Microsoft 365 License Restructuring: 3 Things to Look For

A recent survey conducted by Chase reveals that two out of every three consumers have forgotten about at least one of their recurring payments.[1] Organizations can often fall into the same trap when it comes to their licensing agreements and subscriptions for Microsoft 365 and other vendors. That doesn’t mean you no longer need those services, but instead that regularly reviewing exactly what you are paying for and restructuring appropriately can often save you money and maximize your capabilities. Here are three things to look for when reviewing your Microsoft 365 and other license plans.

 1. Stop paying twice for the same features

For example, you may be paying third party vendors for products that make sure your users aren’t receiving or sharing dangerous links or attachments or that provide anti-spoofing protection and data loss prevention. In many cases, you are getting many of these same features as part of your Microsoft 365 licensing agreement, so you are paying double for the same capability.

 2. Take advantage of Microsoft’s New Customer Experience (NCE)

As part of the New Commerce Experience (NCE), your Microsoft partner can offer you new products with more options. They can also work with you to provide the analyses that can help you maximize your spend by reducing to the licenses you need and moving to an annual term to save money.

 3. Leverage Microsoft 365 E5 Licenses

Work with your technology partner to closely examine your users and departments to find opportunities to update users to more appropriate, cost effective bundles like those available with Microsoft 365 E5 licenses. In one case, we worked with a customer to reduce license volume by 25% while increasing Microsoft 365 E5 licenses by 1000% resulting in multiple percentage points in cost savings. At the same time, we upgraded the organization’s user capabilities, improved their security posture, and reduced their system complexity.

 The Neway Solution

We offer our customers regular reviews of their Microsoft licensing as part of our Managed Services offering. This is done on a quarterly or even monthly basis since license capabilities and license usage are changing all the time. At the same time, we review your Azure cloud consumption to ensure you are only paying for what you use. We help you streamline resource allocations to match needs based on data.

 As a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider and Azure Expert MSP, Neway delivers measurable business outcomes through innovative solutions leveraging Microsoft technologies and infrastructure solutions, both on-premises and in the cloud, including Office 365, Azure, Teams, SharePoint and more.

For more information on better managing your Microsoft licenses, contact Neway today.

[1] Survey from Chase Reveals That Two-Thirds of Consumers Have Forgotten About At Least One Recurring Payment In The Last Year, Chase Media Center, April 1, 2021.