(7-Feb-11) When Dataprise Inc., an IT services company, helped a customer with a desktop virtualization project last year, it found itself dealing with desktop virtualization's dirty little secret: No one -- including vendors -- seems to know...

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Each organization will have different priorities for the use of Software Assurance (SA). Use this tool to calculate the true dollar value of SA to build your business case for or against SA in your organization.

Solution Set

Desktop Virtualization adoption has more than doubled in less than two years and is approaching it's full potential with new technology working for broader use cases.

Note

Less than half of surveyed companies purchasing Microsoft software spend significant efforts to prepare for software negotiations. With Microsoft comprising more than 50% of a company's software budget, this could be leaving considerable money...

Template/Policy

Create a company software requirements profile to improve your negotiation tool kit, and be firmly in the driver's seat during Microsoft software license negotiations.

Tool

A technology roadmap documents past upgrades and prepares for future technology rollouts, providing a comparison to Microsoft's expected upgrade cycle. Use this tool to document previous and future upgrade cycles in the enterprise.

Many IT teams approach requirements gathering for software purchasing the same way they approach custom development requirements. It is important, however, to note the differences between these scenarios from the perspective of requirements...

Failure to choose the right software license can lead to inflated costs and unused software, which most small enterprises cannot afford. Select the right licensing arrangement by understanding the nuances of available licensing arrangements.

Note

Failure to choose the right software license can lead to inflated costs and unused software. Select the right licensing agreement by understanding the nuances of available licensing arrangements.

Software markets tend to be crowded places with numerous vendors competing for the same customer groups. With multiple vendors to choose from, organizations need a well-defined plan to manage the decision process. Build requirements elicitation...

Questioning the value of existing software maintenance and support agreements and not getting a good answer? Consider ditching this 15-25% annual expense and save money.

Including right to audit clauses is common practice, but don't allow the rights of the vendor to bring unfair additional costs and hassles. Take the time to negotiate fair audit clauses when reworking future software licensing agreements.

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Enterprises looking for a viable alternative to MS Office should seriously consider OpenOffice 2.0 for at least a portion of their users. This cost comparison tool helps IT decision makers perform a head-to-head cost comparison of MS Office 2003...