Big changes are on the horizon for Microsoft’s Enterprise Agreement (EA).

If your company is currently on an EA for licensing, you may need to rethink your renewal. Back in March of 2018, we published the blog article Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) vs. Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Licensing Agreement: What's Best for You? and due to the most recent and future changes, the time has come to revisit the topic. SMB customers that currently have a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA will soon be faced with the decision –  or be forced – to say goodbye to the EA and hello to an alternative licensing program like Cloud Solution Provider (CSP).   

The EA has been the flagship licensing program for many years for companies with more than 250 users or devices looking to standardize their organizations on enterprise products like Windows OS, Office Pro, and the CAL Suites. The EA is beneficial because it offers support and other deployment and training benefits via Software Assurance as well as offering predictable pricing for the 3-year duration of the agreement. If you met that criteria, it was hard to argue why you wouldn’t sign up for an EA, as the discounts far superseded the alternatives. Another benefit with the EA is being able to mix on-premise products and cloud products on the same agreement, which was 100% cloud only until Server Subscriptions was recently added to Cloud Solution Provider Licensing Program (CSP). 

Do you have a steady workload that you expect to continuously run?

If so, there are a few options that offer great savings.

In our previous blog, Azure Pricing – How to Get Your Best Deal we discussed how Reserved Instances can help save you money on the compute side. In this article, we will walk through another way to drive down Azure costs for your Windows Server and SQL Server through a new offering called Server Subscriptions (SS).

So, what is a Server Subscription? A SS is when you subscribe to the use of the Windows Server or SQL Server family of products on a Cloud Solution Provider Agreement (CSP) and have the ability to use that software in Azure through the Hybrid Use Benefit (HUB).

 Azure pricing can be confusing...

Paying for what you use is typically a great concept, but many companies are struggling to understand how to get their best deal when running Azure workloads. In this article, we’ll discuss the three major ways to get a programmatic discount on Azure. These include Windows Server Hybrid Use Benefit, SQL Server Hybrid Use Benefit and Reserved Instances.

About a year ago, Microsoft announced a price cut on Azure which made the licensing pricing between the various licensing vehicles all similar. Then they also gave guidance to their sales teams not to discount Azure until the customer commitment was in the millions. So, it is critical to take advantage of these programmatic discounts to get the best deal possible.

Power BI Desktop

This free version of Power BI is designed for the single user to create ad hoc reporting and data exploration. This software, unlike the other two options is installed directly to your local desktop. The dataset size is limited to 1GB per individual dataset and an overall storage quote of 10GB per user. With this option you also have the ability to review reports or dashboards that have been published in a Premium workspace (see below). While Power BI Desktop can create reports that the user can view, it lacks the ability to share with others. Plus there are gaps in functionality between the two, see the chart below for details.

Power BI Desktop is a great edition to get started with while there is no software investment cost. 

EA VS. CSP

Choice is critical in business, but sometimes it’s difficult to determine the best decision for your specific organization. Such is the case when it comes to contracting services for Azure and your other Microsoft cloud applications. For many years, the best choice for larger organizations was signing up for an Enterprise Agreement (EA) directly with Microsoft. However, now there is a new option called Cloud Service Provider (CSP), a contract you can purchase from a certified Microsoft partner.

Both offer similar services and similar pricing. There are advantages and disadvantages to both depending on your size and type of business. So, how do you decide what’s the right choice for your organization? Below is a look at the two options in several key areas.