Client

A partnership between Microsoft and the largest software distributor in CEE to modernize how schools, universities, and libraries acquire and manage digital content and software licenses.

Problem

Digital transformation created structural complexity in the procurement of software and educational content:

1. Fragmented vendor landscape
    Schools needed licenses from dozens of vendors (Microsoft, Adobe, ABBYY, Corel, Kaspersky, etc.), each with separate procurement workflows, billing systems, and contract terms.
2. No unified acquisition or licensing interface
    Institutions had to manage multiple portals, paper-based contracts, inconsistent entitlement models, and manual tracking of expenses.
3. Lack of end-to-end visibility for vendors
    Software publishers had no reliable, real-time insight into institutional purchases, license assignment, or usage.
4. No scalable distribution layer
    Serving tens of thousands of institutions required centralization, automation, and a secure entitlement backbone that could integrate with both Microsoft CSP and Softline’s ecosystem.

Softline and Microsoft needed a single operational layer capable of handling procurement, licensing, billing, and vendor integrations at continental scale.

Solution

The team delivered the licensing and entitlement backbone for a unified procurement portal operated by Softline, connected directly to Microsoft CSP and extendable to any participating software vendor.

1. Unified procurement portal for 40,000+ institutions

Softline created a central portal that:

• offers products from Microsoft and dozens of other software vendors
• enables schools and universities to acquire licenses through one interface
• supports purchase, rental, subscription, and hybrid models
• includes usage tracking and expense monitoring

This replaced fragmented procurement with a single controlled entry point.

2. Seamless integration with Microsoft CSP billing

Aggregion provided:

• direct integration with Microsoft’s CSP billing API
• automated issuance and reconciliation of Microsoft licenses
• consistent entitlement logic across multiple licensing models
• real-time synchronization of institutional purchases

Only a handful of companies worldwide were approved for direct CSP integration.

3. Licensing backbone for all vendors in Softline’s ecosystem

The same entitlement engine supported:

• Adobe
• ABBYY
• Corel
• Kaspersky
• other software partners managed by Softline

Each vendor retained full visibility and control over license activations at any level of granularity.

4. Bulk acquisition and redistribution for educators

Teachers could:

• purchase licenses in bulk
• allocate entitlements to students
• track activations and usage
• reassign licenses dynamically

This reduced administrative load for schools with limited IT capabilities.

5. Scalable multi-organization collaboration

The architecture allowed:

• Softline’s partners to become Aggregion clients automatically
• new vendors to plug in without new integrations
• continuous ecosystem expansion (“snowball effect”)

This turned the procurement portal into a multi-sided licensing network.

Outcome

The system became one of the most extensive educational procurement infrastructures in the region:

• 40,000+ schools, universities, and libraries gained access through one portal
• flexible acquisition models: purchase, rental, subscription
• vendors received real-time, per-license visibility
• Softline processed growing volumes through the entitlement engine
• 1.5% of Softline’s licensing revenue now flows through Aggregion’s technology
• partners in Softline’s network became automatic adopters of the licensing backbone

The project has been running continuously since September 2017.