About · The practice

A practice built around the Microsoft estate.

The practice is organized by product line, not by client industry. Dedicated analysts cover Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, security and compliance, Windows and Server, developer tools, and Copilot. Each analyst maintains live benchmark data refreshed continuously from active engagements across the practice. The intelligence on what is being signed this quarter is current. The depth on each product line is real.

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How the practice is structured

Eight product lines. One commercial discipline.

Microsoft licensing complexity sits at the product line level. The negotiation discipline (anchor, posture, benchmark, structural language) is consistent across the estate. The practice runs eight product line teams that operate against a common commercial methodology, with cross practice escalation for engagements that span product lines or for novel commercial situations.

Product line 01

Microsoft 365.

E3, E5, F3, Business Premium, the add on stack (Defender, Purview, Teams Phone, Intune), and Copilot for M365. The largest single line by engagement count across the practice.

Product line 02

Azure.

EA and MCA E consumption commits, MACC structuring, reserved instances, savings plans, Azure hybrid benefit, Azure OpenAI. The fastest growing line by deal value across the practice.

Product line 03

Dynamics 365.

Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Finance, Supply Chain, Project Operations, Business Central. The product line with the highest variance in negotiated unit prices across the estate.

Product line 04

Power Platform.

Power BI Premium and Pro, Power Apps per app and per user, Power Automate, Power Pages, and the AI Builder credit stack. Capacity planning sits inside this practice.

Product line 05

Security & Compliance.

The full Defender suite, Sentinel SIEM, Intune endpoint, Entra ID P1 and P2, Purview governance. The line where M365 E5 attach versus add on attach is most contested.

Product line 06

Windows & Server.

Windows Server, SQL Server, RDS and Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365 Cloud PC, the CAL stack. The product line with the most legacy contract variation.

Product line 07

Developer tools.

Visual Studio subscriptions, GitHub Enterprise, Copilot Business and Enterprise, Azure DevOps Services. Smaller absolute spend but high concession variance.

Product line 08

Copilot & AI.

Copilot for M365, Copilot Studio, Azure OpenAI Service, the ROI assessment for enterprise pilots. The fastest moving line by Microsoft commercial policy shift.

How the practice operates

Live benchmarks. Buyer side only.

The practice operates against three operating principles that are non negotiable for the firm. Live benchmark refresh, buyer side only mandate, and named analyst accountability per engagement.

Operating principle 01

Live benchmark refresh.

The benchmark data the practice holds against any active engagement is refreshed quarterly from the practice’s active client engagements. We do not work from third party data. We do not extrapolate from public Microsoft pricing. We do not rely on customer self report. The intelligence is current and it is sourced from contracts we sat on the buyer side of.

Operating principle 02

Buyer side only.

No Microsoft partner relationship of any kind. No reseller margin. No Microsoft funding agreements. The practice earns exclusively from advisory engagements paid by the customer, and the engagement scope is documented before any work begins. The mandate is enforced by the firm’s structure, not by intent.

Operating principle 03

Named analyst accountability.

Every engagement is assigned a named lead analyst with a named back up. The lead is the customer’s direct contact through the engagement and is on the engagement from scoping through to closeout. We do not run engagement teams with rotating staff and we do not subcontract analyst work to third parties. The customer’s contact is the analyst doing the work, and the analyst’s name and credentials are documented in the engagement statement of work. We do not name analysts publicly on the site, but each client engagement letter identifies the named lead and back up explicitly.

More about the firm

Where to read next.

The methodology page explains the engagement framework in detail. The independence statement documents the firm’s structural separation from Microsoft.

Initiate engagement

Write before the quote becomes a position.

Two analyst calls. No pitch. We tell you what we would do, what the leverage actually is, and whether we are the right firm for this engagement.

Who we work for.Buyer side only. No reseller relationship with Microsoft. No partnership of any kind. We earn nothing from products sold or renewed, only from outcomes delivered against the contract.