Microsoft Open Value Subscription is by far the most flexible licensing model and requires the lowest up-front costs for businesses that may have limited budgets and changing needs. An example of a business that could benefit from an Open Value Subscription is a forestry organization, where there is a fluctuation of personnel based on the season. Due to a constantly changing workforce – at times from hundreds during the busy season to only a few administrative employees in the off-season – this licensing plan allows for a forestry organization to only pay for the licenses it needs, at the time they are needed. This model allows companies to easily increase or decrease licenses without having to re-negotiate SLAs every six months.
Microsoft published an interesting case study about C. Rokas SA‘s realization regarding its licensing issues and move to Open Value Subscription, which has proven very successful for them. C. Rokas SA is a leader in renewable energy sources and electromechanical projects with 250 employees and 70 desktop systems. With a number of PCs and servers running different versions of applications, the IT team was faced with compatibility and security issues. Open Value Subscription enables the company to upgrade and unify its system with a single license key.