Net Group — Business class IT solutions

If you want to choose software solutions which support your organisation’s long-term goals without excessive costs, we can help you to find a suitable licensing solution. The best solution will help you to save on business costs and considerably simplify software management.

Microsoft has certified Net Group as gold partner in licensing competency.
Our team consists of experienced licensing specialists who have been awarded MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) certificates in licensing competency to corporations.

Well-advised choice of software solution, its usage options, predicted functionality and acquisition price can provide your company with considerable competitive advantage compared to others.

We support Microsoft software solutions. Software right of use i.e. licence can be obtained in several ways; we provide options according to organisational characteristics, and we make expert recommendation on the most suitable solution.

We consult both small- and medium-sized enterprises – with a minimum of five desktops – but also corporations on options of corporate licensing solutions. Our customers come from private, public and educational sector.

Preferred solutions depend on the existing software basis within an organisation, earlier investments in software, acquired types of licences, and the IT strategy for upcoming years.

Microsoft software license acquisition options in general:

• OEM licenses are bought with new computer, have limited rights of use, and are related to a specific computer
• FPP i.e. boxed software. Limited right of use for companies with less than 5 PCs, and home users
• Volume licenses i.e. corporate licensing solutions:

1. Pay-as-you-go volume licenses (Open License, Select Plus)
2. 3-year-payment licenses (Open Value, Enterprise Agreement, Select Plus)
3. Subscription licenses for 3 years (Open Value Subscription, Enterprise Agreement Subscription; for educational sector – School Agreement, Campus Agreement)
4. Use of software as a MS service (Software As A Service) can be added into 3-year subscription agreements.

Together with software licenses, a company can also choose Software Assurance which can be either optional or compulsory, depending on a specific licensing solution. Software Assurance is a supplementary service for 1, 2 or 3 years, enabling the use of latest technology and providing added value to the company, employees and IT team. Added values package depends on the chosen license type.

All volume licenses can be managed in the single self-service environment VLSC (Volume Licensing Service Center) of MS. This environment shows all the acquired licensing agreements in a company which have been purchased via all licensing types. This will considerably simplify license management. Besides the environment being a source of information on licensing agreement, you can also download software, get key information on software installation, and activate and use the respective added values package of a licensing type from there.

Here is a short summary of the principles of choosing volume licensing solutions; this will help you to get the basic idea of the suitability of the solution for your organisation. We suggest you leave the specific analysis of options to us, so that you could save time and focus on core business.

Volume licences for immediate purchase (Open License, Select Plus):

• licence acquisition option without Software Assurance or with it for 2 or 3 years with the option of renewal.

Suitable for your organisation if:

• you prefer to own the right of use of licences
• one-time cost of software licences is fine in terms of the organisation’s cash flows
• it is estimated that licences obtained without Software Assurance will be used for five and more years
• long usage time of software compensates for the bigger one-time licensing cost.

3-year-payment licences (Open Value, Enterprise Agreement, Select Plus):

• allows you to buy the right of use of software over 3 years at a fixed price stated in the agreement
• Software Assurance is compulsory (excl. Select Plus which has optional assurance)
• option for Software Assurance renewal when the contract period expires, for the next 3 years with spread-out payments.

Suitable for your organisation if:

• you prefer to own the right of use of licences
• you plan to standardise software platform
• the number of PCs is stable or on the increase
• you prefer to spread the purchasing costs out over a 3-year-period (annual payments), and to obtain the right of use at the end of the third year of use
• organisation values the added values package included with Software Assurance
• you wish to simplify software management and plan costs – software cost of computers acquired during the year will be paid for at the end of the contract year, and fixed payment would be spread out over the remaining period (excl. Select Plus – when purchasing new computers, you would have to pay for the software at once).

Rental licences for 3 years (Open Value Subscription, Enterprise Agreement Subscription) with the right to acquire the licences at the end of the rental period:

• software rental cost is the lowest, compared to other types of licences
• price per computer for 3 years has been fixed in an agreement
• when the agreement expires, you can start new subscription period at once, pay for the licences or stop using the software
• Software Assurance is compulsory.

Suitable for your organisation if:

• you prefer cost-based use of software
• you decide to standardise the software platform
• you prefer to spread the costs out over 3-year-period by using annual payments
• your organisation is growing rapidly but also needs to be flexible, in case the number of PCs decreases
• organisation values the added value package included with Software Assurance
• you wish to simplify software management and plan costs – annual increase or reduction in the number of PCs will be fixed at the end of the current agreement year, and according to the agreed number of PCs, the following period will be paid for in the amount equal to the cost of the whole year.

Besides software from Microsoft, our software portfolio also includes various mass and special software products from different producers – Adobe, Corel, Citrix, Business Objects, Abby, Vmware, EMC, Symantec, and many others.

Our specialists are pleased to give professional advice about different Microsoft licensing solutions and licensing agreement types, and make recommendations on the suitable software solutions for your organisation.