Procurement & Licensing

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 EA to MCA Legal Terms and Strategy November 24, 2025 Microsoft is gradually phasing out the traditional Enterprise Agreement (EA)  that most customers use for...more Demystifying Microsoft’s Copilots Updated: October 27, 2025 Copilot-branded technologies from Microsoft assist users in completing tasks, but Microsoft overstates ROI. Almost all...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 Entra ID Group-Based License Management Helps Ease Licensing Administration Updated: October 19, 2025 Entra ID group-based license management can help organizations manage licenses for Microsoft services in a...more How to Track Azure Hybrid Benefit Use Rights for SQL Server Updated: September 8, 2025 Customers are responsible for ensuring they have the proper licenses to keep their Azure Hybrid...more How to Track Azure Hybrid Benefit Use Rights for Windows Server Updated: September 1, 2025 Customers are responsible for ensuring they have the proper licenses to keep their Azure Hybrid...more Who’s Who on a Microsoft Account Team Updated: August 15, 2025 Customers can save time and get better results from sales if they understand their Microsoft...more How to Choose Azure SQL Configurations That Meet Requirements and Control Costs August 5, 2025 Azure SQL services can host SQL Server databases using the same SQL Server database engine...more VMware Rapid Migration Plan: Some Benefits for Commitment Updated: August 4, 2025 Note: Microsoft has further extended the deadline to the VMware Rapid Migration Plan to Dec....more Microsoft 365 Education: Differs from Enterprise by Degrees Updated: July 23, 2025 Microsoft 365 Education offers most of the features included in commercial enterprise Microsoft 365 offerings,...more

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plans Updated: March 1, 2025 Available Azure Reservations Updated: February 16, 2025 Microsoft Defender for Servers Plans Updated: January 6, 2025

  Licensing Reference Power Apps Power Apps allows the creation of line-of-business apps by citizen developers (also referred to as...more   Licensing Reference Power Automate Power Automate is a low-code platform for developing, publishing, and running simple to moderately complex...more   Licensing Reference Power Pages Power Pages allows the creation of certain types of (typically external) Web sites without relying...more   Licensing Reference Copilot Studio Copilot Studio provides makers (also known as citizen developers) with low-code tools to build agents...more   Licensing Reference Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) demonstrates to Microsoft a customer’s plans for long-term Azure spending.   Licensing Reference Enterprise Subscription Enrollment An Enterprise Agreement option where all licenses purchased, including those for on-premises products, are subscriptions...more   Licensing Reference Online Services Suite Timeline Outlines major licensing and packaging changes to online services suites sold as User SLs (Subscription...more   Licensing Reference Enterprise Online Service A subscription-based online service that an EA customer commits to purchase under an Enterprise Enrollment...more   Licensing Reference Enterprise Product An on-premises product an EA customer commits to purchase under an Enterprise Enrollment or Enterprise...more   Licensing Reference Industry device A highly specialized computing device used solely to run specific industry or task-specific software; definition...more   Licensing Reference Qualified device Term used to describe general purpose PCs and Macs as well as some other personal...more   Licensing Reference Qualified User Term used to describe people who make significant use of Microsoft online services or on-premises...more   Licensing Reference Qualified User Exemption A product SKU attribute relevant to Enterprise Enrollments and Enterprise Subscription Enrollments; if all licenses...more   Licensing Reference MBSA An evergreen document that contains numerous terms and conditions applicable to EA (Enterprise Agreement) and...more   Licensing Reference Enrollment for Application Platform A now defunct EA (Enterprise Agreement) enrollment option that offered discounts on server-side licenses for...more   Licensing Reference Enrollment for Core Infrastructure A now defunct EA (Enterprise Agreement) enrollment option that offered considerable programmatic price discounts on...more

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