5 questions to ask before buying Microsoft licenses

"Microsoft has structured the SA program to help you deploy and use its software more effectively," Forrester writes. "For example, it includes packaged services, such as SharePoint deployment planning, that reduce later problems and support incidents."

During negotiations, customers can make trades -- for example, getting extra hours of support and training in exchange for dropping other benefits.

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It's important to be skeptical of salespeople's far-fetched claims about the value of each benefit, but Forrester predicts that upcoming changes to Software Assurance will make it harder for customers to turn Software Assurance down.

Possible changes include adding more products and services to Software Assurance, and upgrading products more frequently. Recent changes to Microsoft's licensing scheme have made it easier to deploy software in cloud-based services, but Microsoft doesn't give the same rights to customers in less expensive licensing programs.

"Organizations that adopt mobility and cloud rapidly will find it harder and harder to stay out of the SA program," Forrester concludes.