Azure MACC Negotiation, Part 2: Negotiation Prep, One Motion, One Close

Transcript

Full narration of the briefing. Click a section heading to jump the player to that moment.

Call one: two frames 0:00

Part one gave the talking points. Now the three calls. I am Claire, Tom is with me, and this is part two of the VendorBenchmark Azure MACC prep. Call one, six to nine months out, establishes two frames early: the commit is sized from your baseline, and the Azure signature closes with the wider Microsoft deal, not before it.

Open with it: we are running this as a formal sourcing event, the Azure commitment will be decided together with the rest of our Microsoft relationship, and today I need the discount structure by commit level in writing, exactly what decrements the commitment, and how shortfall is handled.

Five questions 0:44

Five questions, in order. Send the commitment and discount structure in writing: ACD by service and by commit level, and term options. What decrements the MACC: Marketplace purchases at what value, and what does not count. What shortfall flexibility is available: carry forward, term extension, rollover into renewal.

Which funding programs apply this cycle: migration funding, skilling funds, credits, AI capacity programs. And when the fiscal quarter closes relative to our decision window. Saying the commitment will be decided together with the rest of the relationship in the first minute is the highest value sentence in the playbook; it gives you something they need more than you do.

Call two: the first moves 1:32

Call two, after the first proposal. Open with the commit, not the percentage: your model assumes X per year; our optimized baseline with hybrid benefit applied is Y, and the commit will be ramped from Z; walk me through the structure at that number. Six moves. Size from your baseline, ramped by tranche; growth beyond it lands in your consumed revenue without sitting in our contract.

Name the rates: ACD on our top services specifically, where the deal is decided. Turn the cliff into a corridor: shortfall converts to carry forward or a term extension, in the agreement; a commitment with no flexibility is priced as risk.

Call two: the remaining moves 2:11

Make the burn work for you: our ISV spend routes through Marketplace as private offers, decrementing at full value, and the funding programs are itemized in writing alongside the discount, not instead of it; different budgets, we will take both. Put the cross trade on the table: the commitment signature is available in the same motion as the EA renewal economics, the support cap, and the named asks; one deal, one close, one scoreboard. And summon the desk: bring whoever owns pricing across the relationship, for both sides. Close with no counteroffer today, and the order of operations.

Call three: the close 2:52

Call three, timed to June or December: we are prepared to sign inside your quarter if the remaining items land; here is the complete list; nothing gets added after today. The checklist, read aloud: commit at our number, ramped by annual tranche, sized from our baseline. An ACD schedule with named rates on our top services alongside the headline discount. Shortfall flexibility in writing, exercisable without renegotiation.

Marketplace decrement at full value. All funding as signed letters, because verbal funding does not exist. Support fees capped regardless of Azure growth. Renewal protection on a flat commit.

And no Azure signature travels alone.

Customize the script 3:35

Customize it to your situation. Heavy Windows Server and SQL: hybrid benefit engineering comes before any negotiation, then the estate itself argues for named rates on those workloads. First commitment with modest spend: do not sign early; reservations and savings plans capture most of the value without the lock. Renewal with flattening usage: hold the discount on a flat commit and take the carry forward.

Heavy AI plans on Azure OpenAI: capacity access is a concession to extract now; consumption commitments on AI are purchases to make later, after usage baselines exist. Never fold speculative AI growth into the MACC. More briefings at redresscompliance dot com slash research videos.