I have been working in Microsoft infrastructure since before the Microsoft Cloud existed. We were offering Dynamics as a hosted solution before Microsoft even built it to be one.

Over the years, I have watched Microsoft reshape how it sells and delivers technology multiple times. I have seen what each of those shifts looks like from the inside, working directly with CIOs and IT leaders who are trying to keep their organizations running while the ground moves underneath them. Some of them plan for it. Some of them do not. And every time, the gap between those two groups gets more expensive.

The EA-to-CSP shift is not a surprise. Microsoft has been telegraphing this move since 2019, when it launched the New Commerce Experience for Azure. Every signal since then has pointed in the same direction: the traditional Enterprise Agreement, with its three-year lock-ins and volume discount tiers, is no longer the default way Microsoft wants to sell.

The CIOs who got ahead of this made a relationship decision, not a licensing one

What I have seen from the IT leaders who handled this well is that they understood something early: this is not a contract change. It is a relationship change.

Under the Enterprise Agreement, your organization dealt with Microsoft directly. Under CSP, you are choosing a partner to stand between you and Microsoft. Someone who manages your support, navigates the complexity and leverages a relationship that your organization does not have on its own.

I know what that looks like in practice because I have lived it. For three years, I acted as the bridge between an HCLTech client and Microsoft. I handled support escalations. I worked through the frustrations that the client had been dealing with when they tried to go to Microsoft directly.

I was able to leverage connections and relationships that they simply did not have access to. That is not a hypothetical differentiator. That is three years of showing up every day and absorbing complexity so a CIO could focus on running the business.

The forward-thinking CIOs I work with recognized that the partner question is the strategic question. Not which licensing model, but who is managing this on my behalf. And they answered it before the deadline forced their hand.

This transition hits hardest for CIOs who are already running lean

Every CIO I talk to is trying to balance the same tension: providing what their users need to do their jobs while keeping costs in line. That is not a once-a-year budget exercise. It is a daily operational reality.

And right now, many of them are dealing with something even more immediate. They are losing their internal IT people. I have talked to several recently who lost key staff and are suddenly asking, what am I going to do?

The EA transition lands in the middle of all of that, not in a vacuum. The CIOs who are navigating it well are not the ones with bigger teams or more budget. They are the ones who recognized that managing a Microsoft licensing transition while also running day-to-day IT operations is not a reasonable ask for a team already at capacity.

They brought in a partner. Not just for the migration, but for the ongoing management. At HCLTech, we offer managed services that take on the full IT responsibility, from technical infrastructure management all the way through licensing. That is not outsourcing for the sake of outsourcing. It is giving the CIO room to focus on the things that actually move the business forward.

CIOs who see this as a license swap are leaving their AI roadmap on the table

When I ask CIOs what excites them right now, the answer is immediate: AI and Copilot. Automating processes, replacing manual tasks. That is where the energy is. And it connects directly to this licensing conversation, even if most people are not seeing it that way yet.

A meaningful share of what organizations want from AI can be delivered out of the box with the right licensing. The rest requires custom implementation tailored to the specific needs of their industry.

The CIOs who are treating this transition strategically see the connection. If you are restructuring your Microsoft agreement anyway, this is the moment to make sure your licensing architecture supports the AI capabilities you actually want to deploy. It is not two separate conversations. It is one.

This is where the depth of your partner matters. A CSP provider that only does licensing can migrate your contracts. But they cannot help you plan for what comes next.

HCLTech has been working closely with Microsoft on AI enablement, leading Powercat workshops across multiple countries and earning recognition as a leader in AI business solutions. We are a top 5 partner of Microsoft globally. That depth exists because we have invested in it for years, not because we stood it up last quarter to win a deal.

Even CIOs who could stay on their EA are choosing a partner instead

Here is something I have noticed that is worth paying attention to. Organizations that have enterprise agreements and could continue with them are still reaching out to us. They want to consolidate all of their billing under one provider. They want a single point of contact for licensing, support, Azure, security and AI instead of managing multiple vendor relationships with different renewal dates and different escalation paths.

These are not organizations in crisis. They are making a strategic decision about simplification and partnership depth. And if you are a CIO who does have to make this transition, that signal should matter. When the organizations that have the option to stay are choosing to move anyway, it tells you something about where the industry is heading.

Why CIOs navigating this shift need a partner built for more than licensing

I have seen enough of these transitions to know what separates the ones that go well from the ones that create problems for years afterward. It is not about finding the steepest discount. It is about whether your partner has the infrastructure to execute.

That means global support coverage. Deep Microsoft relationships built over years. And the ability to handle licensing, managed services, Azure, security and AI under one roof.

HCLTech carries all six Microsoft Solution Partner designations. We have held Azure Expert MSP status every year since the program launched. We operate across every region. And we have been helping organizations navigate Microsoft licensing transitions since long before this particular shift was on anyone’s radar.

If you want to understand what this transition looks like for your organization, we have built a dedicated resource at hcltech.com/migrate-ea-to-csp-microsoft specifically for IT leaders working through the EA-to-CSP shift. You can reach our team directly from that page. The conversation costs you nothing and it starts with where you are today.