Microsoft Dynamics ERP SPLA customers punished by lack of Office license mobility, hosting partners say

Microsoft's Services Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) gives Dynamics ERP customers with hosted solutions the option to pay for their Microsoft licenses on a monthly basis, adding flexibility and saving them money up front over purchasing perpetual licenses.

But for all the benefits of the SPLA option, some Dynamics partners and customers are frustrated with problems in Microsoft's licensing scheme. Customers can face unexpected additional licensing costs for Microsoft Office as part of their Dynamics ERP SPLA deals, partners say -  costs that can reach into the tens of thousands of dollars per year. Many customers do not understand that they may be buying duplicate Office licenses, and partners say they see no indication that Microsoft is moving toward more appropriate cloud licensing of Office with Dynamics ERP.

Office mobility rights

The requirement to purchase new Office licenses for Dynamics ERP users, even if the user already has an Office license locally, stems from a wrinkle in Office licensing, not Dynamics ERP. Customers with SPLA licensing in a Dynamics ERP shared hosting environment (meaning the physical servers are not dedicated to them)  can't apply their existing Office licenses when Office applications need to be accessed from their Dynamics ERP client over a remote desktop connection. Instead, these organizations are forced to re-purchase Office licenses for many or all of their users.

What's needed to fix this issue, partners say, is for Microsoft to offer Office mobility rights under SPLA.

"Microsoft licensing is complex, there's a gap in the way technology can be deployed and how it must be licensed when it comes to Microsoft Office," says Brett LaForge, Software Asset Manager at SoftwareOne. "The sticking point ...