Quick update for those interested in Dynamics 365 for SPLA and what you should remember when selling to your customers.
Not all bad news but not all good either. You can read more about my opinion here
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
For Dynamics hosters worried about all the changes with CRM have until October 31, 2019 to license the transition SKU’s in SPLA.
Although good news and provides some flexibility, the transition pricing is still higher than current CRM licenses. As an example, Basic CRM SKU transition pricing for Customer Service is almost double!
Transition pricing is available to ease transition to the new Dynamics 365 pricing model. It is also designed for current CRM customers, not new customers. To learn more about Dynamics 365, please check out Dynamics 365 Licensing for SPLA
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
PS- Dont forget to license SQL and Windows with CRM!
We read article after article, use rights after use rights, to provide you the best and accurate information. Now it’s your turn. The Cloud Insider News takes articles written by you to tell your story and help educate the community. In this edition, we take a look at CRM. Have a hot topic? Email info@splalicensing.com
The Register Microsoft plans summer CRM war opener against Salesforce
XRM – CRM Online FAQ
Omnivue.net (white paper) – Is Your Business Ready for ERP?
SaaSPlaza – What’s all the hype about Microsoft Dynamics 365?
Wealthmanagement.com/Tamarac – Five Ways a Client Portal Can Transform Your Practice
WatServ – Dynamics 365 Pricing Plans and Migration Discount Announced at Dynamics 365 Tech Conference.
Channele2e – Microsoft Preps Partners for Dynamics 365, LinkedIN Integration
Cisco – Cisco Unified CallConnector for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Caltech – Dynamics 365 Enterprise Edition Customer Service
Tribridge – Is it Time to Check the Vital Signs of Your Microsoft Dynamics CRM System?
Computer World – Adobe continues to march to the cloud
Ipipeline – Customer Centricity – Do you “CRM?”
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
If you were THE Microsoft SPLA MGR in charge of the entire program, what would you change to help grow the SPLA business? (more importantly, YOUR SPLA business) If you have multiple that’s ok.
Here’s a list from a colleague to get you started:
You can tweet me at @SPLA_man or send me an email info@splalicensing.com
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
The healthcare community has increased concerns with the way they have deployed (and licensed) their electronic medical record (EMR) software such as Epic Community Connect and others. As a reader of this blog, you know that when you deploy software for the benefit of a third party (non employee) SPLA must be part of the conversation. The only exception to this rule is if you actually own the code to the software you are hosting. In other words, if you developed the software, you can use your own volume licenses to host your software. If you host a third party software (such as Epic) you must license this in SPLA. In most cases, many healthcare companies do not own the application, but lease it from the EMR vendor.
Rewind a few years and let’s pretend you are a large hospital who partnered with Epic to provide best in class patient record management for your clients, doctors, and other clinics. Your Epic deployment resides on a Windows Server, SQL Server, and RDS. As the IT director, you purchased several server licenses and hundreds of Client Access Licenses (CAL) to cover all the external users. You think you are covered; no one mentions you need to license this via SPLA. Your reseller didn’t tell you, Microsoft didn’t tell you, and for that matter the vendor didn’t tell you. You think all is well based off the information you received. Fast forward 3 years and your volume licensing agreement is up for renewal. Someone on the licensing side informs you that you shouldn’t true-up licenses or renew your agreement under volume licensing, you need to license SPLA. You think that’s fine, if you must license under a different program who are you to argue. But what about all those license you already purchased and own? Unfortunately, you cannot return them, you must allocate those internally. You think to yourself that’s fine, except for one minor detail…. you purchased hundreds of CALs and you do not have hundreds of employees; those license you own are essentially worthless. On top of everything else, you just received an audit notification.
Why would they receive an audit notification? Once a vendor recognizes you have been under-licensed, the vendor might want to dig in deeper to see how long you have been out of compliant and if you purchased enough licenses to cover all the users. In 90% of all audits, the customer is under-licensed. Now you own licenses you don’t need, but should’ve purchased more because you don’t own enough licenses to cover all external users initially. The vendor will want you to pay the delta of what you should’ve paid under SPLA and what you purchased under volume licensing (plus an audit fee).
If you are a healthcare provider and have been notified by Microsoft or any other vendor, please contact us. We have found that in many cases the licenses report is not always 100% accurate.
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
Microsoft made a pretty big announcement around Windows 10 and CSP. Here’s a breakdown for those that are interested:
So why does this stink now but could be great later? Pay attention to number 1, 4, and 5 in the list above. That’s what stinks. Think this will allow VDI? Think again.
So why not? Why the mystery around VDI and SPLA? If I was Microsoft, I would go ahead and allow it but for only a select few SPLA providers. Those providers are:
There you have it. Microsoft wins big time – all that missed revenue from non reporters will get reported. Now you, the compliant service provider, will be allowed VDI in SPLA.
The likelihood of this happening is slim to none. I do think Microsoft is missing out with the Windows 10/VDI restriction. Ever since I started in SPLA, I’ve been asked about VDI (or the lack thereof). That was 11 years ago.
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
Yes, it’s the talk of the town. “Windows 2016! Oh my! It’s moving to cores!!!” That part is true. What is NOT true is even when Windows 2016 is released, it doesn’t mean you have to license by core – you can still license by processor for all 2012 and earlier editions. The catch? Once your agreement expires and you sign a new SPLA after October 1st (when Windows 2016 is released) you must license by core regardless which version you are running.
So what does this mean to you? If I was a service provider that reports over 2k in Windows and SQL licenses, I might readjust when my SPLA expires to extend processor based licensing. Wait…What? You can readjust when my SPLA agreement expires? Sure. I’m SPLA Man. Anything is possible with SPLA Man.
Thanks for reading,
Windows 2016 Man
There’s a rumor that Microsoft will allow a service provider the ability to host Office licenses under Office 365 in a shared cloud environment. Is the rumor true? Yes, it’s true. But with everything in the world of licensing there’s always a catch.
For those that have read my blog for a while know that this blog is not a news source, but an education source. I don’t care about late breaking news, I just want you to get the licensing right, the information right, and be profitable.
So what does Office under Office 365 really mean? Some time ago, Microsoft created a use right titled “Shared Computer Activation” For those playing at home this is code for installing end user Office license from O365 in a shared cloud infrastructure similar to license mobility. In the past, this was only available in Azure. (imagine that). Fast forward to today and Microsoft is opening it up to the service provider channel as well. Good news for you, and even better news for Microsoft. If you would like to use this use right (SCA) you must meet the following criteria:
If you don’t know if you are managed, let me know – I can see if you are. Typically this is for SPLA partners that report not only high SPLA revenue (although not necessarily), but are also strategic in marketing activities with Microsoft. If you are international, let me know and we can look into getting US authorized as well. You can email me at info@splalicensing.com to learn more. I also have a cool powerpoint. (well, about as cool as powerpoint’s can go). Although a bit out dated, here is a good overview as well on SCA: https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn782860(v=office.15).aspx
Last, I sit on a licensing panel and would love to review the different use cases for this program. Let me know how you may/may not benefit from Shared Computer Activation and we can voice our collective opinion to Microsoft. info@splalicensing.com
There’s also a big change for rental PC’s. Little teaser for an upcoming blog post.
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? This is a story about knowing what you are reporting and the reasoning behind it. Windows 2012 was launched a couple of years ago (give or take). At that time there were several service providers reporting Windows Enterprise. Their customers had applications that needed the functionality of Windows Enterprise, and since it wasn’t virtualized, Windows Datacenter was not an option. The service provider continued to report/license Windows Enterprise after the launch of 2012. There’s nothing wrong with this, in fact, the terms of the SPLA agreement state you can continue licensing 2008 use rights up until your agreement expires. What most providers don’t know is you can do the opposite. You can run 2008 versions but report 2012. Why would they do that?
In this case, they had Windows Enterprise installed; but since Windows Enterprise was discontinued with the release of 2012, they could downgrade to Windows Standard edition. Sounds funny doesn’t it? DOWNGRADE to Windows Standard from Enterprise? Yes, I said that correct. Enterprise is discontinued. Again, nothing was virtual, and that is very important. If it was virtual, they would continue to report Enterprise up until the agreement expired and report Windows Datacenter moving forward. Not only did he save on their monthly usage report, I’m guessing he had added margin since he was already contracted with his customer.
Quick note – not all products discontinued have the same outcome. In most cases (such as SQL 2012 switch to cores) their costs actually went up
Ahh…but where is this written in the SPUR? I’ll save you time, it’s not. That’s why you need to read “Why Timing is Everything” You are bound by the SPUR (i.e.products/versions/use rights) available at the time of signing your SPLA agreement. Those reporting SQL by processor better pay attention.
I receive 100’s of SPLA questions from the SPLA community about licensing and the cost associated with it. From the largest of the large providers down to a guy hosting Windows Web Server out of his parents basement (which is discontinued by the way), there’s always way you can reconsider your strategy. Moral of the story? Pay attention to how you report and don’t report out of convenience…It can cost you.
Thanks for reading,
SPLA Man
SPLA Licensing 