Several major IT user groups have expressed confidence
that Microsoft's updated Software Assurance volume licensing model,
due to be unveiled on 15 September, will mark a real step forward
for corporate users hoping for improved terms and
flexibility.
In recent months, Microsoft has come under pressure to improve
on its four-year-old business subscription licensing package, with
complaints from some IT directors that they have not received full
value from Software Assurance as the introduction of new products
and upgrades has slipped.
But Microsoft appears to have been listening to corporate IT
users' concerns, running several roundtables with customers and
partners, and there is now a widespread belief that the
consultations will have made a substantial difference to the next
incarnation of the software licensing model.
Mark Buckley, Microsoft's licensing manager, said the company
wanted to "simplify and improve" its licensing to better meet
customers' needs. "The feedback from the roundtables has played a
critical role in helping us to improve the processes and enhance
the value of our licensing offerings such as Software Assurance,"
he added.
David Roberts, chief executive of user group the Corporate IT
Forum, said Microsoft's willingness to listen was partly an index
of the current economic health of UK business.
He said firms were being financially squeezed and were in many
cases only willing to upgrade when there was a clear,
business-driven necessity to do so.
Ray Titcombe, chairman of the Strategic Supplier Relationships
Group, said a growing number of firms were prepared to "sweat their
assets" rather than upgrade prematurely.
"What is happening in industry is that organisations are looking
at IT investments and typically utilising them for longer than they
have in the past," he said.
Titcombe was hopeful that the 15 September offering from
Microsoft would accurately reflect the needs of the customer
community.
He said the economic climate had adversely affected software and
hardware suppliers and despite Microsoft's market dominance it
needed more than ever to work with the interests of customers.