Mike Austin, CEO of Metrix Data 360, explains Microsoft's license verification process, why it's voluntary, what happens if you're denied, and how to spot scams claiming to be from Microsoft.
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Hi, I'm Mike Austin, CEO of Metrix Data 360. A lot of the times I get an email that says something to this effect. Your organization has been selected to complete a Microsoft license verification process. Mike, what is that in today's video? I'm going to answer what is a Microsoft license verification process and what you need to do about it? The Microsoft license verification process quite often is a simple software asset management engagement. It's similar to an audit except for it is voluntary. You don't actually have to go through with it, although we tell people to be careful denying these as they may turn into a full audit. But proceed with caution if you turn down a software asset management engagement without a good excuse, it may end up turning into a full audit, which is probably something you don't want to have to go through. This process quite often may actually be self validation where you actually do the reporting yourself of what you have deployed in the licenses that you own without having a third party involved. Sometimes they will have a third party that comes in and creates an estimated license position for you, but that's not always the case. We have seen scams out there in the market around Microsoft license verification processes. A lot of the times we do get asked if these are real because they don't come from a Microsoft rep. They come from somebody quite often that has a V dash in their email address, so it might be V mikerosoft.com A V dash is a vendor within Microsoft and those should be taken seriously. If it's coming from any other email address except for Microsoft, you may want to be cautious as it likely is a scam. People ask me all the time Mike, do I have to follow through with this license verification? The answer is they are optional. But I always caution people to tread lightly if you're going to say no because you don't want this to turn into a full audit. If you say no, you want to make sure that you communicate a good reason to Microsoft as to why you're denying their request. If you need any help with regards to this ladder or the process that it involves, check the comments below. There's a link to one of our blog posts that has a lot of great information or feel free to reach out. We're happy to chat. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below. And don't forget to like or subscribe to our channel to get great content on software asset management. I'm Mike Austin. Until the next time, have a great day and I look forward to working with you, Sa.
