Software licensing
Solarweb have been working with Microsoft and other software vendors to create licensing tools that fit real business needs allowing distributors and resellers to accurately quote complex licensing. Our first solutions back in 2000/1 were designed as tactical sales tools for the UK market including the first reseller’s online licensing quotation tool in the UK developed for Softcat. Today, our flagship solution is used in 92 countries, in 23 languages and supports 15 international currencies; delivering this high profile project, on time and within budget strengthened Solarweb’s reputation as a strategic vendor for Microsoft and won much acclaim in the global software industry.
Solarweb has also created licenseme to provide distributors and resellers with the ability at whatever level an affordable solution to licensing requirements. We work closely with our customers and partners to develop solutions that are both flexible and cost effective.
Recent projects
Microsoft MLA
Microsoft commissioned this project to inform the IT Pro community of accurate licensing costs while making the experience for the user informative. The Microsoft Licensing Advisor (MLA, previously known as MPLA) is a web-based, software-licensing product and solution configurator. MLA helps Microsoft customers to determine which software licenses and related services they need to acquire in order to meet their specific business objectives.
This licensing configuration tool is hosted on Microsoft.com and is powered by a SQL Server 2005 cluster. Solarweb has been involved in this project since the envisioning stage and provides analysis in addition to development.
Using MLA is very straightforward; customers simply enter the answers to various questions in order to obtain a product report, which contains the product and programme information they need. The product report can be viewed online or saved as a file, for offline viewing.
The current release of MLA can be accessed at the Microsoft website at:
http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/mla/
Microsoft LicenseWise
The requirement was to provide resellers with an application to allow them to configure quotes for their customers. The tool has a global reach and needed to be localised into many different languages.
Solarweb addressed the request by reuse of existing functionality and web services provided in the existing MLA (Microsoft Licensing Advisor) hosted on Microsoft.com which is aimed at IT Professionals.
The LicenseWise solution uses a “guided selling” experience, enabling comparison and suggestions to ensure license compliance.
Microsoft Gear Up Licensing Configurator
Commissioned in 2001, the Gear Up Licensing Configurator was designed to aid US partners navigate the transition period to Volume Licensing 6.0 where, for example, Upgrade Advantage was being transitioned to Software Assurance. Originally supporting only Open License, other programs were added over time and the site has seen continual growth in usage and features.
To accommodate both complex and straightforward licensing solutions, there are two pathways through the tool – a full configurator and quick quote. Both paths provide detailed information such as customer promotions, cross sell/upsell recommendations, Software Assurance benefits analysis and the ability to generate customer ready proposals.
Westcoast
Established in 1984, Westcoast has become a leading national wholesale distributor within the UK. Westcoast has built a product portfolio spanning the whole computing spectrum, ranging from desktop PC and notebook products through to high end server solutions, network products, printers, peripherals and related accessories and consumables.
In 2007 Westcoast became the first new Microsoft Authorised distributor for seven years with the main remit to deliver a greater breadth of buying resellers, increase the frequency of the way resellers sell Microsoft solutions and to increase the amount of functionality that they sell with each solution.
Westcoast chose to use licenseme to develop services for its resellers, focusing on sales of Microsoft licensing. Resellers with access to licenseme are able to confidently configure licensing quotations without relying solely on a licensing sales expert, as the tool automatically identifies the most appropriate licensing programme for any given organisation, and builds quotes using automatically downloaded product information.
As part of this project custom interfaces were added to licenseme in order for it to integrate closely with the current Westcoast system infrastructure. This allows an order placed by the reseller to be processed automatically by Westcoast and acknowledged by the ordering systems at Microsoft giving a 2 hour turnaround time for license fulfilment.
Testimonial
"The License Configurator project developed by Solarweb has been one of the most successful projects I have been involved with. It has been implemented for 5 years and continually evolving. One key factor is that Solarweb has the ability to really understand a client's needs - a unique value proposition in today's market. We never have to worry that they get things wrong - the product just works."
Jake Schenkein
US Partner Group Manager
