Microsoft Volume licensing – the nuts and bolts of it

Huniyer Hovich, 22 July 2012

It’s probably safe to assume that the majority of us have purchased boxed software at some point; a nicely packaged CD-ROM or DVD, user guide and other packaging items. Insert your disc, start your install, enter your license key…you know the drill. 

Volume licensing is recommended if you need to purchase 5 or more licenses. Purchasing through volume licensing programs means you pay only for the software itself; making it easier and more affordable to run your software through multiple workstations.  

Volume licensing advantages include:

• Eliminating associated physical costs that are attached to boxed software
• Improved software management
• Customised purchasing options

If you want to give yourself a fighting chance of understanding the complexities of licensing then the best advice I can give is to understand that Microsoft licensing appears to be structured to cater to a multitude of business sizes and structures.

The key to understanding the Microsoft licensing model and how it might apply to your business is to keep in mind 3 basic elements:

• The size and type of your organisation
• The products you want to license
• The way in which you want to use those products

Once you understand the elements above, you will see that the licenses can be distinguished as different scalable combinations of these elements. The same combinations can then be further packaged specifically for SME’s, Industry and Enterprise level.

Next week we’ll start to tackle licensing options head-on by looking at license types applicable to each business size.

Image from http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/