Atlassian licensing: Smartview tips for optimizing budgets in 2022?

February 15, 2024 is fast approaching. This is the date when Atlassian will stop supporting its historical Server mode! Some companies have already migrated their instances to Data Center or Cloud. Others still have a few months to think about it... Beyond the realization project, how to optimize its costs when switching to a new Atlassian license plan?

Aurélie Assouline shares her experience to give you some advice.

The rules: are they all well known by Atlassian customers?

In the last few years, the Atlassian environment has changed a lot: new offerings have been launched and new rules have appeared. The products remain very popular with administrators and end users. Nevertheless, the management of the licenses surrounding these products becomes more and more complicated to apprehend. Some purchasing departments fear a lack of control over their budget.

Relying on an Atlassian partner will allow you to anticipate the financial impacts.

To effectively guide you through your Atlassian licensing plan, here are some of the rules.

Levels and user ranges

The tiers in terms of users differ from one mode to another.
Make sure you target the right tier, and choose the most suitable subscription between the monthly and annual Cloud subscription. One will inevitably be financially more advantageous than the other!

How to choose your Atlassian offer

Choose the Standard, Premium or Enterprise offering that best suits your needs from the start: this will avoid pitfalls and frustration on the part of your users, and your financial departments will keep control of their budgets.

The advantages and possible discounts on Atlassian products

Atlassian makes it easy to switch from one licensing plan to another, by offering certain discounts or even free of charge for some products. It is still necessary to know the existence of these advantages, to switch at the right time and to avoid paying a double license cost. In addition, don't forget the June 30, 2023 deadline: after this date, Loyalty Discounts disappear.

Duration of your subscription

The minimum subscription imposed by the editor is for a period of 12 months. To fix a price and avoid unpleasant surprises, you can also subscribe for 24 or even 36 months under certain conditions.

User slice and plugins

The user range of a Jira plugin must always correspond to the highest user range of the Jira license. If on the same instance you have a Jira Software for 500 users and a Jira Service Management for 50 agents to which you wish to attach the Jira Service Management extension plugin for example, you will have to subscribe to the plugin for 500 users, regardless of your hosting mode. Otherwise, you will encounter incompatibility problems.

Beware of Cloud solutions managed independently of other products and plugins

Some cloud solutions, such as Atlassian Access or Opsgenie are managed independently by Atlassian teams. And other products seem to be available only in monthly subscription, such as Bitbucket.
Be sure to inquire about the subscription modalities and think of "co-terming" your anniversaries when it is possible. This will make it easier to manage your licenses and simplify future renewals.

Now, there are some good practices...

A migration to the Data Center or the Cloud is also a great opportunity to review your processes and to optimize the configuration of your Atlassian tools. In case you have today several Server instances, with potentially Marketplace plugins: do not neglect the merging operations! Unless your budget is extensible, it is better to consider merging your instances to avoid paying several licenses.

And of course, audit your existing platforms: you may find that you have different plugins in place that offer the same functionality and not all of which will need to be carried over into the new hosting mode.

Why entrust the management of these licenses to SmartView, Atlassian's Platinum Partner?

As we have seen before, there are many rules that differ from one mode to another, and it is not always easy to find your way around.

With nearly 10 years of experience, our sales team masters the rules of the pricing policy of the editor. Each certified collaborator has the Atlassian Sales Accreditation.

Entrusting the management of your Atlassian licenses to SmartView has many advantages:

  • A unique interlocutor, whether it is for Atlassian licenses, the Marketplace or other editors. Thus, the administrative procedures are simplified.
  • French language: not all of our clients are bilingual and appreciate speaking French.
  • Payment in Euros: Payment in dollars incurs costs. There is no surprise with the fluctuation of the currency.
  • Advice and expertise on the plugins to subscribe to meet needs not covered by the standard features of the solution in place.
  • In a broader sense, advice on the range of users to subscribe.
  • Information communicated on possible changes in the editor's pricing policy (announcements of 16/10/2020 and 13/01/2022 on the costs of Server and Data Center licenses, of 09/09/2021 on Cloud products), security alerts and on the Atlassian roadmap.
  • Carrying out targeted budget projections.

Our goal: to help you make the most informed decision possible and to facilitate the transition from your perpetual Atlassian licenses to new annual licenses.

Aurélie ASSOULINE

Aurélie ASSOULINE

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Aurélie ASSOULINE

Aurélie ASSOULINE

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