Licensing Consulting

Emerset has negotiated hundreds of licensing agreements. Though we highly recommend working with Emerset through the entire negotiation cycle , there are customers who prefer to work with Emerset on a more limited bases, focusing on specific licensing consultation services. Emerset’s licensing consultation services includes many aspects of the negotiation methodology we have developed for our clients. Based on many years of experience, we have finetuned methods for analyzing each of the stages of preparation, training, and negotiation.

We can help you analyze your assets as part of the process for preparing for the negotiations. We can help you determine if the agreement has been optimized to meet your enterprise needs, if the agreement factors in your industry, your geographical area, and helps you reach a true win-win agreement with your vendor. Even after you have renewed your licensing agreement, Emerset can help you verify usage and optimize future agreements.

Our licensing consultation services include:

Asset and Licensing Reconciliation: One of the hardest parts of the preparation stage, and at the same time, one of the most important, is the process of determining the corporation’s actual software assets and how they are currently being used. Emerset’s consultation services include our ability to come in and guide this process. We work with you, provide extensive guidelines on how this data should be collected, how the physical process should be conducted and continue working with your IT and procurement teams to ensure you achieve maximum accuracy.

At the conclusion of these services, we provide you with a comprehensive licensing report that states the current software versus purchased assets so that you can create an internal strategic roadmap. Emerset can also generate a comprehensive Reconciliation Report which translates facts and figures into an easily understood format upon which decisions can be made and possible leverage points can be found for the upcoming negotiations.

Contract Maintenance Service: Signing or renewing an Enterprise Agreement is only the first step. Over the next three years, a company will need to make a number of decisions and investments about how to utilize the technology assets that it has acquired through the Enterprise Agreement, best decide on how to utilize the Software Assurance Benefits and prepare for annual True Ups. Emerset’s ongoing contract maintenance service evaluates the terms of the Enterprise Agreement and identifies terms and conditions which will add the most value to the organization throughout the term of the three-year contact. Emerset reviews True Up pricing and guides the organization through the annual true up process, in addition maximizes the organizations return of investment from the SA Benefits.  

EA Contract Optimization Service: During the course of the contract negotiations, Microsoft® is likely to have made concessions and included terms that are extremely valuable to an organization. Very often, these are not fully understood by the groups that can benefit most and are often not communicated effectively. Emerset’s Contract Optimization Service includes:

1. Detailed analysis of all aspects of the EA contact and identify the potential unrecognized benefits and how they can impact an organization.
2. Evaluation of SA Benefits included in the EA and recommendations on the optimal Benefits to deploy and how to maximize the support resources provided by Microsoft® and the LAR.
3. Develop a plan to communicate the key aspects of the relevant parts of the EA to different stakeholders throughout an organization covering the following topics:

• Overview of Enterprise licensing
• Product Use Rights
• Using the Volume Licensing Service Center
• Overview of the SA Benefits
• SAM maturity - Best practices
• The role of the Large Account Reseller – what to expect

True Up Review:  Emerset will guide you through a process of preparing for your annual True Up, evaluating your current entitlements and licensing status of operating systems, servers/CALs, desktop applications and management servers and will assist in minimizing license overage and optimizing purchase options under the True Up terms and conditions. As a trusted third party, we verify that the True Up payment that has been calculated by Microsoft® and the LAR are optimal and whether cost savings opportunities can be identified.  

Implementing the full Clear Licensing Methodology: Working with many elements of the customer organization (Procurement Team, Negotiation Team, IT, C-Level executives, etc.), Emerset works closely with the company through all stages of the negotiation process. For more information, see Clear Licensing Methodology.

Emerset’s methodology and vast experience can be of assistance at any time and at any stage. To contact Emerset to learn more about our consulting services, click here.