Microsoft: Expect Capacity Constraints, CapEx Acceleration to Continue

It looks like Microsoft customers should expect continuing cloud capacity constraints and hefty Microsoft capital expenditure spending for the foreseeable future.   Microsoft closed out its fiscal 202...

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Microsoft's Latest Security Play: Project Perception

Just three years after introducing its AI-centric security offering, Security Copilot, Microsoft is rolling out a new end-to-end security platform called “Project Perception.” Perception will go into ...

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Microsoft Launches Its Own Forward Deployed Engineering Unit, the 'Frontier Company'

Microsoft already operates a number of consulting businesses. But on July 2, it announced a new one: The Microsoft Frontier Company, which will be focused on helping customers design, deploy, and run ...

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Understanding M365 E7: The Three Risks Behind the $99 Price Point

On May 1, Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 E7 at $99 per user per month. From the start, there was reason to suspect that number was an opening position, not the whole picture.  Two months in, the e...

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Microsoft’s Copilot Cowork Gets Model Choice Plus Usage-Based Billing

Microsoft’s Copilot 365’s Cowork feature, which is generally available worldwide as of June 16, will offer customers a choice of models and won’t be solely Anthropic-based as it is currently.  Microso...

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Azure MACConomics: Is a MACC Worth It at Any Discount?

There is a question Microsoft Azure customers are only now beginning to ask. It comes after consumption data has been gathered, forecasts assembled, growth plans documented. A commitment figure sits o...

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Microsoft’s AI Strategy: Platform Control Over Short‑Term ROI

Build 2026 got me thinking, even more than usual, about Microsoft’s AI strategy.  Microsoft is not trying to win with the shiniest toys (although the Surface RTX Spark looks nice!). It’s working to po...

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Build 2026: Microsoft Pushes the Agent Envelope with Android Devices, New Windows PCs

Last year’s Microsoft Build developer conference focused heavily on agents. But this year’s Build, which kicked off June 2, is almost entirely agent-focused.  Microsoft is working to position everythi...

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EA to MCA Migration: Your Four-Point Compliance Checklist

Microsoft no longer wants midsize enterprises on the Enterprise Agreement (EA). The de facto floor for an EA renewal has been creeping upward for years, and customers in the 2,500-to-10,000 user band....

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Understanding M365 E7: Beware the Step-Up Offer

Microsoft rarely releases a new enterprise suite. M365 E5 arrived almost a decade ago, and nothing of comparable significance has followed until now. M365 E7 is not an incremental upgrade. It is a pla...

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Understanding M365 E7: Beware the Step-Up Offer

Microsoft rarely releases a new enterprise suite. M365 E5 arrived almost a decade ago, and nothing of comparable significance has followed until now. M365 E7 is not an incremental upgrade. It is a pla...

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Microsoft To Make Azure Linux a Full Commercial Distribution

In a move some may find surprising — and others not so much — Microsoft plans to make Azure Linux 4.0 a full, commercially available Linux distribution optimized for Azure. Microsoft officials reveale...

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Microsoft’s Multiple Equivalent Offer (MEO): How to Avoid the Trap Before Your Next Renewal

If your Enterprise Agreement is up in the next twelve months, your Microsoft account team is going to put a Multiple Equivalent Offer (MEO) on the table. They will pitch this MEO (sometimes also calle...

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Your Next EA Renewal: What's Hiding in Your Azure Bill?

Microsoft 365 used to be one bill. It isn’t anymore. Most organizations treat their Enterprise Agreement (EA) and their Azure agreement as two separate ledgers. Different contracts, different cycles, ...

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The Empty Chair and Brain Drain: Welcome to Your New EA Negotiation Reality

The people you’ve known inside Microsoft who have a knack for getting concessions and discounts approved may not be around much longer. Some are weighing whether to take the new “Rule of 70” voluntary...

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How to Avoid the Three Most Expensive Words in a Microsoft Audit

There are three words you should never say to a Microsoft auditor: “I don’t know.” Not because honesty is bad. But in a Microsoft audit, those three words don’t just leave a question unanswered. They ...

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Microsoft's Q3 FY26 Take-Aways: Consumption Pricing Is Coming Sooner Rather Than Later

Microsoft officials have said repeatedly that they believe customers one day will license software agents the same way they do humans. But during Microsoft’s Q3 FY26 earnings call on April 29, Microso...

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Microsoft, OpenAI Amend Their Agreement Again

Microsoft and OpenAI have amended their partnership agreement yet again. While Microsoft will remain OpenAI’s primary cloud partner and OpenAI products will ship first on Azure unless Microsoft is una...

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Your Next EA Renewal: A Multidimensional Agreement Demands a New Strategy

For most large organizations, the Enterprise Agreement (EA) renewal has always demanded serious preparation: commercial modeling, usage analysis, and negotiation strategy. Within a familiar framework,...

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Your Next EA Renewal: Why Your M365 Roadmap Is the Key to Negotiation

Microsoft 365 is not simply the largest licensing component of the Enterprise Agreement (EA). It also is the place where Microsoft can most clearly read where you are heading — what you are adopting, ...

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New Marketplace Introduces Competitive Bidding for Microsoft 365 Licensing

LicenseBids platform connects businesses purchasing Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace subscriptions with Cloud Solution Providers through an RFQ marketplace

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Major M365 Copilot Changes Coming April 15

If you use M365 Copilot, or more specifically Copilot Chat, get ready for a number of changes on April 15   Microsoft announced in the M365 Admin Message Center two significant changes to Copilot Chat...

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