Client story Insight Helps Global Communications Organisation Achieve Their Microsoft Commercial and Contractual Objectives
By Insight UK / 7 Apr 2019 / Topics: Unified communications
This global communications organisation has been in operation for decades, providing services across across the world to hundreds of millions of customers. With customers and innovation at the heart of their business strategy, unlocking their digital potential has always been top of mind.
The Challenge
In 2008, the organisation signed the first Microsoft Contract Optimisation Service agreement with Insight, followed by a contract renewal in 2012. When the agreement expired in 2015, they contracted Insight’s License Consultancy Service to ensure their existing Enterprise Agreement (EA) license estate was fully optimised and catered for their future deployment plans - both on the desktop and servers, including migration to the cloud.
The company came under pressure from their internal stakeholders to reduce their operating costs. In addition to this, they had also acquired a number of businesses that had to be integrated into their licensing estate.
The Solution
The License Consultancy Service team used a structured methodology, developed over many years in the management of large global organisations with Microsoft licensing requirements. Phase 1 entailed building optimal licensing and phase 2 encompassed optimal contractual solutions for the client. The engagement started 12 months before the renewal of the global EA.
Phase 1 included:
1. A detailed license entitlement analysis across multiple enrolments.
2. A detailed SQL and Windows Server analysis across multiple large operating companies to ensure their server estate was fully optimised before applying any license metric changes from Microsoft.
3. Several deployment plan workshops including the IT decision makers across the business so Insight’s LCS consultants team could fully assess their future license requirement beyond their current EA entitlements.
4. A detailed cost model that was produced by Insight consultants to map all licensing options available to the client including the “Do Nothing” option and the impact of the license metric changes from Microsoft on SQL, Windows Server, Enterprise CAL and other products.
5. The cost model also analysed the impact across multiple local markets within the wider organisation. Once phase 1 was completed, Insight moved onto phase 2 of the project which included:
1. Benchmarking on the Microsoft offer against the various price-books and the existing EA enrolments in place.
2. Contractual concession negotiations with Microsoft to meet the requirements of certain local markets e.g. multiple profiles.
3. The impact of foreign exchange rate fluctuations to accommodate for the client’s complex geographical distribution.
4. Cost of trade implications for indirect billings across multiple regions.
5. Helping the client to build a solid business case with Microsoft to show the impact of licensing price and metric changes on their business and how to mitigate those risks through commercial discounting and contractual changes.
