New licencing announcements from Microsoft:

Microsoft has recently announced new updates are now available in their CSP Licencing model.

From July 2021, Microsoft are rolling out changes which will now impact all customers, including public sector customers – education, government and non-profit who hadn’t previously benefitted from some of the updates.

Perpetual software licenses: 

Since the launch in 2015, some perpetual licences were not included in the CSP licence model. This month, partners will now be able to sell all perpetual licences within industries for on-premises deployment.

Open Licence and Open Value programme change: 

From January 1 2022, the Open Licence and Open Value programmes will be closing their services to commercial, government, education, and non-profits organisations. Meaning customers can no longer buy or renew software licences, software Assurance or online services and this will have to be done through the CSP programme.

What is Microsoft CSP Licencing?

Enterprise Agreements (EA) have historically been used by many companies to purchase their Microsoft licencing requirements. This type of licencing is designed mainly for companies with over 500 seats, with cloud services and software licences agreed for 1 or 3 years. This way of purchasing licences meant customers had to pay upfront for the top level of licenses needed and locked into long term licence obligations. Microsoft found that whilst license sales were high, the adoption of solutions like SharePoint and Teams was comparatively low. Therefore, there has been a recent push from Microsoft for partners to transact with their customers through CSP.

In 2015, Microsoft introduced CSP Licensing; a model designed to give customers complete control over what licences they purchase on a monthly agreement. Organisations can pay for the number of licences they need at a given time, and can increase or decrease the number as they see fit.

To help increase the adoption of Microsoft products, the CSP model not only makes it easier to buy licenses, but also to ensures greater support from the Microsoft partner ecosystem and enables customers to drive more value from their licenses.

A CSP agreement allows customers to switch partners of they are not happy with the support they are receiving from their partner, with just a 30 day notice period.

Main benefits of moving to Microsoft CSP:

Complete control:  

You will only pay for the number of licenses you need, which you can scale up or down as needed.

Flexible monthly billing: 

Pay monthly only for the licences you need to support your business. Making it more convenient if company sizes increase or decrease.

No upfront costs:

Compared to Open Licencing and Enterprise Agreements, Microsoft CSP doesn’t issue a upfront cost.

Strong SLA’s: 

Through CSP Licencing, gain access to Microsoft’s service level agreement. A commitment to the service to maintain quality, availability and responsibility of the service provider.

How having a partner like Adatis can help:

Buying licences isn’t as simple anymore. Over time areas such as billing, administration, optimisation and monitoring are all likely to change. Therefore, constant monitoring is needed in order to save money and to ensure the licences are fit for business purpose.

Many businesses are seeing the benefits of having a specialist partner, like Adatis, manage their Microsoft Licensing, to ensure they are driving value from their licenses, and allowing customer to focus on what’s important – running the business.

The benefits Adatis can offer to our customers with their licensing, above and beyond the Microsoft those offered but Microsoft, include:

Premier support: 

Working with a partner like Adatis ensures you have the support and advice you need to make sure you are using the correct licences for your requirements.

Cost optimisation:

As well as having full control over your Microsoft licences, Adatis provides a cost optimisation report at no charge as part of the discovery phase. Our aim is to save you money where it can be saved. No surprise costs when the monthly bills arrive, and complete transparency into pricing packages you signed up to.

To get help with your licences and how Adatis can help with data-driven business transformation, get in touch today.