' Cost Savings '

You are under pressure to reduce the cost of your software investment and you do not have a clear view where to realize these savings?

Are you over-licensed in one area, cost reduction is in its place.
Are you under-licensed in another area, cost avoidance will be identified.

' Contract Renewal '​

Are you facing a contract renewal and want to be prepared with a concrete licensing shopping list before going into negotiation? Knowing exactly what your company needs is the first step in the contract renewal process.

' Merger, acquisition or divestiture '

Making a snapshot and define the actual software license position and reflecting TCO, so it can be included in the due diligence.

' Audit '

Want to be ahead of an audit?
Good idea, vendors audit their customers approximately each 4 years, you better be one step ahead and in control.

' Moving to the cloud '

Knowing where to go to with your IT environment is one aspect of moving to the cloud.
Another one is looking at your current software assets and investigating whether it is wise to build bridges on existing license investments and puzzle on top of these to get into to the cloud, or go immediately for new cloud subscription bundles.
Where is the tipping point for your company?

Do any of these situations sound familiar?
If so, then consider a “Microsoft Compliance Exercise” with White Raven IT’s partner eco-system, designed for Microsoft services.

In order to provide ‘excellent services’, White Raven IT selected a partner specialized in compliance as it requires a wide range of diverse skills and expertise going from tools and technical infrastructure to data collection processes and legal understanding. Besides these Software Asset Management experts working on your project, a White Raven will be involved as project manager to keep the helicopter view and guide you through the entire process.

Moving forward to step 2 in a
Microsoft Contract Renewal context, you need to prepare an inventory/Bill Of Material (BOM) before going into negotiation.

Will you consider your ‘AS IS’, provided by your Microsoft Licensing Partner (LSP), as the only basis for the content of your contract renewal?
 
Or is it a good time to question:

• User Profile Groups, are the group profiles still relevant today?  They were created 3 years ago. At that time they were a necessary element in the licensing.  Today the main differentiator can be for instance: Information Workers (IW), Firstline Workers and External Users (with access to LOB and/or pure collaboration (no access to LOB))?
• Components versus Microsoft bundles? What if a bundle fits more to your current needs and Microsoft is willing to give a discount on their Hero-Suites? It is a good time to consider volumes.
• Reduction? What if a purchased Microsoft bundle, 3 years ago, is now an overkill both financially and capability-wise? Shall we look at new components or lighter bundles, made available by Microsoft in the meantime?
• Phasing out? If a Microsoft solution no longer fits your business requirement, phasing out can be an option.
• New product information? Blown away by Microsoft new product releases and buzz-words they use during a meeting? Talk to us to get a detailed overview of the different plans and comparisons to provide you more clarity. Arrange a meeting with us before you meet Microsoft, so we can make sure you are prepared!
•  New Products? You would like to have a conversation with someone with a lot of Microsoft knowledge of new products that may fit your business needs? On your Cloud Infrastructure (SAP on Azure, Blockchain on Azure, SharePoint on Azure,…), Data Analytics (BI, Modern Data Warehouse, Big Data & Analytics, AI,…) Developer & App services (DevOps & DevTest, Azure functions,…) IoT, Modern Workplace (Business Productivity and Processes), Communications (Teams), Meetings & collaboration, Content creation, File Share & Content Management, Business Apps, Personal Computing and Innovative Hardware?

​Talk to our ‘Microsoft Product’ specialized partner within our White Raven IT’s partner eco-system, designed for Microsoft services.

Recently Microsoft started to position contract types such as MCA (Microsoft Customer Agreement) directly between Microsoft and Customers, where a Microsoft licensing partner is no longer involved.
The need for an independent advisor becomes more and more relevant for you.

Please be brave and try to read this through.

Today on a monthly basis you can report your licenses running in the datacenter of your hosting partner, via their SPLA (Service Provider License Agreement) with Microsoft. Depending on the dedicated or non-dedicated server environment (physical/virtual dedicated) in the datacenter of your hosting partner, certain licenses purchased under your own Microsoft contract (i.e. an EA) can be used to cover some instances in the datacenter.

Also depending on the product type and if SA (Software Assurance) has been purchased in the past, License Mobility through Software Assurance can give you extra rights to run instances in this datacenter.

You can increase or decrease the licenses you are reporting to Microsoft on a monthly basis under SPLA. Using various Microsoft Volume Licensing Programs and benefits, both first party as well as third party, to license Microsoft technology for Partner Hosted or Partner Managed software services, is called Hybrid licensing.

​If you are looking at a MPSA (Microsoft Products & Services Agreement), EA (Enterprise Agreement) or EAS (Enterprise Agreement Subscription) renewal,  you need to contact your Microsoft LSP (License Solution Provider) or Microsoft advisor like White Raven IT. There are local and Global LSP’s, each of them offering their specific capabilities. Under an EA, there are currently 2 types of enrollments: STD Enr. (Standard Enrollment, based on qualified desktops, or users, Enterprise Products or EOS (Enterprise Online Services)) and SCE Enr. (Server & Cloud Enrollment, to make an installed base-wide commitment to one or more components).

SCE Azure Only customers will be redirected to a MCA, directly sold by Microsoft, and your LSP will no longer be involved. Under EA and MPSA, you can purchase your licenses, under EAS you have a subscription formula.

Under an EAS you can  TU (True Up) and TD (True Down) each year (report more or less),

under an EA you can only TU your perpetual licenses and have a license reduction option for your subscription licenses if they are listed under Reduction -Eligible subscriptions, only if the license reduction does not break down the customer’s enterprise-wide commitment plus or depending on even more factors. SA is mandatory in EA but is optional in MPSA.

MPSA is a transactional program where you need to buy the licenses within 30 days of usage. If SA is purchased on top of your license under MPSA, you can choose for a Split Payment option. Certain SA Benefits in MPSA are only valid if you subscribe to Software Assurance Membership. You can subscribe to Software Assurance Membership per product pool.

​In some cases your LSP or CSP partner can also offer you a CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) Program to buy Cloud Services, Products and Support (and recently on-premises software has been added to the program as alternative for traditional perpetual licenses in Open License).

​If you have also better things to do, then getting mixed up by this complex matter, just give the White Ravens a call, so you can focus on what really matters: your business.

For those who have understood some of it, Microsoft is changing the partner landscape dramatically. We advise to go for an independent Microsoft advisor like White Raven IT to further assist you in this matter.

Please note we do not resell Microsoft licenses, our advice for a Microsoft contract renewals is purely neutral.

Should the new MCA be the best fit for your organisation, we will not hesitate to advise you in this direction (unlike Microsoft resellers who might fear a loss of revenue).

Did one of your legal entities in a country outside of Belgium received an offer for Microsoft licenses in a foreign currency?

1. and you noticed a significant price difference?
2. and you wonder about other price differences in other countries?
3. and you are considering to buy these licenses in this foreign country but ask yourself what legal & financial procedure there is in place?

Please address your concerns to White Raven IT so we can help you out in advising what procedure suits best to your needs and will have a positive and/or negative impact to your business.
We will also advise which Microsoft resellers will be best positioned to assist with your purchase of licenses.
White Raven IT is not a Microsoft license reseller and therefore you can rest assured of neutral license advice.

WhiteRaven IT is happy to assist you in the user adoption of the Modern Workplace (M365/O365).

The provided services consist of:

Inspiration session: Providing helicopter view of the Modern Workplace
Goal: provide end-users, managers, project sponsors with the much-needed overall view of M365/O365. Focus is on the forest, not the trees.

Workshop: New Way of Working / Team Productivity
Goal: per functional team establish explicit team agreements given all the means that the Modern Workplace introduce, what communication means will be used for what purpose, what is the lifecycle of information, how to collaborate with people external to the team/company?

Workshop: Increase your Personal Productivity
Goal: how to tackle the information overflow that keeps the individual away from the ‘real work’? This problem does not go away by introducing the Modern Workplace, as opposed to what Microsoft says in its marketing story. In many ways, it’s even getting more complicated. It’s up to the individual user to find ways to survive the daily struggle of information overload and distraction, and make sure that the own agenda gets prioritized.

Looking for a person who can glue all the different pieces of the Microsoft C-project puzzle and summarize it for you?

The White Raven IT - Project Manager is happy to do this for you and make sure all people within your organization involved, provide information when it’s required, and stay aligned during the project.

Whom to renew my Microsoft contracts with or buy my licenses from?

Choosing the right LSP (authorized Microsoft Licensing Solution Partners) might be quite challenging.

It is not only a matter of buying your Microsoft licenses, software assurance, cloud subscriptions under good conditions, it's a matter of trust.
Such decisions are not be taken lightly and White Raven IT - as an independent and non-reselling party - can guide you making the right decision based on your requirements for today and the future.

"Low Pass (LP)" - an entry-level project with an average of 1-month lead time, at an affordable price.

Low Pass is an aviation term where an aircraft flies over at a low altitude (e.g. in air show) to obtain an overview of the situation in a swift and adequate manner. Through a Low Pass exercise, we, White Ravens, fly over in a swift and adequate manner and gain insight in a customer's Microsoft license situation.  The purpose of this overflight is to spot possible optimizations.  In order to do so, we require insight into the current contracts - completed with 3 interviews with stakeholders at the customer.  Typically, these interviews are conducted with the internal Microsoft contact, the purchaser, someone representing the business, possibly someone involved in Software Asset Management...

What can you as a customer expect as an outcome?

• YES, we have found optimizations through the LPI and would like to continue working on this with your approval, through our Microsoft 7C Services. The time, efforts and money invested during the LPI exercise pays off in the continuation of the MS 7C exercise.
• NO, we have not been able to find any significant optimizations during the LPI. You should not make any further investments in a more extensive exercise and you have saved extra time, effort and money.  In this case, you have received, for a small fee, the advice of 2 independent Microsoft experts, as well as confirmation that the Microsoft contracts meet your needs or requirements.