Businesses of All Sizes Face a Host of Challenges When It Comes to Technology Management

Businesses of all sizes face a host of challenges when it comes to technology management.
Obtaining hardware and software, meeting the diverse needs of user groups, and aligning IT initiatives with business goals are just a few of the concerns they must address.

In meeting these challenges, businesses worldwide have discovered the importance of access to flexible, cost-effective options for acquiring software and services. Many of these companies have already reaped the rewards of greater choice and better manageability in obtaining, deploying, and supporting the technologies their people use each day. Some have improved collaboration and productivity by standardizing their IT environment on familiar, fully integrated technologies. Others have capitalized on straightforward, online access to new product releases to accelerate software distribution and expedite the upgrade process. Still others have experienced substantial cost savings and gains in operational efficiency through high-performance and competitively priced virtual computing solutions. For countless businesses—regardless of size, industry, or geography—access to a flexible framework and a comprehensive set of tools for acquiring and managing IT assets has played a pivotal role in their ongoing success.

The Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel in Athens, Greece, part of the InterContinental Hotel Group, is a perfect example. For years, the company struggled to connect its disparate business systems. The hotel was running Novell NetWare on Linux-based servers and using cc:Mail for email. Decentralized data storage made it difficult to find the most up-to-date information, which meant employees spent up to two hours a day searching for the latest pricing, contracts, and reports. “We had many, many challenges connecting our people to the information they needed to do their jobs,” says Stavros Vogiatzis, IT Manager for the Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel.

The company not only wanted to link systems and streamline communications among staff by standardizing on a single messaging and collaboration platform, it also saw the advantage of consolidating licensing agreements to simplify future upgrades. Moreover, Athenaeum InterContinental wanted to find a way to incorporate technical support, best practices guidance, and training into its licensing agreement.

Similarly, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) wanted to streamline its process for obtaining software updates. Previously, it relied on physical disk kits to manually install software on individual PCs. But this approach was extremely time-consuming. “Managing regular shipments of CDs, which included categorizing, distributing, archiving, and then retrieving disks when needed, took several hours of my time each month,” says Ian Kitt, IT Manager for the BBC.

Also, the BBC adheres to stringent environmental sustainability standards and policies. At the center of its approach to sustainability is its commitment to a holistic procurement model, whereby all departments of the company are obliged to evaluate the whole length of their supply chain, from sourcing to disposal of materials. Kitt and other IT leaders searched for a way to tighten compliance with this policy, specifically with respect to the procurement and disposal of physical media. “We knew there had to be a more efficient, more environmentally friendly way to manage our
software lifecycle,” says Kitt.

Moreover, executives wanted to manage all licensing and subscription
information in a single place. In particular, the company hoped to gain clearer visibility
into various subscription entitlements so that it could extend the value of its investment.

FranklinCoveyProducts, a major world provider of productivity and planning products,
sought to shorten deployment times and minimize hardware and expenditures
while expanding its technology infrastructure. Initially, the company planned to implement
a new domain with 19 physical servers. FranklinCovey Products also was in the process
of provisioning a catalog order call center in Pune, India, where 50 call-center employees
could enter orders into their corporate ordering system. But the call center operated on a
separate corporate network with a firewall that blocked outgoing virtual private network
(VPN)traffic.

To resolve the VPN issue, FranklinCovey Productslooked at implementing the same third-party connectivity solution in Pune that it was already using in its Mumbai, India, call center. However, the cost—not to mention the testing and setup time required—made the solution impractical. FranklinCovey Products estimated that, for the call center, it was going to need eight servers for 50 people. “We knew there had to be a more cost-effective solution available,” says Mike Connelly, VP for Infrastructure at FranklinCovey Products. “As we evaluated potential solutions, we placed a priority on minimizing deployment time and costs in the short term without sacrificing the ability to easily scale the solution over time. So it was critical for us to have a clear roadmap for the technologies we implemented combined with solid vendor support.”

All three of these companies, Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel, BBC, and FranklinCovey Products, although operating in different industries and different parts of the world, had similar goals in mind. First, each one wanted to ensure that it was getting the best value for its technology investment. Next, they wanted to streamline management of licensing agreements to cut down on manual administrative work and improve compliance. Third, they sought a way to accelerate deployments, ease the upgrade process, and minimize the need for installing physical media on PCs. Most importantly, each wanted to avoid getting locked into an agreement that ran counter to its current needs or stifled future growth. In sum, they wanted to improve management of IT assets while reducing the amount of time needed to commit to IT tasks.

To pursue its goals, each company took its own approach to capitalizing on Microsoft Volume Licensing, which offers diverse licensing programs tailored to businesses of all sizes. This comprehensive licensing framework also combines support through Microsoft Software Assurance and a suite of web-based tools for managing subscription benefits.

Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel chose the Microsoft Volume Licensing Open Value Subscription program, which businesses can use to attain licenses on an annual subscription basis. Businesses can increase or decrease the number of licenses they hold each year depending on fluctuations in PC count.

Now, the hotel simply takes inventory of its PCs once a year and can add or subtract licenses on the anniversary date. This program also includes Software Assurance which helps customers increase their productivity with the latest products and unique technologies from Microsoft, and helps them with deployment, training, and support through one cost-effective program.

Through its licensing agreement, Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel acquired client access licenses (CALs) for the Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition operating system, Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Editionemail messaging and collaboration software, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007—at a single cost per desktop for a three-year term.

In early 2009, the Athenaeum InterContinental benefitted from its Software Assurance coverage to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 on IBM BladeCenter H servers. With this upgrade, the hotel gained several new management tools to help with cleaning up and maintaining its data stores. In January 2010, it started upgrading to Windows Server 2008 R2 and expects to have all servers running on it by the end of 2010. The hotel also plans to move to SharePoint Server 2010 and Exchange Server 2010 by December 2010.

“We selected the Microsoft Open Value Subscription program for one very simple reason—we didn't want to miss the upgrades,” says Vogiatzis. “We’ve found that every new generation of Microsoft products offers substantial improvements and we didn’t want to miss those. Our licensing agreement with Software Assurance helps ensure that we don’t.”

The British Broadcasting Corporation uses tools offered through its Microsoft Volume Licensing agreement to stay informed of and quickly obtain new product releases. The BBC chose the Microsoft Open Value option, which offers price advantages for volume purchasing at a minimal up-front cost and includes Software Assurance as a fixed benefit.

IT Manager Kitt uses access to the Volume Licensing Service Center to view and easily manage products available for download, license keys for purchased software, and Software Assurance entitlements.

The Volume Licensing Service Center is an online tool that provides full visibility to license information and a single point of entry to download software and manage benefits and subscriptions. It is a standard component of all Microsoft Volume Licensing programs.

“When I receive a notification, I simply log into the Volume Licensing Service Center. Once I'm there, I have access to a whole wealth of information—all in one place,” says Kitt. “I can click the software area and see which new products have been released and download those. But that's
not the only thing I can do. I can also go in and look at my licensing. I can look at my
entitlements. I can look at my Software Assurance benefits, see who they're allocated to and
make sure I make maximum use of those.” Also, with the ability to download software through the Volume Licensing Service Center, Kitt and his team can meet their obligation to
minimize the environmental impact of supply chain activities.

FranklinCovey Products found a way to meet its need to scale out its server capacity while minimizing capital expenditures through its existing Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft. The Microsoft Volume Licensing Enterprise Agreement subscription covers three-year increments and includes Software Assurance. It is designed for large businesses that choose to standardize operations on Microsoft technologies for a given solution area for both new and existing deployments.

The company saw the potential to create a virtualized environment based on Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services and Hyper-V virtualization technology to cost-effectively establish connectivity between its Pune, India, call center and its corporate ordering system in Salt Lake City, Utah. With this solution, call center employees could access the corporate network without a VPN. “When we were investigating server virtualization options, we found that our Enterprise Agreement made the Microsoft solution far more cost effective than the other solution available to us,” says Connelly. “Once we knew that we could get the call-center connectivity solution with Terminal Services for [U.S.]$150,000 less than other solutions we considered, there was no question about which one we were going to choose.”

After implementing a solution based on Microsoft virtualization technologies to resolve connectivity challenges between its overseas call centers, FranklinCovey Products explored the option of using these technologies as the foundation for its operations in the United States. The company used Hyper-V in deploying 18 virtual servers, which now run all of the company’s services, including file and print, filetransferprotocol (FTP), email, data management, network management, security, and business applications.

In addition to capitalizing on licensing price advantages for volume purchasing, FranklinCovey Products takes advantage of the many Software Assurance benefits included in its Enterprise Agreement, such as training vouchers for IT staff, E-learning sessions for end users, around-the-clock problem resolution support, and a TechNet subscription. The company used the vouchers available through Software Assurance to access training on Hyper-V, Microsoft System Center, and Terminal Services at no additional cost.

Although the Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel, the BBC, and FranklinCovey Products took advantage of different aspects of the Microsoft Volume Licensing framework, all three describe similarly positive outcomes. In particular, each now benefits from the improved ability to obtain and distribute software updates. The companies also have all maximized the return on their investment in Microsoft technologiesthrough the use of Software Assurance benefits. Says Vogiatzis of the Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel, “Software Assurance helps us save costs by letting us automatically migrate to the latest version of Microsoft software without repurchasing the whole product from scratch.”

Similarly, FranklinCovey Products capitalized on price advantages for volume purchasing through its Enterprise Agreement subscription to reduce its licensing acquisition cost for Microsoft virtualization technologies, including Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V. By converting a portion of its physical servers to virtual machines through the use of these technologies, the company has achieved additional cost savings.

“We specifically looked at what it would take to reduce our infrastructure costs from a hardware and a software perspective,” says Connelly. “By using virtualization technologies from Microsoft, we were able to reduce our server count and optimize our licensing to the point where we were able to save more than $200,000 on our implementation.”

Moreover, all three companies now possess greater flexibility and manageability when it comes to accessing, licensing, and deploying software in their respective environments. “Now, we can stand up servers and put things in place—especially to test new ideas or instances or new applications—without being limited by actual hardware or the licensing associated with it,” says Connelly.

Through Microsoft Volume Licensing, the BBC is able to be more proactive in its approach to software management. “Digital downloads versus physical product is a huge difference,” says Kitt. “We were more reactive with physical media, whereas with digital media, we’re more proactive. The Volume Licensing Service Center provides online content for us to download. Therefore, there's no point going back and looking for your physical content. Now it's digital. See it, use it.”

But perhaps the most substantial benefit for these companies is the ability, through their respective licensing agreements, to expand their relationships with Microsoft to foster long-term, sustainable growth.

“Our Enterprise Agreement specifically gives us the technical support and the access to the resources within Microsoft that we need. It also helps us work directly with Microsoft to optimize our licensing model,” says Connelly at FranklinCovey Products. “With the choice, flexibility, and improved manageability we get through Microsoft Volume Licensing, we are better positioned to succeed as a company. And it’s clear to us that Microsoft is very interested in supporting our success for years to come.”

Microsoft Volume Licensing
Microsoft Volume Licensing offers customized programs that are designed to meet the needs of your business. Tailored for companies of different sizes and purchasing preferences, these Volume Licensing programs provide simple, flexible, and affordable solutions that can help you manage your licenses with ease. Whether you have five or thousands of desktop PCs, Microsoft Volume Licensing has the right program for you.

To acquire the latest Microsoft technology at a significant cost savings through Microsoft Volume Licensing, contact your Microsoft Partner or local reseller.

To learn more about Microsoft Volume Licensing, visit: