Breaking Free from Microsoft Enterprise Agreements: Why CSP Is the Future
For a long time, Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EAs) were the obvious choice for big organizations: one contract, bulk pricing, and the implicit promise of stability. But that stability comes with strings attached, such as multi-year commitments, high minimums, and little flexibility when your business needs to change.
If your organization has ever had to wait until the annual renewal to drop licenses, or if you’ve sat through a budgeting cycle trying to justify seats you no longer use, you already know why EAs can be painful. The Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) model is designed for the world we actually live in today: teams that scale up and down, budgets that shift mid-year, and IT leaders who want outcomes rather than administration. Our team of experts at CompuNet has been helping our clients navigate the Microsoft EA agreement changes for 5+ years.
What’s broken with EAs?
Here are the three most common pain points we hear from IT and finance teams:
- Large minimums and wasted seats. EAs were designed for large enterprises that purchase in the thousands. If you’re smaller, or your headcount swings seasonally, you often end up paying for seats nobody is using.
- Upfront, inflexible commitments. A three-year contract ties up budget and makes it hard to react. Hiring freezes, reorganizations, or mergers can leave you stuck with more licenses than you need.
- Slow-to-change billing and procurement. Want to drop or move licenses? With many EA arrangements, you must wait until renewal. That delay increases cost and reduces agility.
Put bluntly: EAs were designed for a different era. One in which IT was predictable and steady. Today, IT is anything but!
Why CSP makes more sense now
CSP is not a lesser option; it’s a different model, and for many organizations it’s the better one. Here’s why:
- Pay how you need to. CSP gives you monthly or annual billing options so you can align license costs with cash flow. That helps finance teams avoid big lumps of spending and keeps IT responsive.
- Scale. Add or remove licenses quickly. Provision a contractor or scale back after a seasonal project during your renewal window.
- Work with a partner who knows you. Under CSP you have a named partner—someone who understands your environment and can make recommendations, rather than routing you into a global support queue.
These are not just convenience features. They affect your bottom line, your IT team’s workload, and how quickly you can adopt new tools.
How CompuNet changes the equation
Choosing CSP is only half the story. The other half is who you choose as your CSP partner. CompuNet brings three core advantages to organizations moving off EA:
- Engineering-led advice. Our team is made up of engineers who understand licensing impacts at the technical and operational level—not just salespeople who push a template. That means practical plans for migration and optimization.
- A pragmatic onboarding process. We start with a licensing and usage assessment, identify where you are over- or under-licensed, and map the migration that minimizes disruption. Our goal is to avoid “rip and replace” and instead enable a phased, safe transition.
- Ongoing optimization and support. After the migration, we don’t disappear. You get named support, periodic reviews to capture savings, and proactive guidance on security and compliance as your Microsoft footprint evolves.
CSP isn’t just for small teams. It’s especially compelling for mid-market organizations and those with 100–2,500 seats that want enterprise capabilities without a multi-year lock-in. If you want the benefits of Microsoft 365, Teams, and Azure services but also want to preserve flexibility, CSP is the option that aligns with modern IT and budgeting practices.
A few practical next steps
If your EA is up for renewal, or even if it isn’t yet, here are three small steps to take now:
- Ask for a usage report. Look for over-provisioned licenses and seasonal spikes.
- Request a side-by-side plan: what would your costs and flexibility look like under CSP vs EA?
- Pilot a partial migration on a single business unit or subscription to validate the process and support.
The bottom line
Enterprise Agreements once made a lot of sense. Today, many organizations find that the rigidity of EAs costs more than it saves. CSP, paired with a responsive partner like CompuNet, gives you the flexibility to adapt, the billing options to manage cash flow, and the technical partnership to make licensing a business enabler instead of a constraint.
If your EA is coming up for renewal, it may be time to consider whether it’s still the right fit—or if CSP through CompuNet is the smarter path forward. Now is the time to act. Let’s discuss your best path forward. Contact your CompuNet representative or fill out the form below, and we’ll help you make the transition smoothly and cost-effectively.
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Sources:
Microsoft EA vs. CSP: Which Licensing Model is Right for Your Business?
Microsoft Partner Center – CSP Overview: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/csp-overview
