Microsoft Azure is a powerful cloud platform that offers a growing collection of integrated services for organizations. This guide will help you navigate Azure’s licensing landscape effectively, ensuring you can optimize costs and maximize the benefits of its services.
What is Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft Azure is a versatile cloud platform that provides a wide range of services, including virtual machines, storage and backup, mobile applications, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT). These services help businesses enhance their operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.
Ways to Buy Microsoft Azure
Customers can buy the Azure services in the following ways:
- CSP: Microsoft Azure Plan with Pay As You Go (PAYG) through a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)
- Volume Licensing: Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) through a direct Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA-E) or Enterprise Agreement (EA) agreement
- Credit card: Microsoft Azure directly online on Azure.com with a credit (or debit) card
- Enterprise Agreement (EA) in “Extended Term”: If your EA has expired, new terms apply to your Azure usage. The Extended Term is limited to 12 months, although Microsoft does not stop the services after this. In an Extended Term of an EA, you cannot add a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) or Microsoft Support anymore Microsoft highly encourages you to transfer to another buying option.
Buying options:
| Azure Plan | Credit Card | Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) | Azure via EA “Extended Term” | |
| Buying option | Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) | – | MCA-E, EA | expired EA |
| Contact Person | SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT | Chat bot | Microsoft representative | SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT |
| Pricing | Typically less expensive than MCA-E or EA | List prices | Volume discounts depending on size; typically, more expensive than Azure Plan in CSP | List prices + 3% fee |
| Billing |
Monthly – Pay As You Go (PAYG)
|
Monthly – Pay As You Go (PAYG)
|
Upfront annually
or Monthly Pay As You Go (PAYG) |
Monthly – Pay As You Go (PAYG)
|
| Billing method | Invoice (PEPPOL electronic invoicing available) | Credit or Debit card | Invoice | Invoice |
| Commitment | No minimum requirement and no commitment | No minimum requirement and no commitment | >1 Mio. EUR/USD; not less than the current monthly consumption x 36 | No minimum requirement and no commitment |
| Flexible Mid-Term Sizing | Very Flexible
Scale up and down as needed; Unlimited optimization possible; Reduction to zero possible at anytime |
Very Flexible
Scale up and down as needed; Unlimited optimization possible; Reduction to zero possible at anytime |
Less Flexible
Increase is possible, decrease and optimization limited to the commitment |
Very Flexible
Scale up and down as needed; Unlimited optimization possible; Reduction to zero possible at anytime |
| Support | Flexible support options with SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT based on Microsoft Premier Support; comparable to Unified Support; covers Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and other Microsoft technologies
Typically, save 90% compared to Unified Support* |
Requires an Azure-only support plan | Unified Support contract with Microsoft (Microsoft ended free Azure Standard Support on July 1, 2024) | No support, because Azure Support is expired with your EA; you are vulnerable to risks and operational disruptions |
| Usage optimization | Guidance from Dedicated Account Manager Licensing + Services Experts
Flexibly book additional services when you need them: Learning, Planning, Implementation, Maintenance, Optimization Services; |
Additional Services not available | Guidance from Microsoft representative if requested
|
Additional Services not available |
| Transfer to this buying option | Possible;
No downtime; No transfer costs; No impact to existing resources and IDs; Guidance by experts in optimized transfer process |
Limited;
With downtime, Resource transfer required |
Limited;
depending on current buying option
|
Not possible;
Transfer from this option before the end of the Extended Term |
*Contact SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT for a simulation tailored to your business case and discover how much you can benefit from transferring to CSP with SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT.
Azure Subscriptions
Before utilizing consumption-based Azure services, customers need to get at least one Azure Subscription. This subscription acts as a container for the resources created, and each resource is assigned to a specific subscription.
Initially, setting up a subscription does not imply costs. Charges are only incurred once the resources start being used. Every Azure Subscription is linked to a payment mechanism, which could be an Enterprise Agreement, a credit card (for purchases made on azure.com), or an Azure Plan in CSP with SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT.
Customers can have multiple Azure Subscriptions within the same tenant at no additional cost.
Microsoft will automatically delete unused, empty Azure Subscriptions after 12 months.
Managing Azure resources
Azure resources are created and assigned to Subscriptions in the Azure Portal: https://portal.azure.com.
Save Azure Costs by Optimizing Your Azure Licensing
Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG)
The Pay-As-You-Go model allows customers to pay for Azure services based on actual usage. This model is ideal for businesses with fluctuating workloads or those that prefer not to commit to long-term contracts. It provides flexibility and scalability, enabling users to scale resources up or down as needed.
Savings Plan for Compute
Azure Savings Plan for compute offers significant cost savings by committing to a consistent hourly amount of usage over one (1) or three (3) years. This plan is beneficial for organizations with predictable workloads, as it provides the flexibility to switch between different Azure services while still enjoying discounted rates. It can be combined with Reserved Instances.
Reserved Instances
Reserved Instances lets you purchase resources for one (1) or three (3) years in advance, which can result in substantial cost savings for organizations with predictable workloads.
Hybrid Benefit
Azure Hybrid Benefit allows customers to use their existing on-premises Windows Server and SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance to save on Azure. This benefit can significantly reduce the cost of running workloads in the cloud by leveraging existing investments in Microsoft licenses.
Need help with your organization’s Microsoft Licensing? Book a consultation with our specialists and get tailored advice for your business needs!
Spot Instances
Azure Spot Instances enable users to take advantage of unused Azure capacity at discounted rates. These instances are ideal for workloads that can tolerate interruptions, such as batch processing jobs, development and testing environments, and large-scale stateless applications.
VM Automatic Shutdown & Rightsizing
Implementing automatic shutdown and rightsizing of virtual machines can lead to significant cost savings by ensuring resources are used efficiently.
Azure Cost Optimization Tools
The following sections show select tools for optimizing your Azure cost:
Azure Cost Management
Azure Cost Management is an online tool that helps to manage costs associated with Azure services. It includes various views to analyze data and set budgets with alerts.
Azure Pricing Calculator
The Azure Pricing Calculator configures and estimates costs for different Azure products. It highlights additional cost savings opportunities, such as Azure Hybrid Benefit, Savings Plans, or Reserved Instances.
Azure TCO Calculator
The Azure Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Calculator helps estimate the cost savings of migrating workloads to Azure compared to on-premises solutions.
Azure Site Recovery Calculator
The Azure Site Recovery Calculator helps you estimate the total cost of ownership (TCO) for Azure-to-Azure scenarios. This means you can calculate the costs for replicating your Azure to a secondary Azure environment as a live-backup.
Purchasing Azure with a Microsoft CSP
Choosing Azure Plan in CSP as Azure buying option offers numerous benefits, especially when partnering with SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT. Here are some key advantages:
- Cost Savings and Flexibility: Pay for Azure services based on actual usage, providing a flexible and scalable solution. This pay-as-you-go model ensures that you only pay for what you use, which can lead to significant cost savings, especially for businesses with fluctuating workloads. Compared to MACC, where you commit or even pay up-front, you benefit from improved liquidity in Azure Plan.
- Transparent Billing: SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT provides clear invoices, ensuring transparency and ease of financial management.
- Expert Support and Consultancy: With SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT, you get included best-in-class licensing consultancy to optimize your Microsoft licensing needs. 24x7x365 prioritized technical support in the language of your choice, and access to workshops, planning, implementation, maintenance, and optimization services from Microsoft experts is available. This comprehensive support ensures that your business operations run smoothly and efficiently.
- Seamless Transfer without Downtime: The transfer to Azure Plan in CSP is easy and without interruption – Microsoft only transitions the billing relationship. We have a proven transfer process in place in which our support experts together with you migrate your Azure within typically only a few hours.
- Access to the Latest Azure Services: Gain access to the full set of Azure cloud services, including the latest innovations and updates. This ensures that your organization can leverage the most advanced tools and technologies available on the Azure platform.
- Stay informed: We provide valuable information about price increases, licensing changes, new tools, retiring products and more to help you maximize the business value of your Azure usage.
- Cost Optimization Services: SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT provides Azure Cost Optimization Services that help you maximize the value of your cloud budget by identifying and implementing cost-saving opportunities.
- Enhanced Security and Compliance: With Microsoft Support Services by SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT, your Azure operations are always covered, and you always have access to a dedicated support team. You even get a dedicated support phone number just for your business, and we ensure, that your cases are properly managed, escalated and solved as soon as possible.
- Dedicated Account Management: You will benefit from ongoing consultancy and support from a dedicated Account Manager Licensing at SCHNEIDER IT MANAGEMENT. This personalized service ensures that you get unlimited answers to your licensing questions that you can count on.
Summary
There are different ways of buying Azure, and various licensing options. Understanding the implications of choosing the right option for your business is important to achieve maximum flexibility and cost savings. Organizations increasingly choose Azure Plan via CSP as it provides the most cost-effective, flexible and comprehensive solution for licensing Azure.
Feel free to contact our Azure experts for a no-obligation consultation. We can help you navigate Azure’s licensing complexities and optimize your Azure licensing strategy.