M365 - License Optimization Center

As organizations and their executives place an even greater emphasis on resiliency, IT leaders face growing pressure to reduce costs while ensuring their users have the necessary tools to work efficiently. One of the most overlooked, yet high-impact, strategies in Microsoft 365 license management is user profiling. Establishing a scalable license governance strategy early on can lead to substantial cost savings, increased operational efficiency, and a stronger return on investment. 

Microsoft’s licensing landscape for Microsoft 365 is evolving rapidly, with new agreements like the Microsoft Customer Agreement Enterprise (MCA-E) and a shift toward cloud-based, direct models. For IT and procurement professionals, these changes present opportunities to optimize costs but also risks of overspending or non-compliance.

In part 1 we discussed what’s new in Microsoft Licensing. We covered how licenses, subscriptions, and contracts are changing with the relationships between Microsoft, Microsoft’s partners, and their customers. Next, we need to discuss how to approach the task of purchasing and managing Microsoft solutions within our businesses. 

For the past eight years, as Microsoft wound down the License Solution Provider Program, we've been anticipating significant changes in Microsoft licensing, and now, they are finally here. Reviewing your Microsoft Licensing Strategy to adapt to these changes is more critical than ever. Let's delve into the major updates and what they mean for your organization. 

We didn't want to leave you out of the loop if you missed our recent webinar, Microsoft 365 License Management: How to Optimize in a New Era of Changes. Don't worry; we have you covered with a quick recap of the highlights.   

In this session, ENow CEO Jay Gundotra sat down with Ben Marshall, Global Head of Licensing at HP Inc., to explore the factors affecting Microsoft 365 licensing today. They discussed everything from significant macro trends to strategic advice on optimizing licenses to match organization and user needs, along with the impact of Microsoft's latest changes.    

Best Practices to Reduce the Complexity of Microsoft 365 Licensing

Large organizations, as well as mid-market companies to SMBs, are faced with some important buying decisions when investing in Microsoft 365 licensing. These decisions must be strategic, because they will directly influence whether those investments will increase user productivity - or expend capital on licenses that will not be utilized to their potential, having no impact on the bottom line.

Mastering the art of Microsoft 365 licensing optimization can provide huge cost savings for your organization – but it can also benefit your career.

Microsoft 365 License Management is important, but not always easy

Microsoft 365 is a powerful suite of productivity tools that includes enterprise-level services, such as Exchange Online, SharePoint, and Skype for Business. While Microsoft 365 offers a wide range of benefits to businesses, it also comes with a number of challenges, particularly when it comes to licensing.

When managing your platform, some applications may be a higher risk of leaking data outside your organization and you just don't know it. There have been some very public scenarios of organization leaking data, or having breaches and stolen data. It's like a modern horror movie with the fear of what could happen to a company, or an an individual, if our data ends up in the wrong hands.

The Microsoft 365 platform is a complex beast, and managing it sets many challenges for the IT team or department in an organization.