Microsoft's product portfolio is the most complex licensing environment in enterprise software. M365, Azure, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Copilot — the subscriptions accumulate, usage diverges from entitlement, and the True-Up arrives with a bill nobody budgeted for. Our Microsoft licence optimisation service gives you a clear picture of what you are paying for, what you are actually using, and where the savings are.
The Microsoft True-Up lands in the finance team's inbox and nobody can explain the number. The EA was signed three years ago, M365 seats have been added and subtracted without a central record, Azure spend has crept past the committed consumption figure, and the Copilot deployment from last quarter has generated a £2M annual commitment that 40% of users have never activated. This is the standard Microsoft licensing situation for large enterprises — not an edge case. This page explains what professional Microsoft licence optimisation involves, how Redress Compliance approaches it, and what outcomes clients achieve.
Microsoft licence optimisation is the structured process of aligning your Microsoft licensing position to your actual consumption needs — eliminating waste, reclaiming entitlements, and restructuring your commercial agreements to reduce total spend without disrupting operations. It covers the full Microsoft stack: Enterprise Agreement, M365, Azure, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Copilot, and on-premises software.
Microsoft's pricing model creates multiple vectors for overspend. M365 subscriptions are typically purchased at a point in time and never reviewed against actual usage. Azure commitments are set at deal signature, then cloud usage patterns shift and the committed capacity no longer matches consumption. Dynamics 365 and Power Platform licences accumulate as projects come and go. And the EA True-Up, meant to reconcile actual deployment against committed quantities, often results in an inflated uplift because nobody has audited the deployment data before Microsoft's team arrives.
The organisations that get this wrong are not careless. Microsoft's volume licensing rules — particularly the interaction between on-premises licences, cloud subscriptions, Hybrid Benefit, and the various Step-Up and Add-On structures — are genuinely complex. Most IT procurement teams do not have a Microsoft-dedicated specialist. Microsoft's account teams do. That knowledge gap drives the overspend.
Our Microsoft Knowledge Hub covers the full landscape of Microsoft commercial models — from EA True-Up mechanics to Azure Reserved Instance strategy and the M365 Copilot deployment framework.
We start with a full estate review: every Microsoft agreement, subscription, on-premises deployment, and Azure resource. We consolidate data from your EA portal, M365 admin centre, Azure Cost Management, and any CSP or open licence purchases. The output is a single, reconciled view of what you have licenced, what is deployed, and what is actively used. In a recent engagement for a UK financial services group, discovery identified 3,800 M365 E5 licences assigned to inactive accounts — a £1.4M annual liability that had accumulated over 18 months of unmanaged off-boarding.
We benchmark your Microsoft pricing against comparable enterprises in the same revenue band and sector. Microsoft's EA discount tiers are negotiable, and the discount your organisation achieves at renewal is largely a function of the benchmark data your team brings to the conversation. We also identify every Hybrid Benefit, Azure Reserved Instance, and licence mobility entitlement you are not currently claiming — these technical optimisations typically deliver 15–25% Azure cost reduction before any commercial negotiation begins. Our benchmarking service provides the market data your team needs before any Microsoft conversation starts.
The True-Up and EA renewal are the two moments where Microsoft's commercial position is determined. We ensure both happen on your terms. Before the True-Up, we audit your actual deployment data — removing inactive accounts, reclassifying users to lower licence tiers where appropriate, and ensuring Azure consumption is aligned with committed quantities. Before the EA renewal, we prepare the commercial counter-position, identify the Microsoft product areas where your commitment level gives you negotiating power, and brief your team on the levers that reduce the renewal cost. See our dedicated Microsoft EA renewal negotiation service for detail on the full commercial process.
We implement the optimisation plan alongside your IT and procurement teams — executing licence reclamations, submitting EA amendments, restructuring Azure commitments, and negotiating with Microsoft on any disputed True-Up positions. We also put in place the governance framework that prevents cost creep between now and the next renewal: user lifecycle processes, Azure cost alerts, Copilot adoption tracking, and a quarterly licence review cadence that keeps your position aligned with actual consumption.
Microsoft licence optimisation is the structured process of reviewing your full Microsoft estate — M365, Azure, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and on-premises software — identifying waste, right-sizing subscriptions, and applying commercial terms that reduce total spend. Redress benchmarks your position against comparable enterprises, identifies every entitlement you are not using, and restructures your agreements to eliminate overspend without disrupting operations.
Redress offers a fixed-fee engagement and a Pay When We Save contingency model where you pay only on verified savings. Most clients see a 5-to-15x return on advisory fees within the first year. We agree the commercial model before any work begins.
Initial benchmarking and quick-win identification typically completes within four to six weeks. Full optimisation — covering EA restructure, Azure right-sizing, and M365 rationalisation — typically runs over a 90-day programme. Clients see the first measurable savings within 60 days in most engagements.
We need your current Microsoft Enterprise Agreement or subscription schedule, your M365 tenant licence report, your Azure cost management export for the past three months, and any current Microsoft correspondence. We can begin the benchmarking process with just the EA schedule and M365 licence report.
Yes. Mid-contract optimisation includes Azure Reserved Instance restructures, M365 subscription downgrades, Copilot deployment right-sizing, and challenging Microsoft's True-Up process. Microsoft EA amendments can be executed mid-term. We also advise on Microsoft SPLA audit defence where hosting provider compliance issues arise outside the standard renewal cycle.
Microsoft Copilot for M365 is priced at approximately $30 per user per month on top of existing M365 licences. Many organisations have deployed Copilot across all eligible users without assessing actual adoption. We analyse adoption data, identify low-use cohorts, and restructure the Copilot deployment to match genuine consumption — typically reducing Copilot spend by 20–40% without impacting productivity for active users.
Independent EA renewal advisory delivering 10–25% savings on Microsoft renewals.
Expert defence for hosting providers and ISVs facing Microsoft SPLA audits.
Manage Microsoft licensing through mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.
Guides, checklists, and benchmarking data for Microsoft buyers.
Independent market data for Microsoft EA, M365, and Azure pricing.
Fixed fee, Pay When We Save, and Vendor Shield advisory options.