The Truth About Microsoft Enterprise Agreements

Don't Overpay - Let Us Find the Value for You

Lane Shelton

Chances are, if you have more than 250 devices at your organization, you have heard the Enterprise Agreement (EA) pitch more than once. In fact, I agree hands down you can find results anywhere from 15% to 45% off your costs with an EA under the right circumstances. If your organization wants to license software and cloud services for a minimum three-year period, you get built-in savings and several other benefits like free training, consulting services, and tech support. Even if you’re not ready for the cloud right now, there are ways to use the EA as a licensing vehicle to gain savings and benefits, and possibly even become cloud-ready – but with the ability to move at your pace, on your terms.


As good as it sounds, it’s still a bit complicated – like any licensing conversation. That’s where we come in again to help. Our team of Microsoft experts designed a free tool to help you determine if an EA is the right choice for your organization. We even put real numbers behind the assessment so you can make a sound decision. Read on to get started – you have nothing to lose, and everything to gain!


Before we go too far, here’s a quick EA recap. Microsoft’s Enterprise Agreement (EA) is a licensing option that can deliver exceptional value and cost-savings for customers, under the right circumstances. It’s not right for everyone, but if your IT needs align with EA strengths, there’s no better way to achieve your Microsoft goals and save money in the process. To start, you must have at least 250 devices or users to be eligible, although under the right circumstances we can still make the EA work even if you’re not quite at 250 seats. EAs are by far the best value for organizations that want to buy cloud services and software licenses under one agreement.

Peeling the EA Onion

An EA’s price is tiered to the number of computers being licensed, and is a three-year contract that gives you the option to license almost every Microsoft product that you need. Everything in the EA comes with Software Assurance, Microsoft’s term for maintenance. So you get all future updates and releases during the contract term.

The EA includes subscription options that lower initial licensing costs because customers have opted to subscribe to the rights to use Microsoft products and services instead of owning them. The subscription option also enables customers to increase or decrease subscription counts on an annual basis. So although this sounds very formal, there is flexibility. Here’s why.

With the enrollment agreement structure, you can easily add new products and services as needed:

True-up: During the term of an EA, you can add and adjust users, devices, products, and services at any time without having to place individual purchase order and account for changes through the annual True-up process.

Renewing an EA: When it is time to renew an EA, you can revisit your entire investment and make adjustments to ensure the new agreement is aligned with current and future needs.

EA Enrollments span Enterprise as well as Server and Cloud, and all include Software Assurance to ensure the latest Microsoft technologies are part of your plan, deployment, and in the hands of end users. It’s also possible to have on premises, cloud, or a mix. And you can’t ignore the benefits from centralized management, automatic updates, and price lock potential.

How to Start

If everything seems complicated so far, you’re not alone. EAs are not a one size fits all solution to licensing – savings can vary drastically. Our assessment, designed by our own team of experts, is the first step in determining whether an EA is the right choice for your organization.

Our assessment will measure your answers to a few key questions, and provide an “EA Value” indicating whether or not you should at least consider EA as an option. Our experts will then help you put real numbers behind the assessment to help you make a sound decision. Even if an EA is not in your future, there are a host of other cost-savings options and programs, and our experts will help you find the best way to better manage your licensing and optimize your investment.

Take our EA assessment today:

http://www.pcconnection.com/brand/microsoft/microsoft-ea-assessment

With the end of support date for Windows Server 2003 fast approaching, there’s never been a better time to plan your data center transformation. Our experts have designed this helpful tool to get you started on the right upgrade path for your unique environment, applications, and workloads.

© PC CONNECTION, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.