Selling SAAS Subscriptions and Managed IT Support Services

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Posted on by DChambers

Hello BC Consultants,

If this has been answered before, I apology in advance, but cant find much information online about it.

We sell Subscriptions services/ Software licenses. (Example office 365 license) we bill monthly or annually for these services and also sell Managed IT Support services.

I am wondering with to regard to items, what is best practice. Would I be right to use "Non Inventory item for the Software subscriptions as we don't need to track inventory and use service items for the Managed IT Support services as the Managed IT Support services is similar to unit of time and maybe in the future we might upgrade license to use the service contract but we also don't want to track inventory for IT Support agreements.

I have an essential BC license so wont be using service contracts which I know can be used as part of service items so not sure if their is any limitations for using service items with an essential license.

Also to note I plan to use Sales Hub integration with BC. I have tested both non inventory item and service item and both couple to products without issue in Sales Hub.

Am i best to not use service items at all and use non inventory for software subscriptions and managed IT Support. I have tested both non inventory and service items, and they both seem to work and I cant seem to see any difference.

I read one post back in 2017, where it was suggested that best practice for software subscriptions is to use inventory item but I think a non inventory item might work best as I wont be tracking inventory and seems less complicated for me to use. Also we only order software licenses when we sell licenses. so rarely have extra licenses available from our Vendor but looking for best practice advice so open to all items!

Any advice, is very much appreciated.

Kind Regards

David

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Marco Mels on at

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Hello,

In video to be seen via:

usedynamics.com/.../

It is written that non-stock inventory items are considered to be seen as water and electricity needed internally but still part of the process.

More information here:

docs.microsoft.com/.../service-how-to-create-service-contracts-and-service-contract-quotes

Thanks.

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DChambers 50 on at

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Thanks Marco for message. Yep I seen that link already but I have seen non inventory been used as subscription items. Do you have any subscription items or are they all physical stock.

Kind Regards

David

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DChambers 50 on at

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Forgot to say Marco, Do you think for software subscriptions, I should use Inventory items even if I am not tracking inventory?

If anyone else has setup subscription items, I be interested to know what item type people are using.

Kind Regards

David

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Marco Mels on at

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Hello,

It depends on what you or your customer want. If I personally go to a shop and buy a license for Office 365 (subscription), I actually get a box with a sticker which shows the license and a thank you note from Microsoft. At home I activate the license and throw away the box. I keep a photo of the license key though.

In the past I worked with companies that kept the software boxes though they were empty because of possible license verification by control officers / agencies , etc. That was years ago. At that point it was actual stock though empty boxes.

I am interested as well what others would have to say. We from Microsoft only work with demo data, looking forward to hear how others setup their business.

Thanks a lot.

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DChambers 50 on at

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Hi Marco,

Yes a lot of the software is now just electronically supplied to end user, no physical box. I am also interested to hear how other partners are managing software subscriptions with the use of items.

For a small company especially, non inventory item makes the most sense I think especially when you don't need to track stock levels on software items.

Kind Regards

David

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Community Member on at

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I think it depends on one person to another or what is the purpose of the purchase. When I was searching for it support for small businesses just like mine, I wanted to see something tangible, and for me, it was important to have that one box where I could physically see the license key. I think it's just because I wanted to ensure everything would be ok, at least from this point of view. But now, as I have a specialist in my team that cares about this, I do not even worry. For me, there is no more importance if it's tangible or only available online. So it would help if you decided for yourself while ensuring that customers will trust any of the options you offer.

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Amit Baru 3,037 on at

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Hi,

Pls managed al the above things by using G/L Account in Sales Order. I think this is the simple and clear method.

Regards

Amit Sharma

www.erpconsultors.com

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Inge M. Bruvik 1,105 Moderator on at

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Non inventory item or service items are the best options here. If you use G/L accounts in your sales orders you will not get any sales statistics that will be nice to have as soon as you reach some volume on your transactions.

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juliasiren 7 on at

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Suppose you're using an essential BC license. In that case, you won't be able to use service contracts as part of service items, but service items themselves should still work. Also, it's great that you're planning on using Sales Hub integration with BC, which can streamline your sales process.One thing to remember is that IT security should be considered in both your software subscriptions and managed IT support services. It's a highly demanded niche and can add value to your offerings. You may want to check out https://www.nwitservices.com for more information on IT security services.

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DChambers 50 on at

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This is correct. I use both service items and non- inventory items doe SaaS Subscriptions and IT Support Services.

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