Vendor Practice · Microsoft

Microsoft sells you a stack. We unbundle the bill.

Microsoft is the most complex commercial relationship most enterprises will ever sign — EA, MCA, MACC, NCE, M365, Azure, Dynamics, Copilot, GitHub. Every renewal is engineered to consolidate spend into Microsoft and lock it there. Our Microsoft practice is led by former Microsoft commercial executives who built the playbooks now used against you.

Microsoft practice areas

Where Microsoft buyers overpay.

Enterprise Agreement renewal

EA renewals are where Microsoft compounds price. We model the full stack — M365, Azure, Dynamics, Power Platform, GitHub — and negotiate the discount structure as a portfolio rather than letting each business unit settle line items in isolation.

Microsoft 365 E5 / E3 right-sizing

E5 is sold as a security and compliance suite but most enterprises use a fraction of the SKU. We map actual workload usage to entitlement and rebuild the licence mix — typically 25–40% E5 spend recoverable via E3 + add-on combinations.

Azure MACC commitments

Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments are sized by Microsoft sellers for Microsoft's revenue, not your consumption. We benchmark MACC tiers against real consumption history and engineer ramps that avoid the overcommit trap.

Copilot for Microsoft 365

Microsoft's Copilot pitch is all-employee, three-year, full-price. The defensible position is a scoped pilot with measurable value before any enterprise-wide commitment. We negotiate ramp commitments, per-seat caps, and exit terms.

NCE migration & true-up

New Commerce Experience changes cancellation economics and removes monthly flexibility. We model the cost delta versus legacy CSP, negotiate co-terming and price protections, and engineer true-up windows that don't punish growth.

SAM / BSA audits

Microsoft SAM Reviews, BSA cease-and-desist letters, partner-led compliance engagements. We have defended every Microsoft audit programme and routinely reduce claimed exposure by 60–80%.

Why buyers choose our Microsoft practice

Insider experience, buyer-side mandate.

Former Microsoft commercial

Our Microsoft practice leads include former senior account executives, licensing specialists, and EA negotiators. They know the internal discount-approval ladder, the fiscal-year pressure points, and the deal-desk escalation patterns.

Azure consumption analytics

We rebuild the Azure spend model from invoice data, identify orphaned resources, reserved-instance opportunities, and committed-use sizing errors. The savings funnel directly into MACC renegotiation.

Copilot pilot design

We have designed Copilot pilots that satisfy Microsoft's commercial pressure while preserving enterprise optionality. The clauses that matter are renewal price protection, seat reduction rights, and AI-output indemnification.

Cross-stack leverage

Microsoft's leverage is its breadth. So is yours. We coordinate competing-product threats — Google Workspace, AWS, Slack, Zoom, GitLab — to create credible alternatives that move Microsoft's discount approval.

Inline · talk to a senior advisor

EA renewal coming up?

Microsoft research library

Read before you sign.

All papers

Guide

Microsoft EA Negotiation Guide

42 pages — discount ladders, fiscal-year tactics, MACC structuring

→

Guide

Microsoft Copilot Enterprise Guide

Pilot design, contract clauses, ramp commitments

→

Handbook

Vendor Audit Defence Handbook

Step-by-step Microsoft SAM and BSA response guide

→

Framework

Cloud Contract Negotiation Framework

Azure MACC, AWS EDP, GCP CUD compared side by side

→

Recent outcomes

Where our work paid for itself.

All cases

Microsoft · Telco

$8.7M

Microsoft EA Optimization

E5 right-sized, MACC restructured, Copilot ramp negotiated.

EDP renegotiated against Azure alternative threat.

Read case study

Multi-vendor · Banking

$22M

Portfolio Renegotiation

Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, IBM, Salesforce coordinated.

Read case study

Questions

Frequently asked, frankly answered.

Do you negotiate Microsoft Enterprise Agreements?

Yes. EA renewal is our highest-volume Microsoft engagement. We model M365, Azure, Dynamics, and on-prem components together and negotiate the discount stack across the entire portfolio rather than line-by-line.

Can you defend a Microsoft SAM engagement or BSA audit?

Yes. SAM Reviews, BSA cease-and-desist letters, and partner-led compliance engagements all follow predictable patterns. We have defended every Microsoft audit programme and routinely reduce claimed exposure by 60–80%.

How should we evaluate Copilot for Microsoft 365?

Treat Copilot as a 12-month pilot, not a 3-year commitment. We help model user-level value, negotiate ramp commitments, and avoid the all-employee commitment Microsoft sales pushes by default.

What about Azure MACC commitments?

MACC sizing is where most enterprises overspend. We benchmark proposed MACC tiers against actual consumption history and engineer ramp structures that avoid the overcommit trap.

Do you advise on NCE migration?

Yes. NCE removes monthly flexibility for most SKUs and changes cancellation economics. We model the cost delta and negotiate co-terming and price protections during the migration window.

How do you bill on Microsoft engagements?

Fixed-fee, scoped by engagement. EA renewal is fixed-fee, audit defence is per-engagement, Azure optimization is scoped by spend. See /pricing/.

Microsoft sells you a stack. We unbundle the bill.

Where Microsoft buyers overpay.

Insider experience, buyer-side mandate.

EA renewal coming up?

Read before you sign.

Where our work paid for itself.

Frequently asked, frankly answered.

Microsoft EA in flight?
Reveal what the deal desk hides.

The Compliance Brief

Microsoft sells you a stack. We unbundle the bill.

Where Microsoft buyers overpay.

Insider experience, buyer-side mandate.

EA renewal coming up?

Read before you sign.

Where our work paid for itself.

Frequently asked, frankly answered.

Microsoft EA in flight?Reveal what the deal desk hides.

The Compliance Brief

Microsoft EA in flight?
Reveal what the deal desk hides.