Buy used software licences audit-proof and cut your licence costs by up to 70%

Rising vendor prices are putting IT budgets under significant pressure. Alongside Microsoft’s regular price adjustments, the changes at VMware following its acquisition by Broadcom in particular have confronted many companies with considerable additional costs and new subscription models. What used to be stable and predictable is becoming increasingly expensive and inflexible.

As a result, used software licences are attracting more and more attention. With savings of up to 70 per cent, used software licences for Microsoft, VMware, Oracle or Adobe offer an economically sound alternative.

100% audit security

With PREO’s Safe3-verified licences, all of our customers have passed their vendor audits without any issues. Drawing on many years of experience, we know exactly what vendors require and check every licence for its origin and legal certainty.

Up to 70% savings

One-off costs with no hidden or recurring fees. With our used software licences, you regain control of your IT budget.

Complete documentation

The chain of rights, licence keys and all further information on the licences you have acquired are included in the documentation provided to you on purchase.

Legally recognised under EU law

Since the 2012 ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union, trading in used software licences has been legally recognised in the EU. With our expertise, we have already transferred more than 1 million licences with full legal certainty.

Asklepios: More than 50% cost savings

“We saved more than 50 per cent of the costs. A very good result.” - Christian Schmidt, Managing Director, Asklepios IT-Services Hamburg GmbH

Swedex: Breaking out of the cloud cost spiral

“Anyone who wants to leave the cloud and is looking for savings should put used software at the top of their list.” - Markus Schlichting, Head of IT, Swedex

Nehlsen AG: KPMG audit passed

"At no point did I have any doubts about buying licences from PREO. The result of the audit confirmed this.” - Axel Plaßmeier, Head of Systems and Networks, Nehlsen AG

Landeskrankenhaus Andernach (public hospital, Germany): EU-wide public tender

“We have to make sure that these are genuine licences – and not sham rights.” - Stefan Bach, Head of IT, Landeskrankenhaus Andernach

All references and customer case studies can be found here.

Our used software originates 100 percent from transparent sources. All licences come exclusively from the EU. Our partners are companies that no longer need their licences for a variety of reasons.

Used software licences from PREO mostly originate from:

• Insolvencies
• Reduction of departments or restructuring
• Over-licensing
• Migration projects
• Change to new versions or open source software
• Changeover to cloud offers and rental models

In any case, we check all records of the initial purchase and obtain written confirmation of the deletion of the software on the seller's computer.

If you buy your used software licences from PREO, you are contractually equal to the first licence holder. You will therefore also receive all manufacturer updates of earlier programme versions without any problems, provided the official end of manufacturer support has not yet been reached. Important for you: As a PREO customer, you enjoy all the advantages of a legally secure licence transfer and therefore also receive the subsequent software updates and improvements.

In order to benefit from the financial advantages of used software licences, the audit-proof design of the entire process is the decisive prerequisite. That is why security and compliance in licence transfer are our top priorities:

• You receive used software from us in the form of volume licences that were previously owned by another company and can be transferred to your company through us in a cost-effective and legally secure manner.
  
• Our offer includes current and older programme versions of standard software. The manufacturers are market-leading companies such as Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle or Citrix.
  
• You will receive from PREO not only general assurances of the legality of the transaction, but also all the necessary documents that document the change of ownership in an audit-proof and transparent manner.
  
• PREO also supports software projects with advice on licence optimisation and implementation planning in your company.
  
  

The direct advantage of used software licences lies in the high price advantages and the associated savings, without your employees missing functions at the respective workstation that are necessary for the completion of their tasks. Further strategic advantages arise from the optimised cost structure:

• You permanently relieve your IT budget: The high cost savings enable investments in other areas that are currently more urgent for your company or can contribute to value creation.
  
• You avoid over-engineering: The company-wide rollout of overloaded software with surplus functions is unnecessary if, for example, previous versions are already more than sufficient for the existing software requirements.
  
• They record fewer support events: As a rule, older software is more mature. Usually it has already been updated several times, runs more stable and the application possibilities are known. This relieves your user support and contributes to optimising the productivity of your employees.
  
  

As a CTO, IT buyer or SA manager, you depend on a reliable and credible partner who offers you legally and thus audit-proof transfer processes when purchasing used software licences. Transactions carried out by us are legally compliant within the framework of EU requirements and the subsequent BGH rulings from 2013 and 2014. With us, you will pass all possible audits because there are no gaps in your documentation and all previous owners are fully and transparently documented. In addition to the legally compliant purchase of your software licences, you benefit from the personal advice of our licensing experts, so that you can actually achieve the high savings that can be achieved in your practice today through intelligent licensing strategies.

Are you interested in buying used software licences for your company, but are not quite convinced yet? Then take a look at our reference projects, which we have already successfully realised for numerous customers.