How Redress Compliance helped a Los Angeles media conglomerate save $10M on its Microsoft Enterprise Agreement by right-sizing 5,000 M365 licences, eliminating shelfware, restructuring Azure commitments, and securing cloud-agnostic flexibility for streaming and AI innovation.
A Los Angeles-based media and entertainment conglomerate — known for its television networks and streaming service — with 12,000 employees and approximately $15 billion in annual revenue engaged Redress Compliance to optimise its Microsoft Enterprise Agreement.
The company's Microsoft environment included Microsoft 365 for corporate functions (a mix of E3 and E5 licences, with E5 primarily used by executives and IT/security teams), extensive use of Teams for collaboration across creative teams, and Azure cloud services powering parts of its streaming platform and data analytics on viewer behaviour. They also leveraged Power BI for internal analytics and had a small deployment of Dynamics 365 for finance.
The EA was in its final year. The goal was to reduce unnecessary spending and ensure the agreement could flexibly support innovative projects in the pipeline — including AI-driven content indexing — without locking the company into unwanted costs.
The media company's challenges centred on over-licensing, vendor-driven bundling, and a lack of transparency that didn't align with its dynamic creative operations.
Microsoft had heavily promoted M365 E5, and over the years the company had accumulated E5 licences far beyond what was needed. Nearly 30% of E5 features remained unused — many creative staff only used core Office apps and Adobe Creative software. The IT team also identified dozens of Visio and Project licences assigned "just in case" but never actively used — classic shelfware.
The company was consuming only about 60% of its existing Azure monetary commitment, as some planned cloud migrations had been delayed. Without adjustment, significant costs for unused capacity were inevitable. Microsoft's renewal proposal pushed for an even larger Azure commitment, while the company also utilised AWS and wanted to remain cloud-agnostic for customer-facing platforms.
Microsoft's renewal proposal included costly additions: enterprise-wide Power Platform licensing and expanded Dynamics 365 deployment. These would significantly increase costs without proven business value for the company's creative-focused operations.
The finance team found it challenging to attribute Microsoft costs to specific projects or departments, hindering accountability. True-ups always resulted in surprises when new projects spun up needing temporary licences or cloud resources. The current EA structure made it impossible to distinguish between what was actually used and what was simply paid for.
Redress Compliance executed a four-phase strategy that transformed the EA from a bloated cost centre into a flexible innovation enabler.
Redress conducted a comprehensive analysis of all Microsoft 365 and ancillary licences. Of roughly 5,000 M365 E5 licences, only about 3,000 had users actively leveraging E5-exclusive features (Advanced Threat Protection, Power BI Pro, etc.). The remaining 2,000 users were candidates for E3 downgrades. On Azure, the review revealed only 60% of the annual monetary commitment was being consumed. This analysis provided a clear picture of where Microsoft products delivered value versus where the company was simply burning money.
Redress devised a tailored EA structure: 2,000 users shifted from E5 to E3 with standalone add-ons procured only where needed (e.g., Phone System for a subset of users). Enterprise-wide Power Platform bundles were replaced with team-specific licensing for data analytics and marketing groups. Azure commitment was reduced to match actual consumption, with additional capacity available on pay-as-you-go terms. Developer tools were separated into Visual Studio subscriptions outside the EA for engineering flexibility. A multi-cloud negotiation tactic — signalling willingness to leverage AWS or GCP — secured better Azure pricing without increased commitment.
Redress led negotiations highlighting the company's value as a marquee media brand and reference customer. Presenting detailed usage data, Microsoft conceded that maintaining 5,000 E5 licences was not defensible. The team achieved a 25% overall cost reduction from the initial renewal quote — from $40M to $30M. Key wins included: deeper E3 discounts for the larger volume; flexible Azure terms allowing unused credits to be channelled into AI/analytics services; quarterly consumption reports from Microsoft; and project-level cost tagging mechanisms for Azure.
After finalising the EA, Redress helped implement an internal tagging system mapping licences to departments and productions for cost tracking. They established semi-annual reviews with Microsoft, transforming the EA from a static contract into a living framework. Redress also provided guidelines for evaluating new offerings (like Microsoft Copilot) — piloting with small groups rather than purchasing enterprise-wide. The result: a Microsoft strategy aligned with the company's creative and technical roadmap.
| Metric | Before (Microsoft's Proposal) | After (Negotiated Terms) |
|---|---|---|
| 3-Year EA Value | ~$40M | ~$30M (25% savings) |
| M365 E5 Licences | 5,000 (2,000 unused features) | 3,000 E5 + 2,000 E3 + targeted add-ons |
| Azure Commitment | 40% unused capacity | Right-sized + pay-as-you-go overflow |
| Licence Utilisation | ~70% quarterly active use | 95%+ quarterly active use |
| Power Platform | Enterprise-wide blanket licensing | Team-specific (analytics & marketing) |
| Cloud Strategy | Azure lock-in pressure | Cloud-agnostic + unused credits→AI services |
The renegotiated EA delivered a 25% cost reduction — $40M reduced to $30M — while maintaining and slightly expanding the services the company truly uses. By eliminating 2,000 unnecessary E5 licences and reclaiming unused Visio/Project licences, millions in annual savings were captured without any loss of functionality.
Every dollar spent on Microsoft now aligns with actual business needs. Licence utilisation improved from ~70% to over 95% — each user's licence level reflects their usage profile. Creative staff have core Office and Teams; cybersecurity and compliance teams retain E5 for advanced threat protection. Shelfware has been virtually eliminated.
The Azure component is fully flexible: streaming services can scale up at the negotiated rate, but under-consumption won't be penalised. Unused Azure credits can be channelled into AI and analytics services, enabling the company's AI content indexing pilot. Multi-cloud freedom means AWS and GCP remain viable for customer-facing platforms.
Quarterly Microsoft-led consumption reports and internal project-level cost tagging give the CIO and CFO a detailed breakdown of Microsoft costs by department and production. No more true-up surprises — spending trends are visible in real time.
The EA is no longer a blocker to innovation. New creative projects can provision cloud resources and collaboration tools without renegotiating the entire agreement. The EA has guardrails and headroom for growth — with none of the baggage of unused licences dragging it down.
"We've turned our Microsoft agreement from a costly necessity into a strategic asset, thanks to Redress Compliance. They peeled back the layers of our EA and showed us where we were bleeding money on things we didn't use. The 25% savings speak for themselves, but what's even more important is the flexibility we gained. Now we can accelerate our cloud and AI projects knowing our contract won't hold us back or surprise us with costs."
— CTO, U.S. Media & Entertainment Company
The savings came from eliminating waste, not reducing capability. Of 5,000 M365 E5 licences, 2,000 users were not using any E5-exclusive features. Downgrading them to E3 — which still includes email, Office apps, Teams, and core security — saved millions annually. Standalone add-ons were procured for the small number of users who needed specific E5 features like Phone System. Combined with Azure right-sizing and shelfware removal, this delivered a 25% reduction while slightly expanding the services the company actually uses.
Shelfware refers to software licences that are paid for but never actively used. It is extremely common in Microsoft EAs — industry studies suggest 20–30% of enterprise software licences go unused. Typical culprits include Visio, Project, audio-conferencing add-ons, and E5 licences assigned to users who only need E3 features. In this case, reclaiming unused licences improved utilisation from approximately 70% to over 95%.
This is not standard in Microsoft EAs but can be negotiated. In this engagement, Redress secured a concession allowing unused Azure credits to be channelled into AI and analytics services within Azure — such as Azure Cognitive Services and Azure Machine Learning. Microsoft made this concession when the threat of losing cloud workloads to AWS became apparent. This creative term effectively safeguards against Azure waste even if core infrastructure consumption dips.
If Microsoft perceives that a customer could shift workloads to AWS or Google Cloud, they become more flexible on Azure pricing and commitment terms. This requires credible evidence: actual AWS or GCP usage, active evaluations, or architectural readiness for multi-cloud. In this case, the media company already used AWS for some services, giving Redress genuine leverage to secure better Azure pricing without increasing the commitment level.
Almost never. Microsoft often proposes blanket Power Platform licensing (Power Apps, Power BI, Power Automate) for all users, but in most media companies only specific teams — typically data analytics, marketing, and finance — actively use these tools. Team-specific licensing is significantly more cost-effective. In this case, replacing the enterprise-wide bundle with targeted subscriptions was a key savings driver.
Two mechanisms are essential: quarterly Microsoft-led consumption reports (which can be negotiated into the EA) and internal cost tagging that maps licences and Azure resources to specific departments or productions. In this engagement, Redress implemented both — giving the CIO and CFO real-time visibility into which projects drive Microsoft spend and eliminating the true-up surprises that had plagued previous terms.
Pilot first, commit later. New Microsoft offerings like Copilot carry premium pricing and uncertain ROI in the early stages. The recommended approach is to negotiate a small-group pilot (typically 50–200 users) at a reduced rate, evaluate actual productivity gains over 3–6 months, and only then consider broader deployment if the ROI case is proven. Redress built this "pilot before purchase" framework into the EA governance structure for this client.
At minimum, semi-annually. Licence utilisation, Azure consumption, and business needs shift constantly — especially in fast-moving industries like media. Redress established a cadence of semi-annual reviews with Microsoft for this client, effectively transforming the EA from a static contract into a living framework. Internal licence audits should occur quarterly to catch unused assignments early and maintain the 95%+ utilisation target.
Redress Compliance helps you cut through unnecessary costs, eliminate shelfware, and secure an agreement that empowers your business — whether you're in media, entertainment, or any fast-moving industry.