This prompts Microsoft to add as many products as possible to your sales engagement to maximize discounts. After all, Microsoft knows that if you make a business commitment, it will bring them stable revenue, and they can bundle other features and tools to link you to their new product lines. However, it is questionable whether this is still in your long-term interest. In addition to enterprise products, you can of course also add “additional products”. Some products are only available in the additional category, while others can qualify as both. Term Discounting offers compelling cost savings with Microsoft EAs. Account managers or channel partners are under pressure to sign longer-term contracts to reduce the cost of supporting renewals with customer support or success staff. How do I negotiate the renewal of a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement? When you sign an Enterprise Agreement, you agree to purchase a minimum number of licenses (Enterprise Products) or spend a certain amount of money (in particular, a commitment to Azure). Depending on the different Enterprise products selected and the size of the engagement, higher discount levels are available. An organization must commit to purchasing at least one of the Enterprise products for each device or qualified user of its assets, but can go much further. If you choose a product from each pool, you can also be considered a platform, such as Professional Desktop Platform and Enterprise Desktop Platform, which can benefit from even more discounts. While the vendor brings its most powerful R&D, sales, and marketing resources to the cloud, some Microsoft enterprise customers are still operationally and contractually bound to on-premises implementations. This prompted 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 reviews (often disguised as software asset management commitments), and increased contractual complexity and rigidity. Across NPI`s overall customer base, more than 40% of EA renewals occur in Q4 of Microsoft`s fiscal year (i.e., April/May/June). This is in contrast to Q1, which typically accounts for less than 20% of EA`s renewals. This leads to a fluctuating demand for licenses and legal resources, a risk of a lumpy forecast, and a bumpy cash flow. One of the goals of the transition to subscription licensing is to smooth out this model. The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement or Microsoft EA is a subscription to the rights to use Microsoft products and services. It offers value to companies with 500 or more users/devices, with the ability to purchase more services under a single agreement. Microsoft account managers and resellers often try to sell you more of their products and upgrade you to a higher Enterprise plan. Complete visibility into Microsoft products and the right set of data help you determine if additional products or licenses are actually needed and back up your conversations with facts. download.microsoft.com/download/8/9/A/89A3F8B9-94DE-4956-A56E-F6D2B215D0E6/Enterprise_Agreeme.
Sorry, you are right. When you said you had the deal “for some time,” I assumed (obviously wrongly) it was an EA subscription. Microsoft Enterprise Agreement is a three-year subscription to their products. In case of termination of the contract, there is the possibility of an extension of one or three additional years. As an enterprise, you`ll also receive the annual Microsoft True-Up evaluation of the qualified licenses you`ve deployed in your EA, which typically takes place every year by the time you joined EA. Whichever part of Microsoft EA you want to trade with, the better data you equip yourself with, the better you sit at the negotiating table. EA renewal and refresh times are a great opportunity to learn more about the use and users of your Microsoft products. Keep in mind that organizations often deploy enterprise applications with unnecessary functionality. The more data you collect, the clearer the picture will be and the more support you will have during negotiations.
Microsoft has dedicated accelerators to motivate account managers to renew and sell high-level deals as they seek to maintain their market leadership role and increase the number of products in customer organizations. For many organizations, the end of their Microsoft EA is coming in June. With the deadline approaching, are you planning to renew your EA or move to the CSP? This should be considered in the coming months. Recently, some changes have been made to ea that may affect your decision – some SMB customers may have to opt for an alternative licensing program like CSP or will be forced to opt for it. This is a good time to review your current agreement and changes to EA requirements and compare the advantages of CSP versus EA for your business. This process can be difficult to navigate, but Interlink is available as a resource to provide additional guidance or information to help with decision-making. Microsoft`s best-offer discounts are rarely the best in their class. The difference between the discount a customer receives and what another customer receives with similar requirements can be significant. When a below-average discount becomes the basis for EA`s future renewals, overspending increases exponentially. Customers should perform a price benchmarking for all facets of their Microsoft fleet to ensure they are getting a fair deal and to ensure they are paying a price that matches the market or is better. software-license-management.blogspot.com/2010/08/walking-away-from-microsoft-licensing.html changes in today`s business climate, combined with Microsoft`s mission to migrate businesses to the cloud, are changing the way companies do business with their biggest customers. Companies considering renewing their enterprise contracts or buying vendor offerings for the first time can leverage the strengths that determine Microsoft`s behavior at the bargaining table.
The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement has always been a potential hot spot for overspending – and that`s truer today than ever. The amount of subscription and licensing options for Microsoft`s offerings is overwhelming. EI renewals and early negotiations have never been more complex. And an unstable business climate has created new tax pressures for customers and Microsoft. Microsoft only gives discounts to companies with cloud licenses. Unfortunately, if you`re still using local licenses, these negotiation tactics won`t work. Microsoft is putting unprecedented pressure on its sales teams and channel partners to improve revenue forecasts and implement timely renewals. In fact, sales commissions and fees paid to resellers are negatively affected if EAs are not renewed in a timely manner. Even though true-up is not a renewal, it can still be used for trading purposes. If you use the same trading techniques in the Microsoft EA Renewal section, you can find additional optimization opportunities during verification.
If you are talking between CSP and EA, contact us to discuss your options and determine the right option for your business. If your Microsoft EA needs to be renewed just before that date and your business case is strong enough, account managers will be more open to responding to your overflow avoidance requests and agreeing to your terms just to complete the renewal on time. Keep in mind that Microsoft wants you to update your licensing plan (for example.B. from E3 to E5, from F3 to E3, or E5). If you do it with the right data in hand, you have more facts to support the requests and can ask the right questions to get the right results. Next, here are the best practices for trading your Microsoft EA. As you read, remember: there`s never a bad time to re-evaluate your deal – but the sooner you start, the better. Proper management and optimization of your Microsoft EA provides significant cost-saving opportunities for your business. Here are some of the common areas I frequently encounter where companies can save costs on future Microsoft Enterprise Agreement renewals.
Because Microsoft EA includes True-Up, you can use this flexibility to modify the agreement and optimize the number of licenses and costs you pay for Microsoft 365. It`s necessary to fully understand your Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) and abide by the terms of the Agreement to ensure you keep an eye on your Microsoft licensing requirements. .