Case study: GGZ Friesland
Saves 28K on licenses thanks to Blackbelt XP
GGZ Friesland: “Saves 28K on licenses thanks to Blackbelt XP.”
GGZ Friesland provides professional help to people with severe psychiatric problems in the Netherlands and helps some 12,000 people annually at 12 different locations spread across the province of Friesland.
“Blackbelt XP helped us sell unused Microsoft licenses and that yielded 28,000 euros,” states Fabian Hofstede who is both IT Operations and Service Desk Coordinator and Security and Privacy Officer at GGZ Friesland. “And that’s a nice amount that we can again do useful things with.”
Blackbelt XP supports GGZ Friesland in the management of Microsoft licenses: “Since last year, we have been under Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact program that is specifically for non-profit organizations.”
“Other parties always want to sell something. Due to the fact that they have their own interest because they have purchased large batches of Microsoft licenses. And they want to sell those to make their product successful. But we don’t want that. We just want independent advice on possible scenarios.” – Fabian Hofstede.
Challenge: being compliant, but only paying for what we need
“We partner with Blackbelt XP for three reasons,” indicates Fabian. “First, in terms of software licensing, we want to be compliant. Because Microsoft doesn’t audit very often, but if you get audited and your licenses are not correct, you have a big problem. Second, we only want to pay for licenses that we really need. Healthcare organizations obviously have to be careful with their financial resources. And finally, we would like to have the back of a licensing expert to have the best negotiating position when drawing up software contracts.”
For Fabian, it is important that licensing advice is independent: “Other parties always want to sell something. Due to the fact that they have their own interest because they have purchased large batches of Microsoft licenses. And they want to sell those to make their product successful. But we don’t want that. We just want independent advice on possible scenarios.”
This is also why GGZ Friesland has chosen a long-term relationship with Blackbelt XP. We can guarantee continuity this way. With another party, you never know exactly what you can get from them. Blackbelt XP’s services go beyond the front door.
Impact: focus on which licenses we have and use
Since GGZ Friesland has been under Microsoft’s non-profit program, advice for the best negotiating position has become less important because discounts are now fixed. “That’s why our focus right now is on exactly which licenses we have in house and what we use of them. So on the numbers and whether we don’t have too many or too extensive licenses.”
“Blackbelt XP signaled that opportunity in time, which is important because the longer you wait, the less the licenses are still worth.”
Solution: understanding what we need and selling unnecessary licenses
Despite license management and optimization being very important to GGZ Friesland, they are not considering hiring their own specialist: “If you do that, you have someone who has knowledge of something, but you want knowledge of everything. And a partner like Blackbelt XP has that.”
Furthermore, GGZ Friesland works with a “cloud first” policy, and that raises questions about what is needed in specific situations. “We then need clarification. For example, if a server is running virtually: what licenses do we need? Or: what is required if we connect to other systems via Microsoft products? Such questions Blackbelt XP answers for us and that really helps us.”
In terms of numbers and usage, GGZ Friesland monitors the licenses itself and Blackbelt XP advises on the sale of excess licenses, for example. “But in the future we want to continuously monitor which licenses we have and use. And then in the form of a dashboard so we have the whole picture.”
Result: excess licenses sold for 28K and compliant
Blackbelt XP is working on such a dashboard and now has a first version that is being further refined.
Furthermore, Blackbelt XP helped GGZ Friesland to sell surplus Microsoft licenses and that yielded GGZ Friesland some 28,000 euros. “Blackbelt XP signaled that opportunity in time, which is important because the longer you wait, the less the licenses are still worth.”
In addition, GGZ Friesland secures compliancy thanks to its own insight into the licenses and the support and knowledge of Blackbelt XP: “And that’s important for us,” Fabian points out, “because I can imagine that Microsoft might otherwise think: we’ve put you in a kind of charity situation and then you’ll take out the wrong licenses anyway. And we obviously don’t want that En dat willen wij uiteraard niet.”
Pay just for what you really consume?
Blackbelt XP can help!