Predictable costs help you reduce business risk
When fixed or unpredictable costs are paid with variable revenue, business risk is amplified. Many organizations’ revenues dip when the economy hits a soft patch. But what if your revenue fluctuates seasonally? What if you’re a start-up or you’re still building your revenue base in a new market? In situations like this, unpredictable costs add risk. The same is true for costs that escalate even if revenues don’t. The right business management solution will help you manage or avoid fixed or unpredictable IT-related costs for deployment, operation, scaling, maintenance, and upgrading.
A carefully chosen business management solution provides you options for achieving cost predictability through flexible licensing arrangements and stable, use-based subscription rates. If you negotiate carefully, you can ensure that upgrades, software fixes, service packs, and updates will be included in your subscription, giving you even greater cost predictability. And you may be able to negotiate service level agreements for security or high availability. Watch out for first-year discounts that lure you in, but then increase in year two and beyond, especially with vendors that control your data.
A business solution from Microsoft offers cost predictability you can count on
Contending with fewer surprises helps you budget ongoing expenses more accurately and confidently, and shields your business from disruptive, even dangerous, cost fluctuations. A business solution from Microsoft helps you do this with a protected list price that serves as the basis for your future service plan renewals.
The right business management solution will help you manage or avoid fixed or unpredictable IT-related costs for deployment, operation, scaling, maintenance, and upgrading.
Purchase or licensing costs are just one part of business solution costs. It’s critical for you to learn what the costs will be for implementation services, maintenance fees, training, and upgrades. Many Microsoft Dynamics partners support cost predictability by offering fixed-scope rapid implementations that include initial licenses, deployment, and training to help you get up and running quickly, at predictable costs.
A business solution from Microsoft creates other opportunities to trim costs, too. It’s easy to configure, reducing the need for in-house IT staff and external technical support resources, especially since it can integrate smoothly with other line-of-business software and productivity tools that your people also use.
Learn more about a business solution from Microsoft, take a product test drive, or register for an upcoming webcast. And watch for next week’s blog post that features the importance of choosing a solution with a technology roadmap focused on small and midsized businesses.