Make your Microsoft renewal a decision, not a default.
An independent review of your Microsoft agreement structure, licence position and consumption, delivered in time to act on it rather than after the renewal has already been signed.
AIM Offer 07
Renewal arrives, the quote is higher, and there is no time to do anything about it.
Microsoft's commercial model has changed materially, and the structure that suited an organization three years ago may not be the right one now. Effective 1 November 2025, Microsoft removed the automatic volume discount levels that previously applied to Online Services under Enterprise Agreements, so many organizations now face Level A pricing regardless of size at their next renewal. Organizations mid-term keep their current pricing until the agreement ends, which means the impact arrives all at once.
The practical problem is timing. Renewal evaluation needs roughly nine to twelve months of lead time to change anything. Most organizations start the conversation at ninety days, when the only remaining option is to sign.
An independent position on structure, tier and consumption.
AIM reviews your current Microsoft estate: what you hold, what is deployed, what is actually used, and what your agreement structure costs relative to the alternatives. We assess whether CSP, an Enterprise Agreement or a Microsoft Customer Agreement suits your size, growth pattern and operating model, and where tier changes would serve you better than the current allocation.
The uncomfortable part of this work is usually assignment: licences held by people who left, premium tiers assigned to roles that do not need them, and capability already owned but never deployed, which is often the largest single finding.
AIM is a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider. We state that directly rather than presenting this as vendor-neutral advice, and where the analysis says your current structure is the right one, that is what the report will say.
What you receive
- A full licence position covering entitlements held, deployed and actively used
- An assignment analysis identifying unused, over-tiered and orphaned licences
- An agreement structure recommendation comparing CSP, EA and MCA-E against your profile
- A capability gap analysis identifying licensed capability not yet deployed
- A renewal timeline with the decision points and the lead time each one requires
- A transition plan where a change of structure is recommended, including migration sequencing
- A cost model covering the current position, the recommended position and the difference
Business outcomes
- A renewal position established with enough lead time to act on it
- Spend reduced where licences are unused or over-tiered
- Capability already paid for put into use rather than purchased again
- An agreement structure matched to how the organization actually buys and grows
Is this you?
- Your Microsoft renewal is inside twelve months and the evaluation has not started
- Your renewal quote came back materially higher and you do not have a clear reason why
- You suspect you are paying for licences nobody uses
- You have been told to move from EA to CSP and want an independent assessment first
- Premium licensing is assigned broadly without a policy behind the assignment
- You do not have a current, reliable picture of what you hold
How it starts
A working session with the IT and procurement owners together. We establish your renewal date, current structure and the last time the estate was reviewed independently.
The optimization review is fixed-scope. It is most valuable nine to twelve months before renewal, and least valuable at ninety days, which is when most organizations ask for it.