While the vendor injects its best-performing R&D, distribution, and marketing resources into the cloud, some of Microsoft`s enterprise customers are still bound by on-premise implementations operationally and contractually. This has led the vendor to take aggressive steps to migrate these customers to the cloud. The results include several price and licensing changes, an increase in formal and informal licensing controls (often disguised as software asset management commitments), and increased contractual complexity and inflexibility. As of July 1, 2016, Microsoft will no longer accept new software assurance orders and renewals in markets where MPSA is available*, on existing select Plus commercial agreements for the next anniversary of the customer`s contract. Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) is a transactional license agreement for commercial, government, and academic organizations with 250 or more users/devices. MPSA is the best option for organizations that want to license on-premises Microsoft software, cloud services, or both as needed, with no enterprise-wide commitment and no multi-year subscription options under a single, non-revolting agreement. Software assurance is optional. There are more and more licensing and subscription optimization challenges that need to be addressed in transactions with Microsoft, as well as new costs, flexibility, and licensing/subscription opportunities that you can take advantage of. As Microsoft continues its metamorphosis and business budget and usage requirements change rapidly, customers should prepare for a more demanding purchasing and supplier management environment. There are a large number of possibilities for licensing and/or subscribing to Microsoft products. The provider or account representative of a given company may not be aware of all the options available. However, they are well trained (and motivated by incentives) to lead customers towards increased licensing costs. Make sure that you ask Microsoft`s licensing specialists how to better structure licensing for lower expenses and consider getting unbiased expertise to help the procurement team review recommendations.
The EDOS program is ideal for large enterprises and government organizations with more than 5,000 users. An EA allows customers to subscribe to Microsoft online services such as Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online. The services do not have to be licensed throughout the company, but can be reserved in addition for each user. The licensed customer is either the Standard Edition or the Enterprise Edition of each service. The duration of EDOS is three years and is linked to an EA. Alternatively, the customer can sign an enterprise online service agreement with Microsoft. This option does not require enterprise-wide standardization. The customer must acquire at least 500 licenses of enterprise online services. Open License is a transactional agreement for commercial, governmental, academic, and nonprofit organizations….