Microsoft Office on MANY Computers for contact center

[drpcfix]

Hey - helping a friend with a project, no idea what to do here..

Background:

Contact center expanding from 25 to 57 desktops, they rely on Microsoft Outlook (and word/etc) for many processes that will be super hard to change.

Planning on imaging the machines to get contact center software installed, chrome, AV, etc.


Our understanding is (very limited):

Office Volume licenses are only in the pro plus edition for $500 each?

The Office we can buy retail requires logging in to a live account for each one?

Question:

Can we image the machines after the office install and change the key? Or.. How do we with minimal labor charges to the client get Office (outlook/word) installed on these machines??

 

[nlinecomputers]

Office 365 would be a better deal.

 

[drpcfix]

Office 365 would be a better deal.

How would we get Office installed on the workstations? They have office 365 actually.

Based on my simple math it seems buying office outright pays for itself in a couple years ,then cheaper to buy outright.

Can you explain how you got to that calculation?

 

[nlinecomputers]

It's cheaper then VL versions. It's not cheaper than outright purchases of it. But 57 workstations would be difficult to manage and Office 365 E3 has admin tools to help with deployment, is allowed to be installed on 5 machines per user, so end users can install it on there iPhone and the like. Plus centrally managed email, calendars and so forth. If they have O365 why are they not using it for the new systems?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Either volume license it, or O365.

Educate the client..."Yes Volume license is more expensive up front, BUT...it will be MORE expensive ..WAAAAYYYYY more expensive...for me to build EACH computer individually...if you do a retail license. Versus prepping 1 computer and then imaging the rest.

Or..Office 365....and do the full local install, $99 bucks per year. Since you are prepping the image...can do the "shared computer access" install.

Unless you plan on volunteering a lot of your time in setting this up for the client, the client needs to know that it is much much more labor intensive to try to set it up with the el cheapo residential approach for licensing.

 

[nlinecomputers]

How would we get Office installed on the workstations?

Unless you plan on volunteering a lot of your time in setting this up for the client, the client needs to know that it is much much more labor intensive to try to set it up with the el cheapo residential approach for licensing.

This. The Stand alone versions are not designed for mass install any more. For a reason. They want you to use O365. You have to use a Microsoft Account, which is limited to 10 copies, you can't really install it until you setup the accounts. Office 365 can be deployed in a way that allows it to be installed but prompts for the Office 365 credentials to activate.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

And don't forget to project the cost of "rebuilds" down the road....out of nearly 60 computers, within a 3 year period, you will be rebuilding some from scratch. Trying to find "which" e-mail account was used by a retail box of Office....dealing with multiple attempts to re-activate it and running into road blocks...
Better to use the versions of Office was were meant to be used in businesses....ease of management.

 

[drpcfix]

Office 365 can be deployed in a way that allows it to be installed but prompts for the Office 365 credentials to activate

So the contact center users are on E1 right now, would going just to Pro Plus do it, or is there some other set of plans you use?
( https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-more-office-365-for-business-plans )

You put them on pro plus, then where do you get the offline installer?

(trying to convince them now)

 

[seedubya]

Office 365 Business will be plenty and supports up to 300 users. If you can get them on E1 by all means do so but it's 50% more expensive - which, of course, is 50% more recurring commission for you.

Also, and take this to the bank, do not do annual deals, do monthly deals. You want to build that monthly recurring income that they just keep paying and paying.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

You put them on pro plus, then where do you get the offline installer?

(trying to convince them now)

You download a little setup file from O365...run a download command against it with a location, the packed files get saved to the directory you specify (I put it on a network share..so I can install from any rig on the LAN). Edit a config file..and then you run setup commands via command prompt and it's silently installed. or push out via group policy if you want.
I ran up against it a while ago and started a thread when I was having problems, but got it sorted and I run this install frequently now at various clients.
The process is called "Office 365 Shared Computer Activation"...for your Google-Fu pleasure.
https://www.technibble.com/forums/t...gg-cant-get-her-installing.63289/#post-491595

 

[drpcfix]

Office 365 Business will be plenty and supports up to 300 users. If you can get them on E1 by all means do so but it's 50% more expensive - which, of course, is 50% more recurring commission for you.

Also, and take this to the bank, do not do annual deals, do monthly deals. You want to build that monthly recurring income that they just keep paying and paying.

They are on E1, but it doesn't come with Office.

What plan do they need for this process @YeOldStonecat is describing??

https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-more-office-365-for-business-plans

 

[drpcfix]

Or..Office 365....and do the full local install, $99 bucks per year.

Where is this $99/year?

 

[seedubya]

They are on E1, but it doesn't come with Office.

What plan do they need for this process @YeOldStonecat is describing??

https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-more-office-365-for-business-plans

E3, I think.

 

[nlinecomputers]

E3 or E5

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Where is this $99/year?

"Office 365 Business"...gives you just the local install of Office Standard. It's not e-mail/cloud included.
That was my reply before the OP stated they are on the O365 E1 plan...which is hosted e-mail. So...I'll withdraw that recommendation.
https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-office-365-for-business-plans

 

[drpcfix]

So...I'll withdraw that recommendation.

So push for VL with that in mind?

 

[drpcfix]

I put together a spreadsheet to understand the costs.

It seems like having a tech manually do all the retail keys is actually the least expensive, not including some long term time costs (eg, another 30 minutes on every system re-image)

How would you guys do this differently?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oPT1pikEYfn7Aeroo8o_qPUvRUv9xfqsLftwTErpUPk/edit#gid=0

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

No I'd push for E3. You can switch plans within the major plans..as in, any E plan can move to another E plan...and you can mix up E plans per client. And the B plans..the Business plans...same thing. But you can't mix B plans with E plans on the same client. At least I think this is all true.

Is this client non profit? Educational? Government related? if so...they can get special pricing....often VERY deep discounts.

 

[drpcfix]

They are a normal corporation, but - licensing is slightly more complicated than "57 users" - it's a contact center, so it's like 57 computers in cubicles that 75 employees share.

So have to get 75 of the E3 licenses.. ?

 

[nlinecomputers]

They have 75 E1 licenses now?