Earlier this year, Microsoft announced several major changes on the horizon for Microsoft customers. Get your complete playbook for upcoming licensing and subscription pricing updates across O365, Windows 365 and more.
Office 365 and Microsoft 365 form a large part of Microsoft's revenue, and it is continuing to grow. This means it is also likely to be a growing part of your software spend as new features, licenses, and add-ons are made available by Microsoft.
Although you may have been working with Microsoft 365 for several years at this point, there are still a variety of methods you can use to first reduce your Microsoft 365 spend and then to help keep it under control as your organisation changes and grows.
As organisations continue to adopt SaaS and cloud, fuelled by the ongoing shift to hybrid and flexible working, there is an increased risk of software over-spend. However, that also means there is an increased opportunity for ITAM professionals to demonstrate their skills to the business.
In this short article, we'll look at recent announcements from Microsoft that may impact your pricing and future licensing options, and provide negotiation strategies you can use to optimize your software spend.
Stay up to date on all the key Microsoft licensing changes. Get the Ultimate Guide to Microsoft 365.
Microsoft 365 Price Increases 2021/2022The new prices will take effect from March 2022 and the new list prices will be:
Note: There were no price increases announced for Microsoft 365 E5 or the "F" SKUs.
ITAM: The business cost saving strategy This change from Microsoft represents a fantastic opportunity to review your Microsoft spend and strategy. Take a look at what you're buying and compare that to what you're using. If the gap is too big, identify what changes can be made and when, depending on your contract and internal business drivers.Optimize your Microsoft spend
With significant amounts of change within customer organisations and within Microsoft's licensing and product line-up, regular reviews will help ensure spend is as well optimized as possible:
- Identify where you may be buying too many licenses and also where the licenses you do need are "over-sized" for the users' requirements
- Consider how the timing of your agreement renewals can have an impact on your spending, particularly with regard to price increases from Microsoft
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Profile the users across your organisation to determine if different licenses - such as the F SKUs - can be used to reduce spend for certain job roles
Stay up to date on all the key Microsoft licensing changes. Get the Ultimate Guide to Microsoft 365.
Carlos Pereira is Product Manager for Cloud Solutions at USU. Prior to joining USU in 2017, he worked as an escalation manager for Enterprise customers in the Office 365 team, and later as a Microsoft Licensing Specialist. He supported internal Microsoft staff on Microsoft Volume Licensing Agreement rules and product usage rights.
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USU Software AG published this content on 11 November 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 11 November 2021 07:46:04 UTC.