If your business gets chosen for a Microsoft License audit, you better be sure that your organization is ready. If you get caught having any licenses that are not legitimate, this audit is going to cost you a lot of money. Occasionally clients get a request from Microsoft to prove ownership of their products. This can include any Microsoft products including Office, Windows Server, Windows desktop OS, Exchange, etc. Microsoft license compliance verification (commonly known as “audit”) is a formal, mandatory compliance review of a company’s use of Microsoft products and services, and it is part of the Microsoft license and contract compliance program. Microsoft conducts industry-standard compliance reviews with its business customers through an independent auditor pursuant to the terms of their agreement.

MIcrosoft License Audit Microsoft Gold Partner 2W TechMicrosoft uses a programmatic approach to select customers for license compliance verification. Any customer with a Microsoft volume license may be selected. Microsoft performs license compliance verifications with a limited number of customers each year, to verify customers’ compliance to the terms and conditions of their respective agreements with Microsoft. The audit protects against Microsoft Customers purchasing their Office licenses from a variety of other sources, and some of these sources are illegal and sell the same keys over and over, which makes it difficult to prove that you have a legitimate license for the software.

If you cannot prove to Microsoft that you have legitimate copies of the software, or if they find you to be in violation of the license agreement (sharing Office copies between multiple computers, for example), then you will be forced to purchase these licenses. One easy solution is to use Office 365 Business Premium, where everything is tracked and very easy to prove to Microsoft.

Office 365 licenses is just one example, as this same process holds true for any Microsoft Product. Not sure how your business would fair in a Microsoft License audit? Customers who take licensing compliance seriously and have a robust internal Software Asset Management process are likely to be better prepared for license compliance verifications. If this doesn’t like your business, don’t panic. 2W Tech is a Microsoft Gold Partner and can help.  Don’t wait until you get tapped on your shoulder for an audit, instead be proactive and make sure that all your ducks are in a row. If you are one of the unlucky ones and know you are about to get audited,  give us a call today and let 2W Tech help get you through it.

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