Microsoft Licensing

One Microsoft Customer Agreement. Every license, every workload, one renewal date.

Most enterprises hold three to five Microsoft licensing agreements across Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365 and third-party resellers. The Microsoft Customer Agreement consolidates them. One contract. One renewal date. One Braintree commercial lead. Predictable annual spend.

Microsoft Customer Agreement adoption. The consolidated commercial model Microsoft is shifting every customer onto.

The Microsoft stack you license. Five blocks. One agreement.

Microsoft Customer Agreement

The umbrella commercial agreement covering every Microsoft workload, every renewal, every consumption tier. One contract. One conversation.

Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)

Per-seat, per-month flexibility. Braintree as your CSP partner. No 3-year commit.

Microsoft Cost Management

Visibility across every workload. Azure Reservations cut consumption costs by up to 72%.

Enterprise Agreement

3-year commit pricing for established estates. Volume discounts. Annual true-up.

Microsoft Foundry. Built by Braintree.

Custom procurement playbooks and renewal-calendar automations on Microsoft Foundry where Microsoft does not ship a named one.

Every stage. One Microsoft Customer Agreement. Plan to renewal.

From scoping the agreement to optimising consumption to renewing on a predictable date, the Microsoft licensing journey runs on Microsoft-named products. We deploy them where the ROI is proven. Not by default.

Stage 01

Plan

Microsoft Customer Agreement scoping

Map every Microsoft workload, every consumption tier and every renewal date currently in your estate.

Stage 02

Procure

CSP or Enterprise Agreement

Commercial model picked against your tier. CSP for flex. Enterprise Agreement for 3-year commit. We negotiate the price.

Stage 03

Provision

Microsoft 365 Admin Center + Azure subscription management

Licenses provisioned per workload, per user group. Azure subscriptions structured for cost visibility on day one.

Stage 04

Govern

Microsoft Cost Management + Reservations + Hybrid Benefit

Continuous cost optimisation. Reservation recommendations applied. Azure Hybrid Benefit claimed where eligible. Unused licenses surfaced monthly.

Stage 05

Renew

MCA renewal workflow + Braintree-managed renewal calendar

One renewal date. Braintree-managed timeline. No surprises in your annual financial statements.

Custom domain agents

Built by Braintree on Microsoft Foundry

For the use cases Microsoft does not yet ship a named agent. Built on Microsoft Foundry, Copilot Studio and Power Automate. SA-grounded. Production. POPIA-aligned. Custom agents enter through the AI Value Framework. Same business case discipline as the named agents above.

How we deploy. The AI Value Framework.

Four stages. Business case first. ROI modelled. Deployed only where the case proves out.

Discover

Map every Microsoft workload, every consumption tier and every renewal date currently in your estate.

Evaluate

Go / No-go gate Full ROI and TCO model. Per-vendor consolidation savings projected. Microsoft Customer Agreement structure presented. Sign-off before any procurement move.

Deploy

Microsoft Customer Agreement signed. Licenses provisioned per workload, per user group. Azure subscriptions structured. Cost dashboards live by week two.

Build

Custom procurement playbooks and renewal-calendar automations on Microsoft Foundry where Microsoft does not yet ship a named one.

Braintree doesn’t deploy AI agents by default. We deploy them where the ROI is proven.

CSP or Enterprise Agreement. Pick the commercial model.

Different starting points need different scoping work. Read the column that applies.

PATH 01. CSP

You want per-seat, per-month flexibility. No 3-year commit.

Braintree as your CSP partner. Add or remove licenses month-to-month. Cancel-anytime on annual subscriptions, monthly on Microsoft 365 monthly SKUs.
Best fit. Mid-market businesses, SMBs scaling unpredictably, or enterprises that prefer commercial flexibility over volume discounts.
Typical engagement. Microsoft Customer Agreement signed in 2 weeks. Licenses live the same day. Cost dashboards from week two.
Typical engagement: 2 weeks to live.

PATH 02. ENTERPRISE AGREEMENT

You have an established Microsoft estate. You want volume discounts and 3-year commit pricing.

Enterprise Agreement signed for a 3-year term. Volume discounts unlock at predictable thresholds. Annual true-up for additional licenses.
Best fit. Established enterprises with 500+ Microsoft users, predictable consumption forecasts, or a CFO who prefers fixed-term pricing certainty.
Typical engagement. EA negotiation 4 to 8 weeks. Custom volume terms. Renewal cycle anchors your Microsoft fiscal year.
Typical engagement: 4 to 8 weeks.

Scope your Microsoft licensing

One Microsoft Customer Agreement. Not a stack of vendor contracts.

How the commercial model changes when every Microsoft workload runs on one agreement, one renewal, one Braintree commercial lead.

BEFORE. FRAGMENTED.

Your current licensing estate.

Microsoft 365 licenses from one reseller. Azure consumption from another. Dynamics 365 from a third.
Three contracts. Three renewal dates. Three vendor relationships to manage.
Cost optimisation depends on which reseller's portal you check.
Quote-by-quote pricing on every new license. No predictability.
Microsoft escalation routes through whichever reseller answered the ticket first.

AFTER. ONE INTELLIGENT AGREEMENT.

Your Microsoft estate on one contract.

One Microsoft Customer Agreement covers Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365 and every other Microsoft workload.
One contract. One renewal date. One Braintree commercial lead, accountable end-to-end.
Microsoft Cost Management correlates spend across the entire estate. One dashboard, one truth.
Predictable pricing under the MCA. Annual budget you can defend in any audit.
Microsoft-direct escalation lane via Braintree's Managed Partner status.

72%

Cost reduction. Azure Reservations + Azure Hybrid Benefit combined. Microsoft public. Compared against pay-as-you-go pricing.
Customer-specific outcomes vary by workload mix.

5TH YR

Leader, Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure and Platform Services Microsoft named. Fifth consecutive year. Independent analyst evaluation.

200%+

Total Economic Impact across Microsoft Customer Agreement consolidation. Forrester commissioned, March 2026, three-year horizon.

Fragmented licensing, One Microsoft Customer Agreement, and the practical winner.

Dimension

Fragmented (multi-vendor + Microsoft direct)

One Microsoft Customer Agreement

Practical winner

Single renewal calendar

3-5 renewal dates a year. Per-vendor cycles.

One MCA renewal date. Annual cycle anchored to your fiscal year.

MCA

WedgeCost optimisation visibility

Per-vendor portal dashboards. Manual correlation across spreadsheets.

Microsoft Cost Management correlates across the entire Microsoft estate. One dashboard.

MCA

Volume discount unlock

Per-vendor tiering. Discount depends on which reseller has bigger volume.

Consolidated volume across every Microsoft workload. Higher discount tier.

MCA

Azure Reservations + Hybrid Benefit

Some resellers offer, some do not. Manual application.

Direct access via MCA. Reservations applied by Braintree automatically where eligible.

MCA

Per-vendor commercial flexibility

Swap any vendor at renewal. No lock-in to a single relationship.

Locked into Microsoft + Braintree for the MCA term.

Fragmented

Predictable annual spend

Quote-by-quote on every new license. Spend variable.

MCA committed structure. Annual budget you can defend.

MCA

5 to 1 in Microsoft Azure’s favour. AWS wins on raw service-catalogue breadth. Honest.

Scoping call. Microsoft Licensing. In three steps.

Share your environment

Tell us what you run today. Microsoft 365 footprint, Azure consumption, Dynamics 365 deployment, third-party reseller relationships and current renewal calendar. Five to ten minutes on your side.

5-day scoped response (SLA)

Braintree returns scoped Microsoft Customer Agreement consolidation findings, the CSP vs Enterprise Agreement recommendation and the cost-optimisation opportunity map. Inside five business days.

30-minute findings call

Review scope with the commercial architect. Confirm the MCA structure. Choose CSP or Enterprise Agreement. Map Azure Reservations and Hybrid Benefit opportunities. No sales pitch.

Book the 30-minute scoping call

What CFOs ask before they book.

Eight questions we answer in every scoping call. Pre-empted here so you can scan first.

What's the difference between CSP and Enterprise Agreement (EA)?

Two commercial models, same Microsoft. CSP is per-seat, per-month, no long-term commit. Cancel any time on annual subscriptions, monthly on monthly SKUs. Best for mid-market or businesses scaling unpredictably. Enterprise Agreement is a 3-year commit with volume discounts that unlock at predictable thresholds. Annual true-up captures additional licenses. Best for established enterprises with 500+ Microsoft users and predictable consumption forecasts. Braintree is a Microsoft CSP indirect provider and an EA specialist. We pick the model that fits your tier.

What does Microsoft Customer Agreement consolidation actually save?

Three savings vectors. Cost optimisation. Microsoft Cost Management correlates spend across the entire estate, surfacing unused licenses and over-provisioned subscriptions. Azure Reservations and Azure Hybrid Benefit cut consumption costs by up to 72 percent versus pay-as-you-go. Operational savings. One renewal cycle replaces three to five. Predictable annual spend means your CFO can model the Microsoft line item in the AFS. Commercial advantage. Consolidated volume unlocks higher discount tiers than per-vendor tiering. Forrester TEI on MCA consolidation projects 200 percent ROI over three years.

We have legacy Microsoft licenses from multiple resellers. Can Braintree consolidate them?

Yes. The consolidation runs in three stages. Stage 01 Discover maps every existing Microsoft license, the reseller, the renewal date and the consumption tier. Stage 02 Evaluate models the Microsoft Customer Agreement structure that consolidates everything onto one contract. The model presents savings, term, true-up logic and renewal timing. Stage 03 Deploy signs the MCA and migrates licenses as their current agreements lapse. Migration is non-disruptive. Your existing reseller relationships are formally exited per their notice terms. Typical consolidation runs 3 to 9 months.

How does Azure Reservation vs pay-as-you-go pricing work?

Azure Reservations are a 1-year or 3-year commitment to a specific Azure VM size, region and subscription. In exchange you get up to 72 percent off the equivalent pay-as-you-go price. The reservation applies automatically against matching consumption. Azure Hybrid Benefit adds further savings for customers with Windows Server or SQL Server licenses on-premises. Braintree applies Reservations and Hybrid Benefit automatically where eligible. Customers on standard pay-as-you-go pricing typically save 40 to 60 percent on stable workloads after Reservations and Hybrid Benefit are applied.

What's the renewal cliff and how do I avoid it?

The renewal cliff is the moment your licenses lapse, Azure consumption drops to public pay-as-you-go rates, and your CFO sees the new bill. It happens when renewal planning starts too late. Best practice. Start 6 months ahead of expiry. Braintree-managed renewal calendars alert at 6, 3 and 1 month. The Microsoft Customer Agreement removes the cliff entirely. One renewal anchors your Microsoft fiscal year. No surprises. No expired-license downtime. Predictable spend the CFO models in advance.

Microsoft Cost Management. What does it actually track?

Microsoft Cost Management is the unified spend visibility layer across Microsoft 365 admin and Azure subscriptions. It tracks. Consumption per Azure resource. Unused or over-provisioned licenses per Microsoft 365 SKU. Reservation utilisation per Azure VM family. Cost forecasts per subscription or budget unit. It does not track. Third-party SaaS spend outside Microsoft. On-premises infrastructure costs. Braintree integrates Cost Management with Power BI dashboards for cross-estate cost reporting where customers want a single financial view.

POPIA. Licensing implications for data-residency choices?

Microsoft 365 customer data and Azure customer data resident in South Africa requires the Azure South Africa region (Joburg with three Availability Zones or Cape Town) on your subscription. The Microsoft Customer Agreement does not impose residency. Residency is set at the subscription and tenant level during provisioning. POPIA compliance requires customer data resident in SA for SA-resident data subjects. The Information Regulator’s 2026/27 enforcement priorities shifted from reactive complaints to proactive industry sweeps. Braintree provisions SA-resident tenants and subscriptions by default for SA clients.

Why Braintree?

Three answers. Credentials. Braintree is one of three Microsoft Managed Partners in South Africa. 220+ SA clients. 100+ Microsoft-certified professionals. CSP indirect provider, EA specialist, Microsoft Customer Agreement implementation track record. Method. The AI Value Framework gates every procurement decision against ROI. Stage 02 Evaluate models savings before any contract moves. Commercial integrity. We are paid for the work, not for license volume. Our incentive aligns with your consolidation ROI, not your spend growth. Braintree doesn’t deploy AI agents by default. We deploy them where the ROI is proven.

Insights for CFOs and procurement leads consolidating Microsoft licensing.

Commercial

CSP vs Enterprise Agreement. The TCO scorecard for SA mid-market and enterprise.

Per-seat flexibility versus 3-year commit pricing. The decision tree by user count, growth profile and consumption stability. The honest TCO scorecard SA buyers need before they sign either.

Optimisation

Azure Reservations + Hybrid Benefit. The 72-percent move SA enterprises miss.

Most SA Azure customers leave 40 to 60 percent of available cost-optimisation on the table. The Reservations + Hybrid Benefit playbook. Where the cuts compound. Where they do not.

Renewals

The renewal cliff. How the Microsoft Customer Agreement removes it entirely.

From three to five renewal dates a year to one. Anchored to your fiscal year. Predictable spend. The renewal-cliff playbook SA CFOs use to defend the Microsoft line item in board reviews.

Where Microsoft licensing meets the rest of your estate.

One Braintree agreement. One team. Full Microsoft coverage.

CRM and Customer Engagement

Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, Customer Insights and Contact Center licensing rolls under your Microsoft Customer Agreement. One contract covers your CRM workloads alongside Microsoft 365 and Azure.

Modern Workplace

Microsoft 365, Teams, Copilot for Microsoft 365 licensing rolls under your Microsoft Customer Agreement. Per-seat (CSP) or commit (EA). Pick the model that fits your workforce.

Azure Cloud

Azure subscription licensing under your Microsoft Customer Agreement unlocks Reservations, Azure Hybrid Benefit and unified Cost Management across your IaaS, PaaS and managed services workloads.

Licensing you can audit. Spend you can model.