When Should You Optimize Your IBM Licensing?

In today’s competitive market, it is vital to make the most of every resource - including your IBM licensing. It’s easy to overlook licensing as a way to reduce expenses because it becomes part of the everyday fabric of your operations; yet, it is exactly because of that we recommend reviewing your IBM products licensing portfolio at least annually to optimize your investment. 

There are various scenarios when we can be really helpful in terms of making the most of your IBM investment. For example, there are times when enterprises purchase a certain number of licenses and their needs change over time but they haven’t updated their licenses with IBM; this scenario can trigger an IBM compliance audit which can be costly. Or your organization may have experienced a growth explosion in employees and need to upgrade your licensing accordingly. Or perhaps your company needs new IBM products but you need to make sure which ones and how to get the best deal, especially considering your existing investment. 

5 Ways to Know It’s Time to Optimize

The following are five ways to know it’s time to consider optimizing your IBM licensing. 

1. Do you suffer from price increases on your IBM licenses year over year?

It is standard practice for IBM to adjust their already costly licensing rates by 3 - 10% annually; however, there are ways to adjust or even reduce your current investment. With our ultra-competitive pricing, our customers save anywhere from 10–30% on their IBM licensing as a result of our review and ability to negotiate rates. With their savings, our customers can invest savings into mission-critical projects and adopt new technologies to support their customer-centric approach. 

Even more, by reviewing and then adjusting your IBM licensing to match your current business needs, you have no need to worry about an IBM compliance audit. 

2. Do you get punished with rate increases when you drop a few products? 

Ironically, the ‘bundle’ pricing you may have gotten with your initial IBM licensing investment may fall apart when you drop a few products, causing your rates to increase to keep the licenses you need. If that happens, you need access to deep IBM knowledge, an advocate who negotiates on your behalf and outstanding support to streamline what your organization is paying for licenses. Given our experience with IBM, we can often find customized solutions, based on your current business needs that work with your budget.

3. Do you want to work with one point of contact for products IBM sold to a 3rd-party?

Business is already complex - there is no need to add complexity by having multiple points of contact in an attempt to get the best IBM pricing. You really can have a relationship with a trusted IBM partner who has sound knowledge to provide optimal solutions. Even more, we are committed to delivering outstanding support, which means we reach out when there is something you might need to know about your IBM licensing. In other words, we got your back. 

4. Are you sure you are familiar with all the product metrics? 

Part of the value exchange for our customers in working with us around IBM licensing is direct access to in-depth knowledge of IBM, having an advocate who can navigate IBM’s systems on their behalf as well as tailor-made licensing solutions that optimize their investment. Quite often there are new products, product updates or new features that do not get taken advantage of simply because IBM customers cannot possibly keep up with everything that IBM is putting out. We help our customers have that information. 

5. Don't you want someone who speaks “IBM” to support you?

What you really get by working with us for your IBM licensing needs is the peace of mind from compliance issues, timely renewals and crucial updates about best-of-breed and leading-edge technologies. We speak IBM as your guide and advocate so you get the best pricing, best solution mix and can focus on what matters - your business (vs. figuring out IBM’s systems). 

The Net Result

As a result of our work, our customers experience what we like to think of as ‘bliss’ with their IBM expenditures. Like our current customers, you too can enjoy cost savings, have the assurance of minimizing the chances of a compliance audit and gain an advocate who understands the IBM system on your behalf.