Windows 1.0 was launched over 25 years ago in 1985, and Microsoft introduced its first volume licensing program for enterprises in 1993. One would presume that in an age where technology is leveraged to increase productivity and eliminate inefficiencies, the world's largest software company would be leading the way in simplifying how their products are purchased and managed. Sadly as many of us know, that is not the case. Keeping up with the constant changes in your requirements, user demographics, and options, coupled with Microsoft's hundreds of products being sold in languages and countries all over the globe, contribute to an ever more ...
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Suspend your disbelief! You are likely significantly overpaying your current technology suppliers. In our history of helping our clients rationalize and renegotiate their legacy spend, we help clients punch above their weight and capture 20-30% savings on average. In helping our clients modernize their supply chain by sourcing technology deals for new spend, we help clients modernize their supply chain and average 30-40% savings. Combined, even with a roster of world class client brands who all thought they were pretty good at managing suppliers and buying new stuff, we have helped clients capture over $200 billion of incremental value, and ...
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Business Intelligence (“BI”) has been experiencing explosive growth over the last 15 years or so, and 2015 is perhaps the most exciting year on record. Many believe it is a tipping point year for BI. Below are the Top 5 trends we expect to see in 2015. #5) Mobility becomes table stakes. Getting the right information to the right people at the right time is what BI is all about, and mobility has been a key consideration of this goal. For years, mobile access via smartphones and tablets has been viewed by many clients as an advanced feature, but more and more, clients are making this a strong requirement in 2015. As the proliferation of mobile ...
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NET(net) completed a successful engagement for a global client that has over 70,000 employees and operations in 17 countries. With NET(net)'s guidance and expertise, the client was able to save $18M+ over 3 years on a global subscription EA renewal. This client engagement combined several factors which are increasingly common in today's Microsoft licensing deals and can provide valuable lessons for other Microsoft customers: A global footprint including diverse and, in some cases, quasi-independent local IT decision making This leads to numerous challenges including communication, coordination of plans, information sharing, contract and ...
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In our history of Client advocacy in thousands of professionally managed supplier engagements globally, we have seen virtually every Service Level Agreement (SLA) ever developed, constructed, negotiated, implemented, monitored, measured, reported on, or renegotiated. In that history, we can recall some that stood up well to the situations they were designed to protect. However, most SLAs don’t have the ability to change over time and almost none evolve to keep pace with the changing nature of the relationship between the Client and the supplier, or the changing environment. This is the fundamental premise on which we base most of our ...
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Not surprisingly, investments in Cybersecurity are on a significant upward trend in all categories. This past summer 2014, Gartner reported global numbers from businesses and governments that indicate they will have spent an estimated $71.1B protecting their information assets in 2014, up 7.9% from the previous year. The research firm also predicts the growth rate will increase to 8.1% this year, for an estimated total of $76.9 billion of spend in this area in 2015. This growth is expected to accelerate significantly from there, reaching an estimated $155.74 billion in spend by 2019. As NET(net) reviews the IT spend of our clients, seeking ...
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How do you ensure your Microsoft deal doesn't end up costing way more than anticipated? After doing thousands of Microsoft deals over the last dozen or so years, we know all too well that the hard work starts after the deal is signed. In many people's minds, "the deal" is complete when negotiations are done, deal terms and pricing agreed and contracts and PO's executed. But in fact, "the deal" can't be complete until all promised goods and services are delivered, on time, at or below estimated cost, and with suitable quality and acceptance by the client. Unfortunately, in many cases, the supplier's view of the deal is conversely focused on ...
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Oracle have you seeing RED, and concerned about spending too much GREEN? When it comes to draconian supplier policies, perhaps no one makes their customers see more RED than Oracle. Many times, seeing Oracle RED also costs you too much of your hard earned GREEN. We have documented over 40 major issues that routinely cost our clients too much GREEN when it comes to dealing with Oracle. Below, we discuss the Top 5 Ways Oracle Makes You See RED. The Top 5 Ways Oracle Makes You See RED and Costs You Too Much GREEN: 5. Bundling of Support 4. Re-Pricing Provision 3. Matching Support Policy 2. Binding of Legacy Maintenance 1. Oracle Audits 5: ...
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Satya Nadella is Microsoft’s next CEO confirming, again, that Microsoft views “the cloud” as the company’s strongest bet for future growth and continued dominance of the enterprise software world. Previously, he was executive vice-president of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group – and that should be all the information that enterprise IT managers need to know about where Microsoft wants to go in the future (taking enterprise customers along for the ride of course). I think this truly is a key inflection point in Microsoft’s history, even beyond the obvious changing of the guard from the old Gates / Ballmer duo, and the rather distinct ...
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Microsoft is gradually rolling out an entirely new volume licensing agreement structure for enterprise customers, previewed in blog posts here: Transformation on the Horizon for Microsoft Volume Licensing and Microsoft Makes Sweeping Changes to its Volume-Licensing Plans Reading between the lines: the key concept is "committed" - like they've been doing with EAP / ECI agreements, you only get the great volume pricing when / if you include Software Assurance for every device / installation in the enterprise. For many enterprises that's a deal-killer. Example: SQL Server. The current EAP agreement requires all SQL instances to be "included" - ...
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