5 Reasons to Work With a Trusted Software Licensing Partner

Managing your software licenses can be a tedious task if you don’t have a smart and optimized process in place.

That’s why working with a trusted team of licensing experts can pay huge dividends for your business. At Stoneridge Software, we have a dedicated licensing team that can help you reduce the stress attached to managing your licenses on your own.

Here are five reasons why working with a licensing partner like Stoneridge Software can help you:

1. Consolidation and Centralization

One of the biggest benefits Stoneirdge’s licensing team offers is to do a thorough free review of your current licensing landscape and find ways to improve your management process. A big part of this is centralizing all of your licenses into a single location where you can manage them and access vital information such as prices, renewal dates, and more.

For example, if you have Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement as your ERP and CRM systems, those licenses will be centralized through Microsoft. However, many organizations also have a lot of ISVs that they use to help improve processes across their systems. If you have 5 ISVs that a good portion of your users work with, you’ll need to visit each ISV to get your licensing information. That means you’ll have to visit six locations to view your licenses. Yes, you can do that and manually enter the information into a spreadsheet. That type of work is time-consuming and takes you away from work that matters.

Stoneridge will do that work for you to give you a holistic view of all your licensing information.

2. Notifications on Upcoming Price Increases or Licensing Changes

Stoneridge experts will monitor your licenses and notify you well in advance if there are changes or price increases expected. This will help you budget for them or find ways to save money.

Recently, Microsoft announced that the price of Dynamis 365 licenses will increase by 10-15%. You can reference this blog post on how to prepare for the increase or contact us for more information on what you can expect.

3. ISV License Management

Even though Stoneridge is an inner-circle Microsoft partner, our team can also help you with your ISV licenses as well. Stoneridge can help you in this area in three key ways:

1. Cost-savings when renewing: Many organizations pay for ISV licenses on a month-to-month basis. This is often the most expensive way to pay for licensing. We can set you up to renew manually or help you take advantage of multi-year discounts. Although it presents a bigger cost upfront, in the long run, it can save you a lot of money.
2. Co-term ISV licenses with Microsoft licenses: This process includes aligning your ISV license renewal dates with your Microsoft ones. This allows you to budget for all of your licensing costs simultaneously and eliminates the need to keep complex records on every license renewal date.
3. Manage one-to-one licenses: Stoneridge can help you pair up licenses that go hand-in-hand with your Dynamics 365 solutions. For example, if you work for a manufacturing company that uses Business Central, you might also need a license for YAVEON ProBatch. We can ensure that these licenses are managed together.

4. Cost Savings

Working with a dedicated team of licensing experts can help you identify several effective ways to keep costs down, including:

• Reducing shelfware: Removing unassigned licenses so you only pay for what you use.
• Taking advantage of promotions: We are tuned into licensing promotions that are available and can help you get them. This includes the Bridge to the Cloud 2 promotion that is part of the price increase in October.
• Planning ahead: Stoneridge can help you map out the commitment terms for your licenses and help you update them or lock in prices before increases or changes happen. s
• Renewal savings: As detailed above, Stoneridge can help you identify the cheapest way to manage your renewals.
• Implementation: When many organizations have both an ERP and CRM system plus a plethora of ISVs, implementation costs can become very expensive. Stoneridge can help you by implementing licenses and solutions for you and simply including them in your statement of work. We have found in the past this has saved money for clients.

5. Constant Support

When you work with Stoneridge Software, it’s not a one-time deal. We offer you constant support the entire time you work with us. Our experts will be available to answer questions and help you streamline your license management processes while keeping costs down.

Want to Learn More?

Get in touch with Stoneridge. Our team is happy to provide you with a free review of your current licensing setup and talk through your options.

You can also learn more about our licensing practice on our blog:

• 3 Ways to Streamline ISV License Management
• A Beginner’s Guide to Azure Cost Management
• How to Prepare for the Dynamics 365 Price Increase in October 2024
• Making Sense of Microsoft Copilot Licensing
• Why You Should Partner with a Cloud Solution Provider to Manage Your Microsoft Licenses
• Demystifying Dynamics 365 Licensing
• Licensing Changes for Microsoft 365 (no Teams) April 2024: Impacts and Opportunity for Your Organization
• Find the Right Microsoft Licensing Partner to Maximize Your Investment Through Consolidation

The post 5 Reasons to Work With a Trusted Software Licensing Partner appeared first on CRM Software Blog | Dynamics 365.