News
Microsoft Gives CSPs Claim to First-Time Azure Customers
- By Kurt Mackie
- January 11, 2017
Starting next month, Microsoft will direct first-time buyers of its Azure services to Microsoft partners enrolled in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program.
As part of a licensing change announced Tuesday in a licensing blog post, new Azure purchasers won't be able to buy services directly from Microsoft in so-called "pay-as-you-go" Azure plans covered under the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) enrollment.
Existing Azure MPSA customers won't be affected by this policy change, though.
The new policy was described by Microsoft as a way of helping its customers, who typically make purchases in three ways. They may want the "value-added" support from a Microsoft partner. They want may want "self-serve" options for getting access to Azure and other services. Lastly they may want a "Microsoft-assisted offer."
Because of these purchasing trends, Microsoft decided to not proceed with its Enterprise Advantage option for MPSA enrollments, Microsoft's announcement explained.
The Enterprise Advantage option for the MPSA, initially announced in July, was designed to allow organizations buying various software and services to simplify matters. In addition to reducing paperwork, Enterprise Advantage, part of Microsoft's "modern licensing" effort, was billed as potentially enabling better discounts for bulk purchases, since organizations may have multiple enrollments but the purchasing could not be aggregated. Last month, though, Microsoft announced that it had decided to not go ahead with Enterprise Advantage because it would "create more change for our customers and partners than was necessary."
"By investing further to enhance all the ways customers want to buy, Microsoft assisted, self-service, and through value-added partner services, we can streamline how we get to modern licensing with fewer steps for our customers," Microsoft explained back in December.
This week, Microsoft seems to be saying that it's better to buy Azure services through its partners, at least for first-time buyers. The streamlining proposed with the now-defunct Enterprise Advantage option for the MPSA has been axed, even though it had appeared to be a strong element of Microsoft's initial modern licensing messaging.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.