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Let’s stop overspending.

The SmartSpend™ blog is a resource to help readers save money on IT and Telecom purchases, brought to you by NPI’s consultants and vendor-specific subject matter experts.

 

  • The Reality of Being of an IT Sourcing Pro in a Cloud-First World Don Addington
    President, NPI
    06.27.17

    I recently read that some analysts are predicting Microsoft could beat AWS’s revenues in the second half of 2017. It gave me pause. The fact that IT vendors like Microsoft are being redefined by cloud is certainly nothing new. But the speed at which it has grown and the pace at which legacy enterprise IT...

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  • Windows Server Licensing Changes – Cost Neutral or Just Costly? Dan Brewster
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    06.6.17

    You’ve probably heard that Microsoft changed the licensing model for Windows Server with the release of Windows Server 2016 several months ago. Previously licensed on a per processor basis, the new licensing model follows the changes made with SQL Server 2012. All physical cores on a Windows Server must now be licensed on a per...

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  • Signing a Microsoft EA? Two Reasons to Check Your Enrollment Cindy Barron-Taylor
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    05.31.17

    Whether you are a new Microsoft Enterprise Agreement customer or a customer who has renewed their Enterprise Agreement multiple times, it’s important to be sure to review your Enrollment Details prior to signing your paperwork. Here are the top two reasons why... Your enrollment is where you define your enterprise (under section Enrolled Affiliate’s Enterprise)....

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  • Doing a Large-Volume PC Refresh in 2017? Start Here. Kristian Tuinzing
    Client Services Manager, NPI
    05.5.17

    With the first quarter of 2017 behind us, the PC market continues to be ripe with advantages for both buyers and vendors. Analysts offer differing estimates on whether overall PC shipments increased or declined in 2016 – but all estimates of the change year-over-year are nominal. Analyst group IDC reported that PC shipments actually gained...

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  • Microsoft: Roaming Use Rights Discontinued Dan Brewster
    Director of Client Services – Microsoft, NPI
    05.3.17

    Roaming Use Rights for the Windows Enterprise operating system and the Windows VDA licenses are discontinued on January 31, 2017 or at the end of a customer’s existing enrollment (whichever is later). What are the implications for you if you’ve recently lost Roaming Use Rights for these products? It probably makes sense to first understand...

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  • Some Probable (and Maybe Far-flung) IT Sourcing Predictions Jon Winsett
    CEO, NPI
    04.26.17

    How will IT sourcing fare in 2017? The team here at NPI had fun with this brainstorm back in January. While we had no intention of publicizing the conversation at the time, I just came across my notes and found some of the insights to be interesting. Some of our predictions seemed a little far-fetched...

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