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Four Secrets of A Champion CIO

Posted on by Hailey Austin

Mastering Software Licensing: Insights from Champion CIOs

As a Chief Information Officer (CIO), one of your primary responsibilities is managing and optimizing your organization’s technology. To correctly manage technology includes ensuring you have the correct software licenses to support your business needs while controlling costs. This blog post will examine chief information officer roles, responsibilities, and secrets of champion CIOs who have excelled at software licensing and cost optimization.

The first step in optimizing your software licensing costs is clearly understanding your business needs. To know what you need, you must identify the specific software applications and tools required to support your operations and the number of users needing access to these applications. It’s essential to take the time to carefully assess your needs, as having too few licenses can result in productivity bottlenecks while having too many can lead to unnecessary costs.

  • Negotiate favourable terms

Once you clearly understand your software needs, it’s time to start negotiating with vendors. Champion CIOs are skilled at negotiating favourable terms with software vendors, including discounts on licensing fees and additional features or services at no extra cost. The role of a CIO here is to be upfront about your budget and willing to walk away if the vendor is unwilling to meet your needs.

 

  • Leverage volume licensing agreements

Volume licensing agreements allow organizations to purchase many licenses at a discounted price. These agreements are typically available for popular software applications such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite and can result in significant cost savings for organizations with many users. Champion chief information officers are adept at leveraging volume licensing (and combing with point 2 – negotiate favourable terms) agreements to get the best deal for their organization.

  • Monitor and review your licenses.

It’s essential to regularly review your software licensing agreements to ensure that you are still meeting your organization’s needs. A best practice is tracking the number of licenses you have in use and identifying areas where you may be over-licensed or under-licensed. The role of a CIO here is to be proactive in monitoring and reviewing their licenses and quickly make changes as needed to optimize costs.

In conclusion, optimizing your software licensing costs requires a combination of careful planning, strong negotiation skills, and ongoing review. By following the secrets of these champion CIOs, you can ensure that you have the correct software licenses to support your business needs while keeping costs under control. So, these are the secrets of four champion CIOs that will help optimize the cost of software licensing in your organization.

Bonus: Leverage data to your advantage

In today’s digital age, data is “the new oil” – a valuable resource that helps drive growth and innovation. A champion CIO method here seeks to understand the value of data and use it to advantage regarding software licensing and cost optimization. By collecting and analyzing software deployment and usage metrics data, CIOs can better understand how their software is used and identify areas where they can save costs.

For example, by tracking the number of active users for a particular software application, a CIO may discover they have more licenses than they need. They then use this data to negotiate a reduction in licensing fees with the vendor. Additionally, by analyzing data on software usage patterns, CIOs can identify underutilized applications and decide to discontinue them, reducing costs and simplifying the software environment.

In today’s fast-paced, data-driven world, having access to accurate and actionable data is essential for effective software licensing and cost optimization. A champion chief information officer understands the importance of data and uses it to gain insights that drive better decision-making and cost savings. Collecting, analyzing, and leveraging data can earn a competitive advantage and stay ahead of the curve in software licensing and cost optimization.

In summary, you can optimize software licensing costs in your organization by understanding your needs, negotiating favourable terms, leveraging volume licensing agreements, monitoring and reviewing your licenses, and leveraging data to your advantage. In today’s fast-paced and data-driven world, data is the new oil, and having access to accurate and actionable data is essential for effective software licensing and cost optimization. Using your own data around deployment and software usage metrics will give you the most leverage possible for cost optimization.

For more information on how our services at MetrixData 360 can meet the needs of your technology and financial departments, contact us today. Let’s work with you and your chief information officer’s roles and responsibilities to manage and optimize your organization’s technology.

 

Microsoft CEO Says, “We’ll Help You Optimize Azure.” Here’s why that won’t work.

Posted on by Hailey Austin

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently announced that the corporation would support its clients in cost-saving Azure optimization. Many professionals, nevertheless, have doubts about Microsoft’s capacity to fulfill this claim. Let’s examine why Microsoft’s optimization plan is unlikely to yield results and the actions you can take in its alternative to achieve true cost reductions. 

 

Why Microsoft’s Azure Optimization Strategy Won’t Work

Microsoft will probably recommend using “reserved instances” and “right-sizing” workloads as optimizations. Azure Reserved Instances are a price option that can lower your cloud technology expenses. In exchange for a promise to utilize Azure services for one or three years, it offers savings.

The procedure of rightsizing involves examining the utilization of your workloads. It includes deciding whether or not they are operating effectively given the price you are paying and then taking measures to enhance them by upgrading, downgrading, or terminating the resources as necessary.

However, these measures are not likely to result in significant cost savings. The reason for this is that the vast majority of waste in Azure comes from so-called “zombie resources”—resources that are no longer being used but continue to accrue charges.

Zombie processes significantly harm the business environment by idly using large amounts of raw computational resources. It is typical for a large company with thousands of programs to have many zombie processes, often as many as 20%. 

Zombie resources can exist for a variety of reasons. Perhaps a project was canceled or put on hold, and the associated resources were never deleted. Or maybe someone created a resource for testing purposes and forgot to delete it after they were done. In other cases, people might create duplicate resources or duplicate resource groups containing the same set of assets. Lastly, sometimes people simply forget they have certain resources deployed and continue paying for them even though they’re not being used.

Whatever the reason, it’s important to get rid of these unused resources as soon as possible so that you don’t continue wasting money on them.

 

The Truth about Microsoft’s Azure Optimization Strategy

Microsoft isn’t incentivized to help you find and eliminate these zombie resources because doing so would reduce its own revenue. They stand to gain financially if you use more Azure resources. Therefore, it is important to be skeptical of their motives when they recommend “right-sizing” or using “reserved instances.” You can save an average of 30–40% on your Azure spending without right-sizing or reserve instance optimizations.

How to Avoid Zombie Resources in Azure Spending?

There are several methods you can use to identify zombie resources within your Azure environment. 

 On your VMs primarily, alleged “zombie assets” can be active. These are services or parts of the architecture that aren’t required and aren’t being used. Simply put, they are wasting your workspace and wasting your money. Examples include virtual machines (VMs) that were utilized for a specific purpose, left unattended after use, program failures that prevented VM provisioning, inactive network equipment, and more.

These “zombies” can be located by looking for VMs with a max CPU of less than 5% over the preceding period, as this is a widely used indicator of such resources.

Furthermore, disk space is often connected to your software when you deploy a VM. And although you aren’t using the storage devices when the VM is terminated, they are still operational, and you are still obligated to pay for them. Best practices recommend terminating disc storage that has been detached for longer than two weeks, although your company may have different requirements.

 

Other ways to avoid zombie resources include the following.

  • Check your Azure portal for any deployments that haven’t been used in a while. You can use Azure Resource Manager (ARM) tags to help identify which assets haven’t been used recently.
  • Another method is to export your Azure bill into a format that can be analyzed, such as CSV or JSON. This will allow you to see which services are consuming the most money so that you can investigate further. 
  • You can also set up Azure Monitor Logs to monitor your environment for any deployments that aren’t being used. 

 

Once you’ve identified which assets are no longer being used, it’s time to delete them and stop paying for them. The first thing you’ll want to do is delete any unnecessary resource groups. Then, go through each resource group and delete any individual resources that aren’t needed. Be sure to check with your team before deleting anything, as some assets might be in use by other people or processes within your organization. Once everything has been deleted, you should see a reduction in your Azure bill.

The best way to efficiently deal with zombie resources is to seek help from experts. An experienced team of Azure experts can help you identify and delete all of the zombie resources in your account while optimizing your overall Azure usage to reduce your costs. With their help, you can get your Azure account cleaned up and running more efficiently in no time.

 

Conclusion 

Microsoft’s recent announcement that it will help customers optimize their Azure usage is unlikely to result in significant cost savings. The reason for this is that most waste in Azure comes from unused “zombie resources,” which Microsoft has no incentive to help you eliminate.  There is an opportunity for savings in Azure, but most people are not taking advantage of it because they don’t know where the waste is. However, there are some steps you can take to optimize your Azure workloads for maximum efficiency. By finding and deleting Zombie Resources, you can make sure that you’re getting the most out of your investment in Azure. If you’re looking for real cost savings on your Azure spending, you’re better off working with a company that specializes in optimizing Azure usage.  

What are Software Audits, and Why Are They On The Rise?

Posted on by Hailey Austin

Recent years have seen an uptick in software audits, with more companies being asked to provide evidence of licensing compliance. This is largely due to the fact that organizations are now using more software than ever before, with an increasing number of employees working remotely.

Watchdog groups like the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Federation of Software Theft (FAST) serve the sole purpose of ensuring the protection of software vendors’ intellectual property. These groups and software vendors are dedicated to discovering and auditing non-compliant organizations every single day with little to no notice. According to Gartner, the likelihood of an assessment for a medium to a large firm over the next two years is predicted to be 40%, which is expected to rise by 20% annually.

But why do software vendors act in this manner? 

Simply put, the main motivator is money. Revenue from software sales fell when the American economy saw a downturn and software expenditures were slashed. Software vendors were forced to hunt for alternative income sources when these profits started to decline. Audit fines and penalties of several hundred thousand dollars to even millions of dollars appeared as lucrative options for these vendors. According to the BSA, 25% of businesses that operate in the US are non-compliant in some way, costing software vendors an estimated $6 billion in the loss. 

 

What is a Software Audit?

A software audit is an assessment of a company’s compliance with software licensing agreements. Organizations that use pirated or unlicensed software can be subject to expensive penalties, including fines and damages. In some cases, they may even be required to forfeit their business’ computers and other equipment. 

 

How Do Organizations Fall Out of Compliance?

 The truth is that conformity is not simple. It involves more than just purchasing adequate licenses. Even techies typically struggle to completely comprehend software licensing laws because they are so sophisticated, and even when they do, modifications to the regulations occur so often that it is challenging to stay up to date. 

Most businesses lose their ability to comply with the rules when they lack proper record keeping and miscomprehend software usage rights. Both parameters are equally crucial to stay in compliance. The first approach is to have clear visibility into your integrated software usage. In the unfortunate case of your company being audited, this can be an added benefit because you will be able to provide records immediately and demonstrate your good faith efforts to adhere to the regulations.

Furthermore, it’s crucial to have an attorney or specialist who excels in contract negotiations. They can elaborate to you how you can lawfully utilize your software, saving you from involuntary non-compliance. Avoid attempting to resolve this on your own, as it is easy to misinterpret or fail to notice crucial facets of software use terms and conditions. For instance, there have been instances where a business has expanded internationally and had staff members using software in other countries. They believed this was acceptable since they had many licenses, but since those licenses were only intended for use in the United States, they were in violation without even recognizing it. 

 

How to Lower Your Risk of Being Audited

  1. Exhibit a Sound Understanding to the Software Auditors 

To show that you have a good grasp of your software agreements, it is crucial that you respond to any inquiries the auditors pose in an efficient and thorough manner. In order to achieve this, you’ll need a workforce in control of the project, a SAM solution in place to oversee your software inheritance, and frequent internal audit findings to get a complete picture of your software assets utilization. 

This is especially true if your business has just undergone a merger or acquisition or if it is a large corporation with numerous branches. Such circumstances will make you prone to disorganization, which in turn raises the possibility of overlooking factors important for compliance.

  1. Stay Prepared

Inform your staff on the importance of software asset management, and prepare a defense plan in case a software inspection occurs. Even if a software audit is conducted, a quick assessment with a few fines will show the software provider that you are not an easy catch. Preparing includes having your licenses in order, appointing a specific person to oversee your company’s software audit, and having an audit defense strategy in place. Knowing what to do will ensure that every software audit of your company proceeds without incident and with the least amount of damage possible.

  1. Be aware of your Software Architecture

Establish an efficient asset life cycle, along with a streamlined procedure to purchase and retire software resources to keep a close check on them. Failure to do this can lead to the acquisition of numerous unnecessary licenses, which quietly drain the company’s IT budget. Keep track of what licenses you have and how many licenses you need so that you can stay compliant. Additionally, make sure that only authorized users have access to your organization’s software. Implement user controls and set up alerts so that you can immediately spot any unauthorized access or usage. 

Often, the majority of software audits search in the company’s Active Directory (AD) to assess compliance. A company’s AD contains all devices and accounts—not just those that are currently in use—that have ever used their software resources. There will be ex-employees in your Active Directory, along with devices that have been gathering dust in the company’s store, and the auditors will claim that each of these entities needs a license.

 

Conclusion 

Monitoring your software resources will cost much less than having them audited. In addition to achieving compliance, successfully managing your software and how they are used also ensure that your software resources are used to their full potential. You may delete shelfware and restructure your agreements to ensure that every software program you have is being successfully utilized. Efficient asset administration has no drawbacks because the added administrative costs will eventually result in equal cost reductions. By making sure all of your organization’s software is properly licensed and keeping track of who is using it and when, you can help your company avoid costly penalties associated with non-compliance.

5 Ways Your Azure Cloud Spend Can Creep up on your IT Budget

Posted on by Hailey Austin

Did you know that the typical business spends $2.5 million annually on cloud services? That’s a sizable amount, so it’s crucial to make sure you’re making the most of your Azure cloud expenditure.

As more and more organizations move to Azure, they are discovering that their cloud spending can creep up on their IT budget if they’re not cautious. By being proactive and mindful of these potential budget traps, you can keep your Azure cloud costs in check and ensure that they remain a wise investment for your organization. 

 

1- Placing Resources in the Wrong Subscription

Placing Resources in the Wrong Subscription

Choosing the right sort of subscription is one of the first steps in establishing a new Azure membership. Production and non-production subscriptions are the two main categories. Because production assets often cost more than non-production resources, storing resources under the incorrect type of subscription could lead to greater expenses.

Before placing resources, there are a few pointers regarding production and non-production subscriptions that you need to keep in mind:

  • For performance reasons, you can use non-production subscriptions to house specific Azure features available. Without ever subjecting them to your production environment, you can activate information that will guide for these test services in your non-production subscription.
  • Azure dev/test subscriptions can be used as segregated sandbox setups. These sandboxes assist with data security and privacy concerns by enabling managers and programmers to quickly construct and destroy sets of Azure resources.

Note: The appropriate costs in production and non-production situations sometimes differ.

 

 

2- Not Deallocating or Deleting Chargeable Resources 

It should come as no surprise that cloud users end up using and paying for more cloud infrastructure than necessary. It’s normal for businesses using the cloud at scale to find themselves unable to explain extra 20% or more of the functioning cloud resources. Many of those unmonitored services are “orphaned infrastructure,” idling cloud assets in our ecosystem that have no economic purpose, even though some of them might still serve genuine corporate goals. 

It’s hardly surprising that entire divisions of experts and product suppliers have appeared to assist clients in finding and terminating abandoned assets in order to reduce their Azure costs. Since the dawn of the digital age, cloud “sprawl,” much like VM sprawl in the early 2010s, has been a significant issue, and it continues to do so, demonstrating how complex the issue truly is.

Few people are aware of the serious security risk that these unmonitored and mismanaged assets offer, despite the fact that orphaned services are widely acknowledged as a major Azure cost management issue that must be controlled. These expensive orphans are essentially deadly zombies from a management perspective.

 Therefore, de-allocating or deleting a resource when you no longer use it is crucial to avoid paying for resources you aren’t utilizing. This can be done through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or Resource Manager templates. Deleting a resource completely removes it from your subscription, so be sure that you really don’t need it before taking this step.

 If you don’t, even though you aren’t using the resource, your Azure cloud spending will keep rising.

 

 

3- Sizing Workloads Inappropriately

 Sizing workloads inappropriately is a common mistake made by organizations when transitioning to Azure. It’s important to right-size your workloads so that you’re not paying for more compute power than you need. Right-sizing your workloads can help reduce your Azure cloud spend. There are a few ways to do this:

  • Review your existing on-premises workloads and determine which ones can be moved to the cloud. Not all workloads are suitable for cloud migration.
  • Once you’ve identified which workloads can be moved, determine how much compute power they need in order to run effectively in Azure. 
  • Pay close attention to your Azure bills and monitor your usage closely. If you notice that you’re constantly exceeding your compute limits, it’s time to scale up your VM sizes or add more VMs to your deployment.

 By keeping an eye on your computer usage and making sure that you’re not paying for more resources than you need, you can help yourself reduce your Azure cost.

 

4- Not Applying Azure Hybrid Benefits

Not Applying Azure Hybrid Benefits

If you have on-premises licenses for Windows Server and SQL Server with active Software Assurance, you can apply the Azure Hybrid Benefit to save up to 40% on those licenses when running them in Azure VMs. This benefit can help reduce your overall Azure cloud spend.

Below is a preview of what contributes to the cost of creating a Windows virtual machine in Azure and how much money the Azure HUB can save you.

  • Hourly compute costs: You spend an hourly fee for computation, whether creating a VM through the Azure interface or using PowerShell (V-cores, RAM, hard drive space, etc.)
  • Microsoft licensing: You must additionally purchase a license fee to operate a Windows virtual machine in Azure. You can host a VM in the cloud using Azure HUB by using the license for your on-premises VMs.

 

5- Not Reserving Instances

You can save money by reserving virtual machines (VMs) for one or three years. Reservations give you a discount of up to 72% compared to pay-as-you-go prices for VMs. This discount is applied to the total cost of the VM, including storage and networking charges. So if you have VMs that you know will be running continuously, reservation discounts can help reduce your overall Azure cloud spend. 

 

Conclusion 

Azure is a great platform for organizations looking to move to the cloud. Cloud migration can be a daunting task, but with careful planning, it doesn’t have to break the bank. The best way to keep your Azure spending in check and avoid any nasty surprises is to set up governance controls and processes for managing cloud resources. By doing this, you can ensure that all resource deployments are compliant with your organization’s standards and within budget.

Establishing Azure governance can be a little complicated, which is why our experts are here to assist you in managing all your Azure cloud costs with ease. So, if you’re looking for ways to cut Azure spending, request a demo on our website to find out how much you can save.

Using Tagging to Get Better Visibility in Azure Costs

Posted on by Hailey Austin

We are all aware that Azure offers enterprises the versatility and mobility needed to expand their operations and IT architecture on the cloud. However, it becomes exceedingly challenging and laborious to monitor every commodity in fluid Azure systems as the development and utilization of resources rise.

In the worst situation, your engineers and IT administrators can be setting up and managing additional resources without your knowledge until their associated expenditures jarringly appear in your monthly invoices.

To prevent such bill shocks, it’s critical to develop a sound tagging strategy throughout your cloud and apply Azure tagging best practices for effective resource and expense administration.

What is Azure Tagging?

What is Azure Tagging?

Name-value combinations known as MS Azure tags are used to thematically categorize assets, specify additional metadata as a feature of the item, and give users a clearer picture of a particular cloud subscription. Tags may be assigned to specific Azure Resource Manager-created components or, more commonly, to the entire resource group to which they belong. The tagging is carried out at the Azure system level; therefore, it has no effect whatsoever on the connected resources’ efficiency. The function is also free.

 

The name-value combinations that make up the metadata can include anything that aids in identifying the category to which a given commodity is expected to belong. 

 

For instance, the value of a resource tag key may be “Engineering,” and the key could be “Department.” Although they can be changed at any moment, it’s preferable to use uniform tags when creating resources to prevent ambiguity and extra work connected with their efficiency. In this manner, you will be capable of quickly identifying all of the assets that fall under specific units, financial pools, operational environments, etc., by sorting your assets in the Azure portal with tags. 

 

Common Tags 

IT managers must organize cloud-based resources to ensure all implementations are straightforward. You can tag in a fundamental or comprehensive way by employing various azure tagging strategies. It can assist IT teams in managing cloud operations or integrating data relevant to every facet of the company. Following that, here is a list of tags that businesses frequently employ.

 

  • Environment
  • Owner 
  • Cost Center
  • BusinessUnit
  • Department
  • Client
  • Application
  • DataClassification
  • Workload
  • Management

 

The Benefits of Tagging in Azure

The Benefits of Tagging in Azure

The benefits of tagging your Azure costs are that you can more easily track and control your spending, which is one of the reasons why it’s a key part of FinOps (Financial Operations). When you have a clear understanding of where your money is being spent, you can make more informed decisions about how to allocate your resources. Azure Tagging can also help you optimize your Azure spending by identifying areas where you may be able to reduce or eliminate unnecessary costs. The benefits of azure tagging resources include the following:

 

  • Resource management: Your IT staff would be able to easily find resources that are connected to particular processes, settings, control units, or other crucial data. Classifying organizational roles and privileged access for management systems depends on the organization of the resources.
  • Cost management and optimization: Empower IT to comprehend the assets and applications that each team utilizes in order to make business groups conscious of the usage of cloud services.
  • Operations management: A key component of ongoing operations for the operations executive team is transparency on business obligations and SLAs. Operations can be managed for mission severity using tags.

Conclusion 

Tagging your Azure expenses can improve your understanding of your expenditures and allow you to utilize your assets more wisely. Tagging is an excellent place to start if you’re seeking strategies to optimize your Azure spending. By using clear metadata tagging rules, you can arrange your cloud resources to satisfy legislative, strategic efficiency, and financial constraints. This makes it easier to find and utilize resources.

Request a demo on our website to find out more about managing Azure resources to cap your cloud spending effectively.

Why Controlling your Azure Spending Is Critical in 2023

Posted on by Hailey Austin

It’s more crucial than ever for businesses to manage their expenditures as the economy teeters on the edge of another recession. Azure infrastructure is one of the primary line items on any organization’s budget. Estimating or planning cloud costs is crucial when your business moves toward an architecture, framework, or software-as-a-service ecosystem. Furthermore, you want to avoid experiencing “bill shock”—a sudden spike in your budget for Azure cost management —later. In other words, as you deal with additional staff or cloud resource vendors, budgetary control becomes more necessary and sophisticated in the “cloud age.”

Here are some prevalent reasons for efficiently working toward Azure cost management in 2023.

 

Inflation is Rising

One of the main drivers of increased Azure expenses is inflation. The cost of living is rising, and Azure service costs are following suit. If you’re not diligent, your Azure bill can spiral out of control very quickly. Reserving cloud resources while they’re affordable is one strategy to address this. When a price increase is imminent, reserving cloud space for the upcoming few years seems like the best course of action. This way, you’ll know exactly how much your Azure services will cost each month, and you won’t have to worry about inflation eating into your budget. 

 

Bloat is Rampant

 Another reason why controlling your Azure spending is so important is because bloat is rampant in most organizations. What do we mean by bloat? Bloat refers to unused or unnecessary resources that are taking up space and costing money. For example, you may have an unused VM that’s still consuming computing resources and costing you money every month. Or you may have an over-provisioned database that’s using more storage than it needs to. Whatever the case may be, it’s important to find and eliminate any sources of bloat in your Azure infrastructure as one of the Azure cost management best practices. 

 

Savings Compound

Gaining knowledge of who in your organization is in charge of what expenses, also referred to as establishing transparency in your cloud costs, can be beneficial in many situations. Knowing your budget allows you to choose the right Azure cost management tools and set budgets for each business segment, commodity, service, or function.

If you’re able to reduce your Azure spending even by a small amount, those savings will compound over time and can eventually be reallocated to other projects. For example, if you’re able to save $5000 per month on your Azure cost management documentation/bill, that’s $60,000 per year that you can put towards other initiatives. And if you’re able to maintain those savings for multiple years, the impact on your bottom line can be significant. 

 

Funds Can Be Appropriated to Other Projects

 Finally, controlling your Azure spending can free up funds that can be appropriated to other projects. In many cases, IT departments are forced to choose between different initiatives because they lack the funding to support them all. But if you’re able to get your Azure spending under control, you may find that you have some extra cash in the budget that can be used to fund other initiatives. 

You can also gain insights into expenditure patterns and constraints over time by generating transparency and interpreting data. It’s crucial to fundamentally manage the expenses against your spending plan and impress the finance department as well. 

 

Conclusion 

Businesses must exercise greater financial restraint as the economy hovers on the verge of another downturn. Azure infrastructure is typically one of the highest-spending products for any organization. We looked at various techniques to reduce costs and keep your Azure expenditure in check, including reserving cloud resources, removing instances of bloat, and distributing funds to other initiatives. You can ensure your company survives the next economic slump without going bankrupt by following these tips. 

Azure cost management vs. Azure Advisor? Wondering which one would be ideal for assisting you in establishing your business’ Azure budget? Here at Metrix Data 360, our experts can assist you with all your Azure-related concerns. Request a demo or visit our website to find out more about what works best for your company.

How Office 365 Works – The Organization’s Guide

Posted on by Mike Austin

One of the most cutting-edge and comprehensive work tools on the market is Office 365. It has several components intended to help organizations become more productive and improve routine operations. But while Office 365 can significantly enhance how your business runs, properly integrating the program into your company’s daily operations can be challenging.

So how can you get around this problem?

Since Office 365 is a holistic platform for office productivity, and new functions and features are constantly added, employees should have access to initial and ongoing training on how it works. This will help them become acquainted with the software and its features, ensuring a smooth technology diffusion within your organization.

Subscribing to Office 365 represents a significant change for many organizations, which have traditionally purchased Office products for a one-time charge and then utilized the software for as long as possible. It may feel like an uphill battle, so organizations that are up for this transformation should be well-equipped with the necessary information. There are several factors to consider when licensing a software suite in this modern paradigm. Understanding how Office 365 works and how it is licensed will undoubtedly influence its efficient implementation within your organization, ultimately helping with Office 365 cost-cutting.

Below, we will go through a few reasons why you should consider switching to Office 365 to upgrade your organization’s operational efficiency.

 

Why Organizations Need Office 365

One of the primary reasons you should consider upgrading to Office 365 is that Microsoft is discontinuing its traditional desktop solutions in favor of subscription-based cloud solutions. This is true for both Windows and the Office 365 suite. Security updates will always be available for Microsoft cloud subscription products but not for older, unsupported versions of perpetual licenses. This could imply that there will be no updates, fixes, training, or support, potentially making outdated, non-cloud programs more vulnerable to malware and hackers and putting you, your data, and your organization at risk.

 

Office 365 Features and Functionality

Microsoft’s objective is to provide Office 365 members with a one-stop shop of continuously growing relevance, which is the opposite of the depreciation of their desktop products. Knowing how Office 365 works allows ease and efficiency in your operations. It now includes several frequently used company management features, communication tools, document and file management workflows, and even backup.

As a result, you gain more capability for your investment and benefit from the simplicity of learning only one user interface. You also benefit from the power of integration. All your documents, storage, and tools communicate with one another and work seamlessly together, saving you a tremendous amount of time and hassle.

 

1. Versatile Planner  

Microsoft Planner is another time-saving functionality that comes with Office 365. A supervisor or a project manager can start a new group in Planner, such as for a department within your company or a specific task it is working on. A group in Planner and Office 365 can be momentary, like for an occasion, or permanent, like for regular responsibilities given to a sales department. Once a Planner group has been made, the group owner can create swim channels, or what Microsoft refers to as “buckets,” after which any group member can establish tasks that must be completed to achieve the planned goals.

Each task in Planner can be allocated to a single person or a group of people, and if necessary, it can be given a due date. Individual tasks can have attachments and components that are a portion of one major task, and each group or project Planner can be adjusted and updated. If a person’s role changes or they transfer to a different project or group, it is simple to redistribute their responsibilities. Since all group members can see the responsibilities, Planner helps facilitate transparency and effective collaboration.

 

 2. Effective for Teamwork 

The Office 365 service Microsoft Teams is the optimal solution for corporate group chats. Microsoft Teams offers visibility and accountability regarding discussions and work activity while enabling employees to interact with each other creatively and professionally. Microsoft Teams can be integrated into everyday business processes for companies who subscribe to Office 365 Business Premium, Business Essential, or Enterprise (E1, E3, or E5). With the help of Office 365, Microsoft Teams enables divisions inside an organization to collaborate more efficiently.

Microsoft Teams also offers many advantages over comparable competitors, like Slack. It not only provides greater benefits at a lower cost, but it also makes work more efficient and user-friendly. Strive to have your employees on the same page, as this will improve the working atmosphere and boost output, which will benefit your bottom line. With the right training, you can easily integrate Office 365 and its services into your company’s everyday operations.

 

Ongoing Battle: Organizations Struggle with Office 365 Cost-cutting

Despite the multitude of benefits of Office 365, most organizations are almost certainly paying too much for it. We surveyed 100 IT managers and purchasers, and 42% stated they were paying too much, while another 30% stated they were confused by licensing. The intricate licensing arrangements that enterprise agreements require are intended to be confusing, increase your expenditure and regulatory risk, and make it more difficult to keep records of who uses what licenses in your company.

Man working

It is essential to compare your utilization to the accessible licensing, illustrate where your staff members are over-licensed, and identify how much it costs you. For enterprise-level organizations, the cost of over-licensing staff can result in thousands of dollars being overspent each month.

Organize your licensing so that it is detailed and simple to comprehend, more feasible and efficient, and so you can make educated choices about your software expenditure, resulting in a streamlined and contemporary approach to software asset management.

 

MetrixData 360: Office 365 Licensing Specialists are Here to Help

It might be an unfamiliar and exciting opportunity to switch to Office 365, so it’s important to comprehend what you require and how you’ll employ it. By doing so, you can come up with a custom solution that best matches your organization’s needs, keeping your costs low and your productivity high. MetrixData 360 specializes in helping businesses transition from desktop services to cloud-based platforms by establishing a contemporary approach to software asset management for Office 365 cost-cutting. 

Visit our website to learn how MetrixData 360 helps its clients understand how Office 365 works and to see how much you can save.

How to Survive A Software Audit

Posted on by john.charalambides@nearix.com

5 Hidden Azure Cost Optimizations: How to Save on Azure

Posted on by Hailey Austin

The more resources you spend on your business, the better it gets. With Azure’s increased variety and efficiency boosters like machine learning tools for data analysis or IoT connectivity options, there are no limits to what can be achieved. But be aware, Azure cost management can also be very challenging. 

 

Understanding where your company’s money is coming from might be complex, given that firms frequently own dozens of Azure-related services for which they must make monthly payments. Shifting more assets to the cloud and cloud expenses also comprise a sizable portion of IT expenditures. 

 

So, do you want to know how to reduce IT budgets?

 

There are various Azure cost optimization secrets that can assist you in visualizing and controlling costs. You can use these to cut down on waste and maximize already-existing resources.

 

Here are some insights on practices and tools that can assist you in optimizing your Azure costs. 

1. Efficient Use of VMs

Azure provides a diverse range of virtual machines (VMs) with various hardware and functionality options. To determine which offers maximum throughput or efficiency while being cost-efficient, experiment with different VMs for the same job. You can auto-scale to adopt the number of VMs for actual workloads and continue with the VMs that perform best. 

 

Keep in mind that 100% utilization of all VMs will result in the lowest cost. By utilizing Azure Monitor to analyze your metrics alongside techniques, such as auto-scaling, to update the number of machines based on utilization, aim to reach as close to this target as possible.

 

2. Utilizing B-series VMs

Another way to ensure Azure cost optimization is through B-series VMs. The B-Series virtual machines provided by Azure are intended for programs that are normally inactive but occasionally see spikes in consumption. If the job is manageable, you can earn credits with low levels of computational resources. The CPU power is increased with abrupt spikes in consumption, and you can use the credits to cover the cost of capacity addition. The machine returns to its default CPU power when credits have been used up. 

 

B-Series VMs offer reductions from 15-55% compared to other VMs. Determine which tasks must be available but only seldom require high throughput or performance, and migrate them to B-Series virtual machines.

 

 

3. Shifting Workloads to Containers

Containers weigh less compared to VMs. You can run up to hundreds of containers on a single host machine, with each running a different containerized program. By repackaging your programs as containers, you can significantly lower VM utilization and your expenditures. Consider moving workloads to a container service like Azure Kubernetes Service from conventional Azure VMs (AKS). 

4. Using Storage Tiering

Most continuing costs for Azure setups are often related to memory. With decreasing costs per each storage tier of Azure Blob Storage, several redundancy choices are also available (less redundancy means less storage cost). Consider researching Azure storage pricing to find out how much each storage service costs. 

 

Shifting less critical or infrequently accessed data to a cheaper tier or a lower redundancy option will help you save money. You can further build tiering storage management into your software to ensure that data is routinely migrated to a lower-cost tier when it is no longer required.

5. Utilizing Cost Optimization Tools

The Azure consumption tools, such as SLIM 360 for Azure, are highly beneficial if you are interested in controlling your budget reports and improving Azure cost optimization. SLIM 360 is one of these tools and is solely designed to uncover your potential for cost savings, helping you carefully examine your data to identify superfluous expenses so they can be reinvested into your business.

 

Working with the information generated by the Azure portal can be challenging. The overwhelming volume of data that Azure customers receive frequently leaves them unable to make sense of it. Solutions like SLIM 360 Azure Reporting streamline and simplify the process of analyzing results by compiling them into plain-language graphs and charts, enabling greater use of your Azure Portal invoices.

 

MetrixData 360: Here to Help

 

If you attempt to break down your costs using the receipts in your Azure portal, you will probably be met with a headache from complex data spreadsheets. However, MetrixData 360’s Azure Usage Tool is specially designed to comprehend Azure’s detailed pricing and simplify it into information that is easy to understand and use. Our tool categorizes your current Azure charges for storage, VMs, SQL databases, and more. The total cost for each category is then shown, along with the list price and any discounts used. 

If you’re looking for how to reduce IT budgets, visit our website to book a demo to see how much you can save.

Bring Your Own License (BYOL) Rules on Third-Party Cloud Providers

Posted on by Hailey Austin

Bring Your Own License (BYOL) Rules on Third Party Cloud Providers

Software licensing is ridiculously confusing, and its hyper complexity is not slowing down anytime soon. This confusion can easily lead to overspending, which equates to more money in the software vendor’s pockets, taken at the expense of your company’s software budget. how does overspending occur? One key reason behind our client’s overspending stems from the complexity of Bring Your Own License rules (BYOL) on their third-party cloud providers. 

At MetrixData360, we have helped hundreds of companies save millions of dollars, in this article, we will clear the waters by showing you the steps you can take to mitigate any potential areas of overspending in your software licensing environment.

 

 

 

Rule Change 

Microsoft changed its rules as of 1st October 2019 around how Microsoft products are licensed in 3rd party hosting scenarios.  These changes primarily impact AWS, Google, and Alibaba clouds (although others are affected).  The concept of Bring Your Own Licenses (BYOL) is influenced significantly by these changes.  Before these changes, as long as you had hardware dedicated to your use (i.e., were not using shared infrastructure), you could BYOL now.  With these changes, you may be required to purchase subscription licenses for these products through the hoster (e.g., Windows Servers, Office).  Specific versions may still be licensed via BYOL if licenses were acquired for those products before October 2019 or on a contract still active as of October 2019. 

 

To understand these rights, you must review the Microsoft Product Terms.  Below are the relevant sections: 

 

 

  1. Customers may use the server software on a Licensed Server, provided it acquires sufficient Server Licenses as described below. 

  

A Licensed Server is: 

A Licensed Server means a single Server, dedicated to the Customer’s use, to which a License is assigned.  Dedicated Servers that are under the management or control of an entity other than the Customer or one of its Affiliates are subject to the Outsourcing Software Management clause.  For purposes of this definition, a hardware partition or blade is considered to be a separate Server. 

  

 

The Outsourcing Software Management clause states: 

Customers may install and use licensed copies of the software on Servers and other devices that are under the day-to-day management and control of Authorized Outsourcers, provided all such Servers and other devices are and remain fully dedicated to Customer’s use.  The customer is responsible for all of the obligations under its volume licensing agreement regardless of the physical location of the hardware upon which the software is used.  Except as expressly permitted here or elsewhere in these Product Terms, the Customer is not permitted to install or use licensed copies of the software on Servers and other devices that are under the management or control of a third party. 

  

Authorized Outsourcer means any third-party service provider that is not a Listed Provider and is not using Listed Provider as a Data Center Provider as part of the outsourcing service. 

  

AWS is a Listed Provider.  Next, we need to determine if we have a right to utilize software at the Listed Providers through Microsoft License Mobility through Software Assurance right: 

 

License Mobility through Software Assurance 

Under License Mobility Through Software Assurance (SA), Customer may move its licensed software to shared servers under any of its Licenses which are designated as having License Mobility for which it has SA, subject to the requirements below.  Products used for Self-Hosting may be used at the same time under License Mobility through SA rights, subject to the limitations of the Self-Hosting License Terms.  

  

Permitted Use: 

With License Mobility through SA, Customer may: 

      • Run its licensed software on shared servers;  
      • Access that software under access licenses and for which it has SA, and under its User and Device SLs that permit access to the Products;  
      • Manage its OSEs that it uses on shared servers; and/or  
      • Manage its OSEs that it uses on its servers using software that it runs on shared servers. 

  

Requirements: 

To use License Mobility through SA, the Customer must: 

      • Run its licensed software and manage its OSEs on shared servers under the terms of its volume licensing agreement;  
      • Deploy its Licenses only with Microsoft Azure Services or qualified License Mobility through Software Assurance Partner; and 
      • Complete and submit the License Mobility Validation form with each License Mobility through Software Assurance Partner who will run its licensed software on their shared servers. 

  

License Mobility allows for use on a shared server.  Products that have this right associated with them allow BYOL (as long as you have active Software Assurance).  Next, we need to see if a product has Server Mobility.  For Windows Server: 

 

4. Software Assurance 

 

Windows Server does not include License Mobility rights.  For Windows Server (or any product without License Mobility), this means BYOL is only available for versions that were released before October 2019 and for which licenses were acquired prior (or on active contracts as of October 2019) to October 2019 

 

 

Please refer to the current Product Terms to ensure this info is still accurate as Microsoft makes changes frequently to their licensing rules. 

 

Start Saving on Your Software Licensing

Being able to cut software licensing costs will mean money back into the IT department for smarter and more innovative investments. This can be done by tracking the life cycles of your assets through the successful deployment of an inventory tool (along with someone who can effectively read it), through having a clear understanding of usage during contract negotiations, carefully considering your migration to the Cloud, and by conducting internal audits to ensure compliance.

At Metrixdata360, we can help you cut down your costs to save you from unnecessary drains on your budget and potentially heavy audit penalties. Don’t put off saving money, get your free consultation today!

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