Have an EA up for renewal and don’t know what to do?  Listed below is a brief breakdown of what you can get.  I like CSP Direct over an EA for a lot of reasons, the main being flexibility.  CSP Direct is like an a la carte model; you do not pay upfront for the whole year.

CSP Direct

• 1 – year commitment
• Pay as you go versus yearly.
• Minimum 20 seats
• Ability to fluctuate user counts
• Account support – Partner provide support as well as leverage their Premiere Support agreement with Microsoft at no additional costs.
• Decrease user counts
• Increase user counts
• Products – all cloud subscription licenses
• Self – Service – Partner (LAR) will provide a platform to manage your subscriptions

EA

• 500 seat requirement
• 3 – year commitments (annual billing)
• Annual true ups
• Microsoft credits
• Support – basic support (additional for premium)
• Decrease – once per year. Cannot decrease perpetual products or reduce your O365 subscriptions below your original commitment
• Increase user count – Anytime
• Products – All Microsoft Products.
• Self -Service – O365 portal and VLSC

If you are under SPLA, CSP Indirect may make the most sense to reduce your costs.  Check out www.mscloudlicensing.com to learn more or www.splalicensing.com 

Thanks for reading,

CSP Man