Microsoft Enterprise Agreement Requirements

Open Value Enterprise-Wide and Open Value Subscription are commitment-based agreements for commercial and government organizations that want to obtain enterprise-wide licenses over a period of one or two years. Software Assurance is included. Microsoft Evolving Licensing customers today use EAs, Select Plus or Open contracts, or a combination of these. EAs are three-year agreements that include Software Assurance coverage and allow organizations to enter into contractual commitments with Microsoft that set prices, while the Select and Open agreements were a model for purchasing software à la carte. There are different ways to license and/or subscribe to Microsoft products. The licensing solution provider or representative of a particular company may not be aware of all the options available. However, they are well trained (and motivated by incentives) to guide customers on the path to higher licensing costs. Be sure to ask Microsoft licensing specialists how they can better structure licenses to reduce expenses, and consider gaining unbiased expertise to help the procurement team review recommendations. The difference between the direct CSP model and the indirect CSP model is that the direct model requires a robust infrastructure to enable end-to-end ownership of the customer relationship. Many requirements must be met, and for most partners, this is not feasible.

However, the indirect model offers partners (resellers) the opportunity to work with an indirect CSP partner who can provide the tools and resources needed to manage their customer relationship. And for most of them, this is the best option. As a publicly traded company, Microsoft`s job is to accurately predict revenue. To achieve this, the company must have a clear view of its sales pipeline and be able to finalize purchases and renewals faster and earlier in the quarterly sales cycle. A limited number of legal resources and licenses are available to process these transactions, and it is almost impossible to process documents less than two weeks before the end of a calendar year, fiscal year, or quarter. Dealing with these spikes in transaction volume is a challenge for Microsoft`s business operations, and delays in this pipeline can have a domino effect on quarterly and annual revenue, share price, and overall market perception. Customers should take advantage of the supplier`s desire to avoid overflows and use purchases and renewal times accordingly. Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft can be more flexible in off-peak supply negotiations. Microsoft`s ISV Royalty Licensing Program is designed for ISVs who are looking for a convenient way to license Microsoft products and integrate them into a unified solution. ISVs can then replicate the enterprise solution and distribute a fully licensed solution to their end users. ISV Royalty Agreements (ISVRs) have a term of three years and payment is made monthly through an authorized distributor of the ISV Royalty Licensing Program.

The MPSA is Microsoft`s attempt to create simplified contracts. It was first illuminated in 2013, but Microsoft just seemed to be driving it at the time. Now, Microsoft is reporting a rise in MPSA, although it`s still an evolving program. Microsoft still considers its EA as its flagship contract. The MPSA is described in Microsoft`s online documents as “suitable for organizations with 250 or more users.” It seems that this number of 250 seats is indicated, since the MPSA has a discount program based on a points system, which in turn is based on the number of seats. MPSAs are sold under different conditions. You must be a Microsoft Licensing Solution Provider (LSP) to sell licenses and subscriptions through Microsoft Enterprise agreements and records. “The differentiating factor is that when you sign an EA for Office 365 today, you commit to meeting a number of required licenses for Office 365 services. You`re going to pay for that every year, and then you`re true and maybe true on an annual basis,” Gollnick said. But with MPSA, you have the option to sign this agreement and then commit to Office 365 services based on your needs. So if you start with 100 Office 365 services and then want to scale over the course of a year, you can do it.

If you essentially want to purchase a seasonal SKU from Office 365 based on the requirements of that particular period, you can do the same. This therefore shifts the conversation about the deal to a sales transaction movement around a cloud service. The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement and Microsoft Enterprise Subscription Agreement are commitment-based licensing agreements for commercial organizations that sign up with 500 or more users/devices* and government organizations with 250 or more users/devices. These agreements are best suited for organizations that want to license Microsoft software and cloud services on-premises across the enterprise over a three-year period and at the best available prices. Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement (MOSA) is a transactional license agreement for commercial, government, and academic organizations with one or more users/devices. MOSA is best suited for organizations that want to subscribe, enable, deploy, and manage cloud services through the Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP) seamlessly and directly over the web. Local software and software assurance are not available through MOSA. The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) is a licensing option that can deliver exceptional value and cost savings to customers under the right circumstances. It`s not for everyone, but if your COMPUTing needs match EA`s strengths, there`s no better way to achieve your Microsoft goals while saving money in the process. For starters, you need to have at least 250 devices or users to be eligible, although under the right circumstances we can still put the EA into service, even if you`re not quite 250 seats away. EAs are by far the best value for companies looking to purchase cloud services and software licenses as part of a deal.

“How we position it for customers really depends on our customers` needs and fits their environment, their requirements from an acquisition and purchasing perspective,” Gollnick said. “Sometimes customers who have been less than 500 in this area are a good choice for an EA. And sometimes these clients are well suited to an MPSA. I do not think there is an answer one way or another. It really depends on the customer`s situation. “MPSA now offers more flexibility than any other program — only licenses, licenses with Software Assurance, Office 365, Visual Studio subscriptions, and more,” DeGroot said. “The most recent change I can`t say I`ve seen yet is the `commitment-based` license, similar to the basic enterprise commitment (BEC) in an enterprise contract. If you commit to purchasing certain products for each device or user in the organization, you`ll get better discounts, etc. A Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (Microsoft EA) was once the first port of call for large enterprises with more than 500 workstations.

However, the complex 3-year contract that was once so popular is becoming obsolete. As cloud-based services like Azure and Office 365 become the norm, even large enterprises are changing the way they purchase products and services, looking for a more flexible Microsoft volume licensing option with the CSP program. CSP is a program that allows Microsoft partners to sell Microsoft`s cloud-based services. Microsoft hosts the services in its data center infrastructure, but the partners manage the service directly with the customer. As part of the CSP, partners offer “value-added services” in addition to Microsoft`s subscription programs. PESCO agreements include one-year commitments. Microsoft generally doesn`t have a minimum requirement for the number of seats for buyers of its cloud services. Small organizations that currently have EAs may not meet the minimum seat requirements on July 1. In this case, they will eventually have to change plans if they want to continue using Microsoft`s software. Unlike the EA, which has a minimum number of users or devices of 500, the CSP is much more flexible with the number of devices and users you can have under the agreement, making it ideal for small businesses. Microsoft`s Open Volume Licensing programs are designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Open Value is designed for companies with five or more PCs and comes with Software Assurance (SA), which promises upgrades to the next version of the software if an organization is covered by the duration of the SA contract.

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