Selling the SA

Software Assurance sales is the #1 non-technical question that I get from Microsoft Partners. What are the benefits, how do I get it, how do I purchase it and the most common: “Its just a free upgrade program, right?”

No, its not just the free upgrade there is a whole lot more to it:
– Spread your clients licensing payments over 3 years
– Home use rights (so you can install Office on employees home laptop and let them work remotely)
– Cold backups for disaster recovery
– Technet subscription/help (concierge)
– Preinstallation environment that lets you customize XP for rapid deployment

And a lot more. Well, ever since SA was born all people saw was “Free upgrade if they release it in under 3 years”… and when Longhorn failed to materialize there were more than a few angry folks everywhere.

In response, Microsoft planned big changes to the SA program and today they are running a recorded webcast announcing whats new with SA. There are four of them running all day long so find out whats new. I’ll post my observations later.

Register for the Webcast

Update: Thanks for noticing, I do need a vacation. These webcasts are scheduled for September 15th, 2005 (not today as I implied).