Procurement & Licensing

EA to MCA: Spot Legal Traps Updated: March 18, 2026 Finding the Most Common Pain Points Comparing the EA contract stack (fig. 1) and the...more SharePoint Embedded: Document Management Without SharePoint Updated: March 9, 2026 SharePoint Embedded provides storage in Microsoft 365 with built-in document management for custom apps but...more Demystifying Microsoft’s Copilots Updated: March 6, 2026 Copilot is an umbrella brand applied to a range of Microsoft technologies, most of which...more Microsoft 365 Education: Differs from Enterprise by Degrees Updated: March 2, 2026 Microsoft 365 Education offers most of the features included in commercial enterprise Microsoft 365 offerings, with...more Microsoft 365 Government: What’s in the Box? Updated: March 2, 2026 Microsoft 365 Government offers regulatory compliance, but at the cost of missing features, which are...more Azure: Know Reservations Updated: March 2, 2026 Azure reservations allow customers to reduce Azure costs in exchange for a one- or three-year...more And Acquisition for All: Microsoft 365 Self-Service Purchase March 2, 2026 Microsoft makes several services available for direct purchase by end users to promote adoption, circumventing...more Services Increasingly Expanding Beyond Microsoft 365 Suites Updated: February 27, 2026 New tiers of several Microsoft 365 core services are quite expensive and are not available...more VMware Rapid Migration Plan Loses Incentives: Some Benefits for Commitment Remain Updated: February 18, 2026 Note: Following a further extension of the deadline for the VMware Rapid Migration Plan to...more Comparing Paths for Licensing Microsoft 365—The Savings May Not Stack Up  Updated: January 18, 2026 Customers have numerous paths available for licensing Microsoft 365 services. Licensing subcomponents on an à...more Top Reasons to Use SQL Server 2025 and a Few Reasons to Avoid It January 14, 2026 SQL Server 2025 reached general availability in Nov. 2025 and offers compelling changes that should...more How to Apply Azure Reservations and Savings Plans Effectively January 10, 2026 Azure compute is typically the single largest cost category of resources that an organization will...more Free SQL Server Developer Edition Is Mostly for Demos Updated: January 2, 2026 SQL Server Developer edition is free for development and test use. Because the product requires...more Intune Premium License Tiers Still Not Worth It Updated: December 23, 2025 Two premium Intune tiers are now available, along with multiple à la carte features. Intune...more Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) Brings Discounts, Negotiation Leverage Updated: October 23, 2025 Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment is an agreement to spend a specified amount on Azure, typically...more Dynamics 365 License Compliance Enforcement Delayed to at Least Jan. 2026 October 20, 2025 Microsoft has delayed plans to lock the Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations front door from...more

Available Azure Reservations Updated: March 2, 2026 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plans Updated: March 1, 2025 Microsoft Defender for Servers Plans Updated: January 6, 2025

  Licensing Reference Azure Plan Azure plan is a billing construct for customers that purchase Azure through Cloud Solution Providers...more   Licensing Reference Azure Savings Plans Azure savings plans allow organizations to specify the amount of VM compute resources that will...more   Licensing Reference Azure Prepayment Azure Prepayment (formerly Azure Monetary Commitment), like Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC), is an agreement...more   Licensing Reference Online Services Suite Timeline Outlines major licensing and packaging changes to online services suites sold as User SLs (Subscription...more   Product Reference SharePoint Embedded SharePoint Embedded is document management infrastructure for custom apps.   Product Reference Microsoft 365 Archive Microsoft 365 Archive is a consumption service for storing inactive SharePoint and OneDrive sites   Licensing Reference Azure OpenAI Service An Azure service that enables developers to use large language models (LLMs) developed by OpenAI...more   Licensing Reference Office Desktop Suite Timeline Outlines major licensing and packaging changes to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Office Professional Plus,...more   Licensing Reference Spread Payments This SA (Software Assurance) benefit allows customers to spread the cost of a new perpetual...more   Licensing Reference Windows Server SA Benefits Summary of SA (Software Assurance) benefits associated with Windows Server, organized by high and low...more   Licensing Reference RDS User CAL Extended Rights This SA (Software Assurance) benefit lets customers use RDS User CALs and RDS User SLs...more   Licensing Reference Flexible Virtualization Benefit A SA (Software Assurance) benefit associated with all Microsoft software products that allows licenses to...more   Licensing Reference OneLake   Licensing Reference Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection A standalone online service that analyzes transactions and events in real-time and reports on potentially...more   Licensing Reference Entra ID An online service that provides identity and access management for Microsoft-hosted services such as Microsoft...more   Licensing Reference Fabric Data Engineering

Copilot   Fabric