Enterprise Agreement Refresh Makes Significant Changes

The new Enterprise Agreement takes on two recent IT trends: virtual desktop infrastructure and iPads in the enterprise

In mid-2011, Microsoft rolled out noteworthy changes to its Enterprise Agreement (EA) contracts. A tighter true-up reporting timeline, changes to how discount levels are determined, and other contract modifications will impact both new customers and customers coming up for renewal. Although the new contracts themselves are not likely to materially alter an organization’s overall licensing costs, they do affect procurement professionals by changing the scope and the timing of certain Enterprise Agreement (EA) administration tasks. Furthermore, changes to the EA contract structure and the timing for customer licensing inventory report submissions could require attention from legal and finance departments.

What Is an EA?

An EA lets organizations with 250 or more PCs license almost any Microsoft business software or services offering. EAs typically offer the best unit pricing, including significant discounts on server software. However, some licenses must be purchased organization-wide or in certain combinations, and all new purchases commit customers to annual maintenance payments. This can lead to “overlicensing” (purchase of licenses and rights that an organization does not use). Consequently, other licensing programs are often used to supplement, and occasionally as an alternative to, an EA.