The offerings of large cloud providers such as Microsoft are used by many SMEs, corporations, public administrations and organisations. The advantages, for example in terms of mobile and location-independent working, comfort and service quality, are convincing. Hardly any company can avoid having its own cloud strategy, especially since all the big players are vigorously placing their cloud products on the market and repeatedly enticing them with attractive introductory offers.
But rental software or "Software as a Service" (SaaS for short) is, apart from favourable switching offers, usually the luxury variant in terms of costs. The payments add up over time for each individual workstation - month after month, year after year. In addition, there is a high degree of financial dependency, as one has to accept significant price surcharges for lack of immediate alternatives, as the example of Microsoft currently shows. The announced increase in the price of cloud products in the first half of 2023 will have a noticeable impact of 10 - 15 percent on average.
Therefore, more and more IT managers are asking themselves how they can best strategically position themselves in this regard. One recognisable trend: Instead of the total cloud offers pushed by providers, so-called hybrid cloud solutions are becoming more and more popular.
Hybrid cloud solutions - combining cloud software and on-premise software
A hybrid cloud solution is understood to be a bespoke software suite that combines cloud and on-premise software in a customised way according to a company's specific needs. This allows costs to be saved every year without having to forego the central productivity advantages of the cloud.
To implement such a hybrid cloud solution, it is advisable to answer the following questions as precisely as possible within the company.
- How many employees or clients are permanently tied to the office?
- Where are on-premise licences sufficient?
- Which key features can also be provided by on-premise software?
- How much budget can we save annually with a hybrid cloud solution if we include used software?
Hybrid cloud solution - this is how you benefit from PREO licensing advice
As one of the pioneers in the European trade of used software, we are specialists for solutions that sustainably relieve the IT budget. With PREO, you benefit from more than 15 years of experience from the audit-proof transfer of well over one million used software licences, many of which in IT landscapes with hybrid cloud structures. Our licence experts advise you fairly, independently of manufacturers and in line with your specific situation.
4 reasons why you should consider a hybrid cloud solution
Despite low initial investments in cloud offerings, there are high, annually recurring total costs compared to on-premise.
Hybrid cloud solutions can sustainably reduce your fixed costs.
One advantage of cloud computing is the freedom for your employees to be productive for the company wherever they are. But are all your employees taking advantage of this?
Hybrid cloud solutions allow you to reduce costs by dividing the profiles according to use. Only what is effectively needed is available at each workstation.
Data protection and data security are becoming increasingly important and are particularly sensitive in some areas, as shown, for example, by our experience with customers from the health, insurance, finance or public sectors. To protect particularly sensitive data, it is sometimes necessary to be able to control the security strategy yourself.
Hybrid cloud solutions allow you to control the level of your data security yourself.
If you become too dependent on one vendor, you reduce your responsiveness. The development of your software landscapes are "dictated" from the outside, for example by price increases, as is currently the case with Microsoft, forced update cycles or changes in file formats.
With hybrid cloud solutions, you maintain a position with fallback options within your software landscape.
What forms of hybrid cloud solutions are there?
With Microsoft in particular, you now have many options for combining on-premise licences with cloud products. For example, E1 plans can be combined with used MS Office licences. The full cost savings usually occur after just a few months - after that, the sum of the savings continues to increase from month to month.
Are you already using cloud products from Microsoft, such as Office 365, or are you currently planning to switch to the cloud? But your considerations are not yet complete or you are sceptical about which cloud strategy is the right one for your company? The PREO licensing experts will be happy to advise you personally on the basis of your individual requirements.
Hybrid cloud solution examples: Savings through less cloud software
You have various options for reducing your cloud rental without having to completely forego the typical advantages of the cloud. One of the ways to do this is via customised hybrid cloud solutions that combine online resources and networked collaboration with used volume licences.
Example 1: A company from the special machinery industry with 2,200 seats wants to procure the necessary licences as needed. This involves 10 IT locations worldwide. The solution combines, among other things, an Office 365 E1 plan with used licences for Office 2016 and Windows 2016 Server CAL. The result is the functionality of an E3 plan, but without Office ProPlus.
Result: Without any loss in productivity, the company achieves a saving in the upper six-figure range. The investment pays for itself in the second year. Here you can find the entire customer case of the LMT Group.
Example 2: The private operator of over 150 healthcare facilities wants to use the end of support for various applications to save costs while maintaining the same level of performance. It achieves this by purchasing a comprehensive package of used licences, even adding functionality and making its IT infrastructure more agile.
Result: The company modernises its software landscape and achieves a cost saving of over 50 per cent. Click here for the customer case of the Asklepios clinics.
Hybrid cloud solution - we calculate your savings potential free of charge
It all sounds good, but without concrete numerical examples it is difficult to bring about or make decisions within a company. We will be happy to support you and calculate on the basis of various scenarios what you can approximately save by integrating used software licences into an existing cloud structure.
Hybrid cloud solution examples - on the way to the total cloud
Are you planning a complete migration from on-premise installations to cloud applications or do you want to further expand your cloud portfolio? In both cases, a free and non-binding consultation with the PREO licensing experts is worthwhile. We will show you how you can achieve significant financial benefits for your project. As in these two examples:
Example 1: A company with 1,200 employees wants to accelerate cooperation in marketing and customer service and strengthen the mobility of workplaces. After detailed consultation, it decides on a hybrid cloud solution including used licences.
Result: Estimated savings of over 352,000 EUR in the first three years compared to the total cloud solution.
Example 2: A company with 1,500 workstations in administration wants to move the Microsoft applications used there completely to the cloud. Should the previous volume licences be kept? No, they will lose value every year. PREO advises selling the entire stock of unused licences immediately.
Result: The IT budget suddenly has an almost 6-digit amount at its disposal. This can be used to finance further projects.
Selling unused on-premise licences - how to profit with PREO
Your company is switching partially or completely to cloud software and you would like to sell your unused on-premise licences. We would be happy to advise you precisely how to sell them to PREO in an audit-proof manner and at attractive conditions. Simply complete the contact form and we will calculate in advance what financial benefits you can expect.
Do you need information on hybrid software licensing?
Do you need information on hybrid software licensing? As a used software distributor, we specialise in solutions that are easy on the budget. Our licensing experts provide you with fair, manufacturer-independent advice that fits your specific situation.
Give us a call: +44 . 20 . 363 016 59
Product overview
Do you need a certain software package for your company or project?
Scroll through our product portfolio and find the right licence for you. Simply select the used software you need and add it to your enquiry list with one click.
To the product overview 
Customer cases
PREO customers report on their projects, objectives and savings. Read reports of experiences with various applications for used software.
To the overview of cases