I was working with one of our Software Asset Management (SAM) consulting customers and the customer’s Large Account Reseller (LAR) to help the customer true-up and become compliant with their Microsoft software license agreements. The customer has more than 15,000 desktops and 700 servers and was using Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) for their servers. This customer was also in the process of being acquired and, as a result, was moving to the acquirer's Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft. The acquiring company doesn't use SCCM, but there was a requirement for this company to ensure they were in license compliance before the acquisition and subsequent move over to the Enterprise Agreement.
Microsoft and the LAR provided a quote to true-up and be compliant based on purchasing both the licenses and Software Assurance (Microsoft's maintenance program) under a Select Agreement, as they had always done in the past. That quote was for $1.1 million. Knowing that the customer was not going to be using SCCM once acquired, I asked if they could just purchase the licenses only and forgo the purchase of Software Assurance. It reduced the quote to $101,000, a savings of $900,000.
The lesson here? It's not always in your best interest to pay for the maintenance plan when buying (or truing-up) software. Software maintence programs, such as Software Assurance, are designed to provide product support, and usually, the right to upgrade when new releases of the software become available, among other benefits. The programs generally run over a period of a few years-- 3 is typical. As the example here illustrates, the benefits of the maintenance program may not be worth the cost, depending on your particular circumstances.
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