Enterprise License Considerations When Procuring Cloud Services

The OGP Cloud Services Procurement Guidance Note (February 2021) was published to draw attention to the important commercial and contractual elements that Irish Public Sector bodies (PSBs) should be aware of when procuring cloud services. The note was created by the Office of Government Procurement to augment with the OGCIO Cloud Computing Advice Note published in October 2019.

The recent Guidance Note acknowledges the need for PSBs to procure cloud services and highlights the importance of PSBs to fully understand the potential impacts of cloud service provider’s terms and conditions, and any associated commercial and contractual considerations.

With the growth in cloud adoption and acknowledgment of the benefits of cloud for the public sector in general, the need for PSB’s to understand the implications of moving to the cloud is imperative to avoid any unnecessary or unbudgeted cost and waste.

Addressing the Enterprise License Considerations When Adopting Cloud

As experts in enterprise license optimisation and software asset management (SAM), Version 1 has published this whitepaper: Enterprise License Considerations for Ireland’s Public Sector Bodies Procuring Cloud Services, in response to the specific points raised in the Guidance Note surrounding licensing, which includes:

  • Cloud Vendor Market Assessment.
  • Understanding License Implications before, during, and after Cloud Adoption.
  • Cloud Pricing Models.
  • Cloud Cost Management – the importance of FinOps.
  • Contractual Good Governance.

Key Takeaways – Moving Your Enterprise License Estate to the Cloud.

The topic of enterprise licensing is well known for its complexity – when you add cloud technologies to the mix, some of the license minutiae can be unintentionally overlooked or misunderstood, resulting in potential financial and contractual exposure.

This whitepaper will highlight some of the key licensing areas to be aware of and our recommendations to mitigate any potential risk.  Overall, the whitepaper’s key take-aways centre around:

  • The importance of understanding the details of the PSB’s ‘as is’ and ‘to be’ software estate and how the transition period is managed.
  • Which cloud vendor the PSB will adopt and the associated contractual and financial commitments.
  • Cost management once in the cloud.

Version 1’s cloud and license consultants are highly experienced in supporting public sector bodies to adopt cloud technologies.  Whether you are still exploring your cloud strategy, implementing a mass migration to public cloud, or looking to simplify and optimise the management of multiple cloud environments, Version 1 experts can advise and guide you at all stages of your cloud adoption.