Volume licensing, if properly understood, makes the perfect sense for any sort of business, small or large. Nobody can hearsay the fact that technology is among the most important enablers for business success in this age of cutthroat competition. VL is almost equivalent to getting bulk discounts, although bulk purchasing is not necessary with volume licensing. Simply put, volume licensing as a procurement activity that enables you to purchase software by just paying for the license of usage, and not the complete bundle of software and its boxed contents with supplementary manuals and media. So, there is a huge chunk of software purchasing expenses gone out of the window, all courtesy volume licensing.
How Volume Licensing Enables You To Manage Your Workplace’s Pcs Better?
Apart from the obvious fact that you save a truck load of money on all your subsequent software purchases, there are some other very concrete and desirable benefits from availing volume desktop licensing that let you manage your PCs better.
Simplification Of Purchases – Your PCs will continue to need better software, and if you are a growing organization, you will continue to add more PCs to your workplace. With volume licensing, you just purchase licenses of the software usage, and don’t have to wait for the boxed product’s shipping to take place.
Software Assurance – By opting for software assurance as a part of your volume licensing agreement, you ensure that your workplace’s PCs continue to remain up to date, with readily available remote as well as on-site support from the service provider.
Key Points To Consider Before Going For Volume Licensing Services
It is of prime importance for companies to understand that no standard size fits all as far as volume licensing services are concerned. A major reason for companies to go for volume licensing services is the prospect of eliminating costs associated with purchasing boxed applications and software. If, however, a company does not calculate the extent of volume licensing services needed, it might easily end up paying more for an unnecessarily large service agreement where it could have easily managed equally well with a limited volume licensing service. The following issues must be addressed.
The Size And Growth Chart Of The Company – For large and growing organizations, it makes a lot of sense to opt for full fledged volume licensing services as the terminals at their workplaces are bound to increase. Thus, there are several cost cutting gains to be had from volume licensing. On the contrary, for niche companies, there might not be any need to opt for the supplementary services like software assurance.
The Range Of Products That Need To Be Licensed – Again, for a vast range of software products, comprehensive volume licenses work well, whereas of your company only needs a limited number of software, a smaller service pack would do well.
Apart from the above two issues, companies must identify the manner in which they use software products, so that they can explain their requirements to the volume licensing service vendors more clearly and assist them to come up with a tailored solution.
About Author
Eva Birleson is an internet entrepreneur, blogger and advocate of paperless business systems.