cost of licensing larger servers (that is, with more cores per processor) will increase. Organizations may have opted – or are contemplating – these denser servers as a way to increase capacity and workload while constraining additional software license investment. For […]

Vendors Provide Trial Software Licenses for Clients to ‘Try Before They Buy’
Sharon TrembleyContract Negotiations, Cost Containment/Negotiation, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle

Utilizing those licenses in another manner could create a non-compliant situation for a client, even if the vendor has not clearly defined strict limitations regarding trial use. Something that is often misunderstood is testing a trial version of a product that is already owned and being used elsewhere in the environment. If it’s the same version as what’s in the production, there’s no need to try it out – it’s now test/dev. However if it’s a new version of the […]

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