How the new Government agreement with Microsoft will affect your school’s IT budget

On January 1st, the Department for Education and Microsoft announced the new Education Cloud Transition Agreement, designed to move UK education into the cloud and align pricing with Europe.

Director of Technical Services at Pugh, Eifion Evans, outlines the implications for your budget and what you need to do before the end of June to minimise the impact of the changes.

NB: The price alignments will also affect HE / FE customers and once negotiations between Microsoft and Crown Services are complete we will update as soon as we have further information.

Whether you are a Microsoft Select customer purchasing  on-premises products perpetually, or have already opted for a Microsoft subscription for your school’s software, the new Government agreement with Microsoft means that UK prices will rise substantially over the next three years to fall into line with European pricing.

At Pugh we believe in using our specialist expertise to help you plan and prepare by managing your licencing effectively and transitioning your infrastructure to the cloud.

What the agreement means to you

Microsoft Select Plus

Select Pricing will be aligned with the rest of Europe by the end of June 2016, with Schools specific discount removed at the end of June 2017.

Microsoft Subscription (OVS-ES / EES)

For subscription customers Microsoft have agreed with the Government not to align pricing with the rest of Europe until July 2018, giving Schools a transition period to move their infrastructure into the cloud.

Our strategy to save you money

Select Plus Customers – if you prefer buying your software under a perpetual licence, our advice is to buy it before 30th June this year and save yourself around a fifth.

Optionally consider migrating over to a subscription based model to maintain current pricing levels to July 2018 and beyond. Opting for a subscription gives you additional benefits including full copies of Office for all your staff and students to download for their Windows, Mac, iOS & Android devices, ease of compliance based on staff count, and the very latest versions of Microsoft products.

OVS-ES / EES Customers – by moving to the cloud you can reduce hardware and management costs and help offset the July 2018 price increases (Office365, EMS and Azure). We also suggest that you consider using the following purchasing timeline to maximize your budget:

1.    By 30 June 2016: take out a new one year subscription at today’s prices
2.    By 30 June 2017: renew for a further year subscription
3.    By 30 June 2018: renew for a further three years to avoid the July 2018 price increase

Using this strategy will ensure that you get pre-European alignment prices until 2021 and can predict your budget spend and effectiveness with confidence.

Need help with renewals or purchases?

Our friendly and experienced sales team and licensing specialists are ready to help you act now and protect your spend from price increases. To find out more email sales@pugh.co.uk or call them now 01974 200201.