News & Updates | Blackbelt XP (2024)

News Update | January 2023

We keep you informed on SaaS licensing and contract optimization with updates, use cases, videos, project announcements, blogs, tips, and more #knowledge!

Join more than 2100 of your Peers!

Thanks for being a member of our LinkedIn newsletter community. Would you like to receive specific content from certain vendors via your business email? Simply choose which software lines you want to be informed about.We won't spam you ;). Choose now

Jeroen Kiks is our new CEO

Effective Jan 1, 2023, Jeroen Kiks is the new CEO of Blackbelt XP

Jeroen, former Managing Director of Districon, has extensive experience as an entrepreneur in business strategy, change management, project management, and interim management. At Districon, he led successful projects at SME, Enterprise, and government organizations.

Microsoft stops 24×7 Support Vouchers

In April of last year (2022), Microsoft announced the end of those 24×7 Support Vouchers in February 2023. These vouchers are no longer valid and current tickets will no longer be accepted. Therefore, if your company still has vouchers, you can only use them in January 2023. Of course, the question of “and then what” is far more crucial.

11% Microsoft Price Increase Cloud Products

Microsoft stated that it will take multiple measures to globalize the pricing of its Microsoft Cloud products, ensuring that customers will pay a fixed price that reflects the local currency’s exchange rate with the US dollar (USD). Pricing for Microsoft Cloud products will change as of April 1, 2023.

Microsoft Azure price increase

Microsoft Azure is also affected by the rise in price. Our Microsoft Licensing Expert: Leendert van Leeuwen has produced an article about this and he will go live (in Dutch) on LinkedIn next Monday.

LinkedIn Live Sessions (Dutch)

Microsoft Azure: Monday, 30 January, is our event about AZURE with speaker Leendert van Leeuwen, Microsoft Licensing Expert, focusing on alternatives and possibilities for 2023.

On Monday, January 30, at 10:30 am, he will explain the following:

• Best Price Protection in EA
• Azure in CSP
• The effect of Azure Reserved Instances & Azure Savings Plan

Microsoft Price Increase (previous session): Watch Patrick van der Meer’s recording (Dutch) from last week about how to react to the Microsoft Price increase. Sorry guys, more English sessions will follow soon. Do you have any suggestions for live sessions? Please let us know!

Knowledge Base Articles 🆕

Check the newest technology developments and best practices:

✅ 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐀𝐳𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐇𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭: Learn about the benefits of using Microsoft Azure Hybrid Benefit and how to take advantage of it.

✅ 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐤 𝐅𝐥𝐞𝐱: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤? Discover the ins and outs of Autodesk Flex, a powerful tool for managing software licenses and subscriptions.

✅ 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐐𝐋 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐: Stay up-to-date on the latest features and capabilities of SQL Server 2022. (Customers only)

✅ 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐤 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬): Learn about Autodesk's cloud subscription model and how it can benefit your organization.

✅ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧? Understand the benefits of Microsoft's License Mobility for Windows Server and how it can save your organization money. (Customers only)

✅ 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠? Compare the features and pricing of Windows Server Standard and Datacenter licensing options to determine which one is right for your organization. (Customers only)

👉 Stay informed Read more articles - Don't miss out on these valuable resources!

Recent Blogs & Articles💡

Optimize the negotiation process of your Software Contract Renewals. Read article

Articles will be published soon:

• What is Adobe Document Cloud
• Azure Savings Plan
• Mixing licenses for Windows Server physical/virtual
• What is a Microsoft Customer Agreement
• SAP Contract Negotiations
• Next steps to Prepare your Microsoft True-Up

Exciting News soon

Very soon there will be some more exciting news about Blackbelt XP. Stay tuned and keep checking our LinkedIn page 👀.

• A new Customer Case follows!

Finally, be a smart negotiator 😉

Some questions for success and to keep challenging your software vendor!

• Request multiple pricing options. What effect does a contract duration of one, three, or five years have on the price?
• Negotiate the price for contract add-ons. Say your team wants to use a software package with a €10 license list price but the vendor agrees to a volume discount of €5 per license. If you need to add more users before the contract expires, will you pay €10 or €5 for each new license?
• Listen to what the vendor isn’t saying. Try to get an idea of how far the vendor will go to keep your business. For instance, having an idea of their pricing floor will let you know how hard you can really push to lower the costs.

Good luck! Our experts are happy to help optimize your software contracts. We strengthen your negotiating position in order to reach the best contract terms for you!