Independent Microsoft audit defence. 150+ SAM engagements. 60–85% typical claim reduction.
A Microsoft SAM engagement letter is not a neutral compliance review. Microsoft's Software Asset Management process is a commercial operation: structured to identify licence gaps and convert them into purchase orders, true-up payments, or EA expansion. The initial compliance figure Microsoft's audit firm presents is almost always inflated — by miscounted deployments, incorrect product use rights interpretation, and aggressive licensing assumptions that organisations accept without challenge. With independent expert defence, clients consistently reduce Microsoft's initial claim by 60–85%.
Microsoft audit defence is the independent process of challenging every element of Microsoft's SAM engagement: the methodology used to count deployed licences, the product use rights interpretations applied to your configurations, the entitlement offsets Microsoft has not credited, and the settlement figure Microsoft presents as the result.
Microsoft's SAM process is asymmetric by design. Microsoft's audit firm uses Microsoft's own tools, applies Microsoft's most restrictive product use rights interpretations, and presents findings under time pressure designed to limit the organisation's ability to build a counter-analysis. Most organisations that respond to Microsoft SAM engagements without independent expert support pay materially more than their actual compliance gap requires.
The three most consistently productive areas of Microsoft audit defence are: deployment counting methodology challenges, where Microsoft's tools over-count through virtual environment misinterpretation; entitlement offset recovery, where historical licences, downgrade rights, and SA benefits reduce the gap; and product use rights analysis, where Microsoft's default interpretation is contractually challengeable.
Microsoft also uses SAM engagements tactically ahead of EA renewals. Our Microsoft EA optimisation service addresses the renewal dimension separately, ensuring audit resolution and EA terms are negotiated independently.
The first 30 days of a Microsoft SAM engagement are the most consequential. Microsoft's audit firm pushes for rapid data submission and compressed timelines. We take control from day one: reviewing every data request, establishing the audit scope against your contractual obligations, managing all communication on your behalf, and setting the timeline on your terms. On a recent healthcare engagement, our immediate intervention prevented the client from submitting SQL Server deployment data that would have increased the claim by £1.8M.
Before Microsoft's audit firm completes their analysis, we conduct our own. We inventory your Microsoft estate using your actual deployment data, apply the correct product use rights for every configuration, identify every available entitlement offset, and produce an independent compliance position that gives us the foundation for challenging Microsoft's findings with a fully documented counter-analysis.
We review Microsoft's audit findings in detail: challenging deployment counts where Microsoft's tools have over-reported, disputing product use rights interpretations where the contractual position differs from Microsoft's default assumption, and applying every entitlement offset identified. For a financial services client, this methodology challenge reduced the claimed SQL Server and Windows Server gap from £5.6M to £1.2M before any commercial negotiation began.
We negotiate directly with Microsoft's audit team and commercial management to settle at the lowest figure the evidence supports. We manage the separation of audit settlement from EA commercial terms — ensuring Microsoft does not use audit resolution as leverage to pressure an inflated EA renewal. Following settlement, we implement compliance monitoring that prevents recurring exposure.
For M365 and Azure issues, or where an audit is being used as leverage ahead of EA renewal, our Microsoft contract negotiation service covers the commercial dimension in parallel.
Clients typically achieve a 60–85% reduction in Microsoft's initial SAM audit claim through methodology challenge, entitlement offset recovery, and settlement negotiation.
Settlement achieved on a £6.2M Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server audit claim for a healthcare system — an 85% reduction through methodology challenge and entitlement offset recovery.
Return on Redress advisory fee achieved across Microsoft audit engagements. The advisory cost is fixed before engagement begins, regardless of the size of Microsoft's initial claim.
Microsoft audit defence is the independent process of challenging Microsoft's SAM methodology, disputing inflated true-up claims, and negotiating settlements that reflect your actual licence position. You need it the moment you receive a SAM engagement letter.
Fixed-fee, agreed before engagement begins. Most clients achieve 60–85% reductions on Microsoft's initial audit claim, delivering 10–20x return on the advisory fee.
Typically three to nine months from initial notification to final settlement. Redress shortens this by taking control of data flow from day one and driving the settlement process.
Microsoft's SAM notification letter, any tools the audit firm has requested, your current EA documentation, and licence inventory data. Do not submit deployment data before speaking to us.
Yes. We regularly engage mid-audit and consistently identify methodology errors and entitlement offsets that materially reduce the exposure even with preliminary findings already issued.
Microsoft frequently presents audit settlement as contingent on purchasing additional products or signing an expanded EA. This is a commercial tactic, not a legal obligation. We separate the audit from the commercial conversation entirely.
If Microsoft has made contact, do not respond before speaking to us. The data you submit in the first SAM exchange sets the trajectory for the entire audit. Book a free 30-minute emergency consultation today.