Welcome to the first installment of the monthly Directions on Microsoft Compass Point report, where we look ahead at emerging Microsoft technologies and product strategies that may impact your operati...

Microsoft took the wraps off the coming user experience for its latest iteration of its Copilot app on Sept. 25. Previously known as the Copilot “Super App,” the updated app converges the previously s...

Microsoft made its high-end Microsoft 365 E7 suite available to commercial customers as of May 1, noting, at the time that it was not ready for government customers. But starting Oct. 1, that limitati...

It looks like Microsoft customers should expect continuing cloud capacity constraints and hefty Microsoft capital expenditure spending for the foreseeable future.   Microsoft closed out its fiscal 202...

Just three years after introducing its AI-centric security offering, Security Copilot, Microsoft is rolling out a new end-to-end security platform called “Project Perception.” Perception will go into ...

Microsoft already operates a number of consulting businesses. But on July 2, it announced a new one: The Microsoft Frontier Company, which will be focused on helping customers design, deploy, and run ...

On May 1, Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 E7 at $99 per user per month. From the start, there was reason to suspect that number was an opening position, not the whole picture.  Two months in, the e...

Microsoft’s Copilot 365’s Cowork feature, which is generally available worldwide as of June 16, will offer customers a choice of models and won’t be solely Anthropic-based as it is currently.  Microso...

There is a question Microsoft Azure customers are only now beginning to ask. It comes after consumption data has been gathered, forecasts assembled, growth plans documented. A commitment figure sits o...

Build 2026 got me thinking, even more than usual, about Microsoft’s AI strategy.  Microsoft is not trying to win with the shiniest toys (although the Surface RTX Spark looks nice!). It’s working to po...

Last year’s Microsoft Build developer conference focused heavily on agents. But this year’s Build, which kicked off June 2, is almost entirely agent-focused.  Microsoft is working to position everythi...

Microsoft no longer wants midsize enterprises on the Enterprise Agreement (EA). The de facto floor for an EA renewal has been creeping upward for years, and customers in the 2,500-to-10,000 user band....

Microsoft rarely releases a new enterprise suite. M365 E5 arrived almost a decade ago, and nothing of comparable significance has followed until now. M365 E7 is not an incremental upgrade. It is a pla...

Microsoft rarely releases a new enterprise suite. M365 E5 arrived almost a decade ago, and nothing of comparable significance has followed until now. M365 E7 is not an incremental upgrade. It is a pla...

In a move some may find surprising — and others not so much — Microsoft plans to make Azure Linux 4.0 a full, commercially available Linux distribution optimized for Azure. Microsoft officials reveale...

If your Enterprise Agreement is up in the next twelve months, your Microsoft account team is going to put a Multiple Equivalent Offer (MEO) on the table. They will pitch this MEO (sometimes also calle...

Microsoft 365 used to be one bill. It isn’t anymore. Most organizations treat their Enterprise Agreement (EA) and their Azure agreement as two separate ledgers. Different contracts, different cycles, ...

The people you’ve known inside Microsoft who have a knack for getting concessions and discounts approved may not be around much longer. Some are weighing whether to take the new “Rule of 70” voluntary...

There are three words you should never say to a Microsoft auditor: “I don’t know.” Not because honesty is bad. But in a Microsoft audit, those three words don’t just leave a question unanswered. They ...

Microsoft officials have said repeatedly that they believe customers one day will license software agents the same way they do humans. But during Microsoft’s Q3 FY26 earnings call on April 29, Microso...

Microsoft and OpenAI have amended their partnership agreement yet again. While Microsoft will remain OpenAI’s primary cloud partner and OpenAI products will ship first on Azure unless Microsoft is una...

For most large organizations, the Enterprise Agreement (EA) renewal has always demanded serious preparation: commercial modeling, usage analysis, and negotiation strategy. Within a familiar framework,...

Microsoft 365 is not simply the largest licensing component of the Enterprise Agreement (EA). It also is the place where Microsoft can most clearly read where you are heading — what you are adopting, ...

LicenseBids platform connects businesses purchasing Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace subscriptions with Cloud Solution Providers through an RFQ marketplace

If you use M365 Copilot, or more specifically Copilot Chat, get ready for a number of changes on April 15   Microsoft announced in the M365 Admin Message Center two significant changes to Copilot Chat...

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Pavan Davuluri, executive vice president, Windows + Devices, has declared new priorities for Windows development in a March 20 letter to the company’s “Insider” beta testers. If the promises pan out, ...

Enterprise Agreement negotiations with Microsoft have always been shaped by two forces: numbers and narrative.   Numbers reflect the economic scale of the relationship, and include metrics such as how...

In late Feb. 2026, Microsoft added a notice in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center (MC949965) about a delay in the rollout of its New Outlook for Windows.   “The opt-out phase for Enterprise environments w...

Microsoft will launch a new, high-end Microsoft 365 licensing tier, Microsoft 365 E7, on May 1, priced at US$99 per user per month. For that price, customers will get all the features in Microsoft 365...

Initial reports around the expected new Microsoft 365 E7 have focused on pricing and packaging, presenting it as a higher-end bundle that includes AI features and carries a higher price tag. That fram...

Microsoft is expected to introduce a new Microsoft 365 subscription sometime in the next few months: The long-rumored E7. But M365 E7 isn’t simply Microsoft 365 E5 plus M365 Copilot delivered as a sin...

For years, Enterprise Agreement (EA) renewals have been high-stakes exercises. They required preparation, modeling, and disciplined negotiation. Even in their difficulty, renewals followed a familiar ...

Microsoft is releasing two different versions of Windows this year: Windows 11 26H1 and Windows 11 26H2. For the vast majority of business customers, 26H1 is going to be a nothing- burger; it only wil...

Microsoft has released for the first time an AI adoption number about which many had been curious. During its Q2 FY26 earnings call on January 28, officials said the company now has 15 million paid se...

The last three years have seen Microsoft pivot to a hard focus on AI, similar to how the company turned to the web browser and internet in the late 1990s or tried to shoulder up to Apple and Google in...

At Microsoft, we empower organizations to achieve more through intelligent communication, inclusive collaboration, and connected workplace experiences. Our...