General

Top 10 Microsoft CSP Tips

The Microsoft CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) market has evolved dramatically under the New Commerce Experience (NCE). From leveraging hidden features like the quarterly subscriptions and the 300-user SMB offerings, to avoiding costly Extended Service Terms (EST) penalties, navigating the rules strategically can slash your IT spend and eliminate administrative headaches. Whether you are an MSP, CSP, IT leader, procurement specialist, or CIO, here are the Top 10 Microsoft CSP tips you should leverage right now to optimize your baseline and maintain ultimate flexibility.

By Chris van der Zwan, Chief Community Officer at Softspend 5 min read
  • Microsoft 365
  • Licensing
  • CSP
  • MSP

Top 10 Microsoft CSP Tips:

  1. Co-term your licenses to a single, fixed anniversary date. This stops you from managing hundreds of invoices and multiple contract dates throughout the year.

  2. Quarterly subscriptions: Monthly subscriptions have become 20% more expensive compared to annual subscriptions. If you need additional licenses for a short period, order cost-effective licenses every quarter and co-term them so you are able to buy licenses for just 3 months.

  3. Auto-Renew OFF: If you do not act on time, your subscriptions go into Extended Service Terms (EST) mode, and you will pay 3% more compared to your monthly subscriptions and 23% more compared to your annual subscriptions.

  4. Upgrade your licenses instead of buying new ones. Stuck with active licenses you no longer use, but need different (higher-tier) licenses? Use the built-in upgrade feature within CSP to trade in your underutilized SKUs for a heavier license tier mid-term, without penalty.

  5. Challenge your EA customers. The CSP market is highly competitive. We frequently find more competitive pricing in CSP compared to EA.

  6. Discounts without high commitments: To get the best pricing in an EA, Microsoft asks for volume commitments. Within CSP, you don't have to make high commitments to find competitive pricing.

  7. Price protection in CSP: With more 3-year CSP offerings available, you are able to lock in your prices for a longer term.

  8. Mix and match your terms: Lock in your prices for 3 years with the 3-year SKU options, but don't do that for all your users so you maintain the flexibility to downscale every quarter or year.

  9. CSP-to-CSP transfers: You are not locked into a partner. You can easily transfer your active subscriptions to a new partner.

  10. Business offerings: For organizations with fewer than 300 users, Microsoft has really competitive pricing through their Business offerings (M365 Business Basic, Standard, and Premium, Copilot for Business, Defender, and Purview for Business). Same technology, same feature stack, but with an SMB price tag! Are you a 500-user company? You can also mix these licenses with Enterprise bundles: buy 300 M365 Business Premium + Defender and Purview for Business, and 200 M365 E5 licenses.