Typical savings of 25–50 per cent can be achieved on the total cost of SQL Server environments
SoftwareOne and the Finnish database specialist firm DB Pro Services have launched a partnership that combines SoftwareOne’s SAM and ITAM expertise with DB Pro’s database performance and capacity analysis. The aim is to help organisations identify and realise the hidden potential for savings within their Microsoft SQL Server environments. Of the more than 200 optimisation projects carried out by DB Pro, 98 per cent have yielded significant savings, typically amounting to 25–50 per cent of the total costs of the environment.
The timing is no coincidence. Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 ended in July 2026, and thousands of organisations are currently migrating their databases to newer platforms or to the cloud. Migration is often carried out by transferring the environment as it stands, which means that the old over-provisioning is also carried over – now billed on a monthly basis.
Why are we failing to find savings?
It is not a question of negligence, but rather that these two essential perspectives are held by different people within organisations. Software Asset Management (SAM/ITAM) provides an overview of what the organisation owns, what is installed and the current contractual status. It does not indicate whether the workload actually requires the number of processors and cores for which the licences were purchased.
However, this is precisely what the cost of SQL Server is tied to, as licensing is core-based. The scale is significant: the five-year lifecycle cost of a typical two-processor SQL Server server is over 600,000 euros, and in a ten-server environment, the figure is already over six million.
On the other hand, standard performance metrics do not reveal overprovisioning either. An environment may appear perfectly healthy in the monitoring view whilst being provisioned at twice the required capacity. A green status does not indicate whether more capacity is being purchased than is actually needed.
What are the benefits of cooperation?
Through this collaboration, SoftwareOne’s SAM and ITAM expertise is combined with DB Pro’s database performance and capacity analysis, which utilises the company’s patented AI-assisted SQL Governor technology.
The analysis is based on actual usage data collected over a sufficiently long period, taking into account daily, weekly and monthly fluctuations as well as seasonal peaks. In addition to SQL Server licences, the calculation also includes costs for Windows Server, virtualisation platforms, other software and hardware, and the final result is presented in euros.
The combination of these two perspectives answers a question that neither can answer on its own: how much SQL Server capacity does the organisation actually need, and how much of the current cost can be eliminated without compromising service levels?
“We have been helping our clients optimise their software costs for a long time. In our experience, SQL Server is an area where licences and contracts are often in order, but technical sizing is easily overlooked. Optimising licence pricing alone is not enough if the environment is over-provisioned. With DB Pro’s expertise, we are able to show the client not only the most cost-effective licensing model but also the environment’s actual capacity requirements. This gives the customer certainty regarding both the correct price and the right-sized infrastructure. — Georgios Stergakis, Director of Delivery & Cloud Services, SoftwareOne Oy”
“In two hundred projects, we’ve seen the same pattern: the environment was sometimes sized for peak load, a safety margin was added on top of that, and then migrations were carried out without anyone stopping to ask whether all of this was still needed. Now that SQL Server 2016 migrations are underway, that same over-provisioning is moving to the cloud, where it’s paid for every month.” — Timo Lindström, CEO, DB Pro Services Oy
The partnership began on 1 August 2026 and covers SoftwareOne’s customers in Finland.
About DB Pro Services | DB Pro Services is a Finnish specialist firm in data and database platforms and forms part of the DB Pro Group. The company employs 25 certified Microsoft Data Platform and Business Intelligence specialists in Helsinki. DB Pro Services has carried out over 200 database environment optimisation projects and developed the patented SQL Governor technology for capacity and cost analysis in SQL Server environments. www.dbproservices.fi | www.sqlgovernor.com
About SoftwareOne | SoftwareOne is a global provider of software and cloud solutions that helps organisations procure, build and manage their technology environments. The combined entity, comprising the company and Crayon, which merged with it in 2025, employs around 13,000 experts in over 70 countries. SoftwareOne is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the ticker symbol SWON. www.softwareone.com
Further information
Timo Lindström, Toimitusjohtaja, DB Pro Services, timo.lindstrom@dbproservices.fi
Georgios Stergakis, Director of Delivery & Cloud Services, SoftwareOne, georgios.stergakis@softwareone.com
