Inova

Myosotis

Our customers are our priority. For customers with an Enterprise Agreement, Inova embedded a customer care program that is included as maintenance program during the term of the agreement. These services are structured in our specialized Myosotis Program. Myosotis is the name of the flower, also known as the forget-me-not. This flower represents our dedication towards our clients.

The program is a prescriptive three-year customer engagement plan, designed to help you maximize the lifetime value of your Enterprise Agreement. The plan below maps a timeline of the internal processes of the EA life cycle.

Microsoft has identified six critical activities within the life cycle:

• Effective Account Planning (AP)
• Infrastructure Optimization (IO), Deployment and Adoption
• Software Assurance (SA), Activation and Consumption
• Software Asset Management (SAM) Optimization
• Consistent Enterprise Agreement (EA) True-Up Practices
• Enterprise Agreement (EA) Renewal Engagement

Inova guides you through every step of the program, so that you will be informed and always updated about your benefits and next steps in the life cycle.

1. Effective Account Planning (AP)

Inova will establish a regular, agreed contact meeting schedule so that our clients know what to expect, and when to expect it. Consolidated customer activities focusing all relevant information about consumption of Software Assurance Benefits, Deployment, Core IO, Software Asset Management, True Up, Renewal, current and prior opportunities and activities, account profile, and license position.

2. Infrastructure Optimization (IO), Deployment and Adoption

Inova as a Microsoft LAR can provide a number of services throughout the term of the Microsoft Volume licensing contract. Inova helps customers developing procedures and processes in order to grow towards higher levels in the Core Infrastructure Optimization Model (Core IO Model).

Core Infrastructure Optimization Model (CORE IO Model)

The Core IO Model helps customers realize dramatic cost savings for their IT infrastructure by moving towards a secure, defined, and highly automated environment. It prescribes capabilities in a logical sequence to help organizations advance up the levels at a measurable and achievable pace. As a basic IT infrastructure matures, security improves from vulnerable to dynamically proactive. Administrative and managerial processes change from highly manual and reactive to highly automated and proactive.

Microsoft and Inova provide the technologies, processes and procedures to help customers move along the infrastructure optimization path. Processes move from fragmented or non-existent, to optimized and repeatable. Customers’ ability to use technology to improve their business agility and to deliver business value increases as they move from the Basic level to the Standardized level, to the Rationalized level, and finally to the Dynamic level.

The Infrastructure Optimization Model has been developed by industry analysts, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Centre for Information Systems Research (CISR), and Microsoft’s own experiences with its enterprise customers. A key goal for Microsoft in creating the Infrastructure Optimization Model was to develop a simple way to use a maturity framework that is flexible and can easily be used as the benchmark for technical capability and business value.

3. Software Assurance (SA), Activation and Consumption

Ensure clients about Software Assurance Benefits (SAB’s) and their specific entitlements. Align SAB’s to the Client’s IT projects and organization. Identify and prioritize solution areas for our clients. Work toward Software Assurance usage and managing a Software Assurance Usage Plan. Set and document Conditions of Satisfaction.

4. Software Asset Management (SAM) Optimization

An essential component of Myosotis Software Asset Management (SAM), an integrated set of policies, processes, people and tools, dedicated to discover and manage an organization’s software holdings. Software licenses are assets and investments and should be managed as such. SAM helps you control costs and optimize these investments as your organization evolves.

Software Asset Management (SAM) is an industry best practice that helps you control costs and optimize software investments across your organization and throughout all stages of their life cycles. Administered through an ongoing plan, SAM makes it easier to identify what you have, where it is running, and whether redundancy may exist. A fully implemented SAM plan can help you cut costs, improve security and compliance, and also anticipate future software needs. SAM also helps organizations accurately capture the costs and benefits associated with IT projects that enable a competitive advantage.

Get started with your SAM plan now, and start building exceptional business results from the foundation up.

You can implement SAM in your organization by following a few basic steps:

Your Licensing Options

Learn how you can best optimize your software assets and accommodate future growth in a cost-effective way.

Software licenses are often a large part of an organization’s IT budget. If your company’s software is not licensed correctly – whether you have too few or too many licenses – you can face potential compliance or budgeting issues. By defining and implementing a good SAM plan, you create transparency in your organization and help ensure compliance with licensing requirements.

Your SAM license inventory is an important step in the process. Your inventory tells you exactly which software you have and where it is being used. After you have collected this information, you must determine whether you are using your software budget in the most efficient way possible.

5. Consistent Enterprise Agreement (EA) True-Up Practices

Once a year, during your Enterprise Agreement, Microsoft requires that you align your Enterprise Agreement (EA) with the total number of licenses you have added in the previous 12 months. This is the True-up process: an inventory of all the qualified devices, users, and processors added to your organization over the course of the year. While you may place any number of orders throughout the calendar year, the annual True-up order must be received by Microsoft in the period between 60 days and 30 days prior to the anniversary of your Enrollment. It is important to note that the annual True-up applies only to products that you have already licensed under your current EA. New products and online services that are not under your current EA must be purchased in the month they are first used.

Microsoft SAM partners are experts in Software Asset Management processes, discovery tools, and Microsoft licensing. Consulting with a Microsoft SAM partner can help you assess your software environment and build a customized process to conduct True-ups quickly, accurately, and in a repeatable way. A cost-effective SAM engagement gives you the data you need to complete your True-up and a customized plan for managing software assets and future True-up reviews.

6. Enterprise Agreement (EA) Renewal Engagement

Renewing your Enterprise Agreement gives you continued access to better pricing, predictable payment options, software management tools, and a licensing agreement that grows with your business.