EXPERT COLUMN

By Sindhu Kashyap, our Senior Content Strategist, Middle East and Africa

In this column, we’ ll be discussing the latest tech trends that are getting everyone talking. If you’ d like to get in touch, email sindhu @ lynchpinmedia. com

Microsoft is standardising online services prices across EA / MPSA / OSPA. Partners must swap discount hunting for measurable ROI-licence hygiene, security gains and Copilot adoption, across Europe and the Middle East.

China’ s OSPA) to match the Microsoft. com list.

The rule applies at a customer’ s next renewal – or sooner if they buy Online Services not already on their Customer Price Sheet. Onpremises software is excluded; the US Government and worldwide Education lists are out of scope. It looks tidy, but it shifts leverage from discounts to demonstrable value.

The move covers flagship suites such as Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Windows 365, plus security, compliance and identity products; Azure has long used a consistent model. First, the floor rises. Those quiet, programmatic EA discounts – typically 6 % to 12 % as estates grew from Level B to D – are being flattened to a single starting price.

That ends the‘ we found you 8 %’ negotiation and pushes partners to prove outcomes instead: measurable adoption, security posture gains and licence hygiene that beats any lost tier discount.

For many CIOs, the question moves from‘ how low can we go?’ to‘ what value can we show?’ And watch the gotcha: for EA deals that began before October 1 2025, programmatic discounts can still vanish early if, after October 31, you add an Online Service you didn’ t previously buy.

Second, EMEA dynamics magnify the change. Since 2023, Microsoft has aligned local cloud price lists to the U. S. dollar and introduced periodic local-currency adjustments, reducing arbitrage across borders. In February 2025, for example, BRL and GBP cloud prices were reset to reflect currency movements.

Meanwhile, the EU Data Boundary went live in February 2025, keeping EU / EFTA support data for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform within the bloc. That elevates residency, auditability and sovereignty from‘ nice to have’ to scorable line items partners can package when price points converge.

Third, the Middle East is tilting toward capacity and locality. The UAE already runs in-country Microsoft cloud regions, and du’ s AED 2 billion hyperscale facility – with Microsoft as anchor tenant – signals new headroom for low-latency workloads and regulated sectors. That’ s a bigger canvas for managed services, FinOps and AI-adoption plays, precisely when list prices are flattening and customers want hard ROI.

So what now? Map renewals through FY26 and model variance against today’ s Customer Price Sheet; flag any workload where adding seats after October 31 could trigger the new pricing early. Then rewrite every account plan around provable outcomes: reclaim inactive licences, right-size E5 add-ons, lock governance baselines and instrument Copilot rollouts with before-and-after productivity and security metrics.

For many CIOs, the question moves from‘ how low can we go?’ to‘ what value can we show?’

Finally, revisit the purchasing motion. With a standardised list across EA and MPSA – and new three-year terms for E3, E5 and Teams in CSP – partners can anchor multi-year optimisation services instead of one-off discounting.

Here’ s the test: can you walk into the renewal with a dashboard, not a discount sheet? In EMEA and the Middle East, the partner who wins is the one who proves they paid for themselves well before the invoice comes due. •

INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS 19