Enterprise Agreements are complex and costly. We make sure that customers really understand what their EA does for them. We also validate--and often challenge--statements or advice that customers get from Microsoft or their reseller, acting as a "second opinion" on assertions that they make.

Our EA negotiations services quantifying the relative economic value of various licensing and volume purchasing options, allowing customers to make decisions based on defined savings and trade-offs.

This set of services allows customers to reduce their EA spending or to negotiate more favorable EAs. In 2013-14, we reduced our customers three-year contracts by about $135 million.

Our Case Studies demonstrate the success we have had in actual customer engagements.

Case Studies

Licensing Optimization analyzes a customer's current license agreements, explores alternatives, and compares costs. We work with business units and IT departments to identify operational weaknesses or product choices that introduce licensing complexity. Knowledge transfer is built in to everything we do: We explain the context, backgound, and implications of changes to licensing so customers can avoid problems and make smarter choices in the future.

Many of our customers simply want a Microsoft licensing expert on call to deal with any situations that come up. What's the best way to license a new solution? What are the rules if we access a product remotely? How can we use licenses we already own in a hosted environment? And many more. A retainer agreement provides your staff with a bucket of advisory hours that they can use at any time. Only a single purchase order is needed. This makes it easy to get answers to questions quickly, with minimal hassle. Customers get a report each month on use of this service to ensure that it's being used wisely.

Microsoft, like many other vendors, is significantly stepping up its compliance efforts, digging deeper into its customer base for additional revenue that can make up for declines in revenue from other sources. While we strongly encourage our customers to be compliant and maintain high business standards, the complexity of Microsoft licensing leaves many customers unaware of their rights and responsibilities.

In some cases, Microsoft will demand payment for infractions that are not covered by a customer's contract or it will demand far more payment than is actually required. Our audit defense service can help customers avoid unreasonable or unfounded demands.

More about Audit Defense