Challenge.
The Swiss branch of Amnesty International has been working with Adobe solutions for many years, with software such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro and InDesign being used for picture and video editing and for the creation of publications. Then there’s Acrobat which is used for creating and editing electronic documents. Traditionally, packages such as Creative Suite or the stand-alone version of Acrobat were bought and licenced, but the transition to the now standard Creative Cloud and Acrobat DC solutions brought with it new licencing.
Instead of perpetual licences that are used on one device, the software is now licenced per user as a subscription. As a non-profit organisation, Amnesty was also interested in the most beneficial conditions possible, as Fabian Kaspar Head of IT Services/Infrastructure at Amnesty Schweiz explains. “For an NPO, an affordable price is everything because every franc we spend has been donated. We needed to be able to get the absolute most out of the software licences.” Another point was that licence handling needed to be as simple as possible. Although only about 15 employees at Amnesty Schweiz use Adobe creative solutions, ensuring software subscriptions are simple helps to reduce overall costs.
Solution.
Since 2008, Amnesty Schweiz had been purchasing Adobe products from Comsoft and the software specialist is now part of the Bechtle Group. When it came to the Creative Cloud licences, Bechtle was once again the software supplier of choice. Other software licensed in a subscription model such as Microsoft 365 were looked at says Fabian Kaspar. “But Bechtle delivered the best value for money and is big enough to know all about the complexities of licencing options”. What’s more, Bechtle also knows that manufacturers such as Adobe offer special conditions to charities and how to get hold of them. “We don’t need a partner who has to first find out about these things before being able to get a handle on the situation.” And this is why Amnesty Schweiz once again turned to Bechtle to procure the new licences.
Today, Amnesty Schweiz is using the Creative Cloud and Acrobat DC with a VIP licence model. VIP stands for Value Incentive Plan and describes a licencing model with variable-term subscriptions licensed per user, which can be used flexibly and always offer the latest software. Within the framework of the VIP model, Adobe offers special conditions for qualified charitable organisations, which makes the price comparable to that of education licences. Amnesty Schweiz purchases subscriptions for one year, checks if they still meet their requirements or if additional licences or products are needed.
Bechtle is an expert in all things licencing for charitable organisations, And that means a lot for us, as every franc spent comes from donations and these should first and foremost be used to directly benefit the work for human rights.
Business benefits.
Alongside the NPO discount and the support including with the subscription, Amnesty Schweiz also benefits from the VIP programme’s integrated online tool, which enables the licences and users to be managed with little effort. So, if an employee leaves the organisation during the year, their licence can easily be transferred to their successor and used for the remaining subscription period. “That’s very practical”, says Fabian Kaspar. “For subscription software, such a portal is indispensable and software retailers should offer something similar.” As the head of IT notes, Bechtle’s online marketplace Bechtle Clouds ticks all the boxes. Fabian Kaspar is very satisfied with his software partner. “Bechtle knows which manufacturers offer charity conditions and provides a great deal of support to its customers during procurement. I know other NGOs that could save a lot of money if they leveraged such a service for their software licences.”
Partner.
