Most Microsoft licensing consultants are resellers with an advisory brochure. Their economics improve when your spend grows. We are an independent buyer side practice: no reseller margin, no Microsoft partnership, no incentive on what you buy. The consulting engagement exists to reduce what you pay and to hold the reduction through signature. $420M+ recovered for clients across 340+ engagements. 79 percent average reduction in audit exposure.
The title covers three different businesses, and buyers routinely hire the wrong one. Resellers and CSP partners offer free licensing consulting because the recommendation ends in a purchase order they margin. Microsoft partners offer funded assessments because Microsoft pays them to expand consumption. An independent consultant is paid by the buyer alone, holds no reseller agreement and no partner incentive, and can therefore recommend the smaller number.
The work itself is specific. Reconciling entitlement against consumption to establish what the estate actually needs. Benchmarking pricing against concession bands from comparable signed contracts. Structuring the negotiation calendar so competitive leverage exists when Microsoft prices the deal. Managing audit and compliance events so they close at defensible numbers. And papering protections, price holds, ramp schedules, exit language, that survive the term.
Every engagement across this practice is buyer side. The disclosure that governs the firm sits in the footer of every page on this site: independent, and not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation. What that independence is worth is measurable: $420M+ in recovered spend across 340+ engagements, and a 79 percent average reduction in audit financial exposure.
Renewal engagements are the flagship. The practice takes position 9 to 12 months before EA or MCA E signature, builds the consumption baseline, sets the concession agenda, and negotiates alongside procurement through close. The full method is described at EA renewal negotiation.
Audit and compliance engagements run on the audit clock, from engagement letter to settlement, using the defense posture described at audit defense. Assessment engagements front run either event: a four to six week subscription assessment that establishes the effective license position and the savings map before any negotiation opens.
For enterprises that treat Microsoft as a continuous negotiation, the advisory retainer keeps the practice on call across renewal cycles, audit notices, M&A events, and Microsoft policy changes. Benchmarking support, peer concession data from signed contracts, is available inside any engagement or standalone through Microsoft benchmarking.
Ask five questions before signing any consulting agreement in this category. Who pays you, and does any compensation flow from Microsoft, a reseller, or a distributor. Show me anonymized outcomes with the method behind the numbers, not logos. Who exactly will run my engagement, and how many Microsoft negotiations has that team closed in the last year. What data will you need from my estate, and how quickly does the assessment produce a defensible number. And what happens at signature: does the consultant stay accountable through close, or hand off a slide deck.
Disqualifiers are simpler. A consultant who will also sell you the licenses. A funded assessment underwritten by Microsoft. Savings claims quoted as percentages with no engagement count behind them. And any reluctance to put independence in writing.
The practice publishes its working method openly across this site, from effective license position to audit response, precisely so buyers can evaluate the thinking before the first call.
The numbers the practice publishes are firm level and drawn from signed outcomes. $420M+ in cumulative client savings across Microsoft renewals, true ups, and audit settlements. 340+ engagements delivered across Fortune 500, mid market, regulated, and public sector estates. 79 percent average reduction in audit financial exposure across formal compliance reviews. 20+ years of combined practice depth across the Microsoft estate.
Representative engagements are published as anonymized case studies, each stating the starting position, the method, and the signed result. Recent examples include a $140M EA renewal reduced 37 percent for a Fortune 100 financial institution, an 82 percent audit exposure reduction in financial services, and a $21M Azure optimization in manufacturing.
Independent consulting in this category is typically priced as a fixed fee scoped to the engagement, an assessment, a renewal cycle, an audit defense, or an annual retainer, and sized against the contract value at stake. The commercial test that matters is the ratio of fee to recovered spend. Across this practice the recovered amount has exceeded the fee in every published engagement band, and the assessment phase establishes the expected range in writing before any negotiation work is committed.
Nine to twelve months before signature. Microsoft builds its renewal position early, and the consumption baseline, benchmark data, and competitive alternatives that create leverage all take time to assemble. A consultant engaged in the final eight weeks can still move terms, but the largest documented reductions come from engagements that started before Microsoft issued its first proposal.
Audit defense is where independent consulting shows its clearest measurable value. Across 47 formal compliance reviews defended by this practice, the average reduction against opening findings is 79 percent. Auditor findings are priced at list against the most conservative reading of the rules; most of the movement comes from methodology challenges and entitlement rereads that in house teams rarely have the reference data to run.
A reseller earns margin on the licenses you buy, so its consulting exists to support a transaction. An independent consultant is paid only by you and earns nothing from Microsoft, a distributor, or a partner program. The practical difference shows up in the recommendation: a reseller cannot durably recommend that you buy less, renew later, or walk away. Independence is the entire product.
Yes. The practice runs as an extension of the buyer team: procurement holds the commercial relationship, legal holds the paper, and the consultant supplies the licensing depth, the benchmark data, and the negotiation sequencing. Deliverables are drafted so they can be tabled with Microsoft directly, and the engagement closes with the knowledge transferred, not held back for renewal dependency.
EA renewal negotiation · Audit defense · Subscription assessment · Benchmarking · Case studies · About the practice
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.
Engagements are fixed fee, scoped in writing before work begins, and sized against the contract value at stake. The first two analyst calls carry no fee and no obligation. No compensation flows to the practice from Microsoft, resellers, or distributors. Full commercial terms are on the contact page.