Q&A: Licensing Microsoft Cloud Services

Microsoft communication and collaboration customers are at a crossroads. How should they handle Exchange and SharePoint — keep running it themselves and try to manage the costs, or ship it off to one of a growing number of hosted service providers? Microsoft has made a huge push into the cloud arena and offers hosted Exchange, SharePoint, and other supporting services. Moving from on-premise implementations to cloud services impacts several areas within IT, one of which is a pivot in Microsoft licensing. Microsoft's comprehensive product portfolio carries complex licensing, and hosted services add yet another dimension. Your existing agreements and investments in licenses and Software Assurance (SA) have an impact on your options to move into Microsoft's hosted services. It's critical to understand the interdependencies in the licensing to make sure you have the right fit for the organization.