Software Assurance Benefits for Office

Software Assurance (SA) is a subscription that can be added to a license. For an annual fee, an organization gains the right to upgrade to the latest version of Office and receives other benefits. Organizations buy SA coverage for fixed terms that depend on volume licensing program and purchase timing, but commonly run two to three years. Organizations must generally buy SA at the same time as the license it covers, or within 90 days for OEM licenses (which license products preinstalled on new PCs). For Office licenses, SA costs 29% of the license price per year.

Upgrade Rights a Major Benefit

The most notable benefit of SA on Office is the right to upgrade a license to new versions released during the SA term. For example, any Office suite license that was covered by SA as of Apr. 1, 2010, may be upgraded to the corresponding Office 2010 suite. The upgrade right is perpetual; an organization retains a right to upgrade to Office versions released during an SA term, even after SA has expired. If an organization does not buy SA on an Office license, updating to a later version in the future will require purchase of a full Office license for the later version.