# Securing a 38% Azure Discount with the Right Deal Strategy

#### Client Profile

Region: Global.  
Contract Type: Standalone Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC).  
Focus: Azure Commercial Terms and Incentives.

### **The Situation**

A large enterprise was preparing to make a significant Azure investment, separate from their Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, which already covered Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 licensing.

Microsoft was aggressively pushing a multi-year Azure MACC (Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment) with limited commercial flexibility and minimal discounting. The customer was expected to commit to high spend levels based on future-state consumption—without the contractual agility they needed.

At the same time, **multiple hyperscalers were in active discussions**, each competing for the customer’s cloud workloads. Azure was not the default.

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### **Keystone’s Role**

Keystone provided **independent Microsoft negotiation support**, ensuring the deal structure, pricing, and commitments aligned with the customer’s actual goals—not Microsoft’s internal targets.

Our support included:

- **Cloud-Only Strategy**: We guided the customer through a cloud-focused negotiation **separate from their Microsoft EA**, avoiding bundling pressure and preserving leverage.
- **Multi-Cloud Leverage**: The customer had credible, validated options with AWS and Oracle Cloud. We helped them position that leverage to full commercial effect.
- **Forecast Clarity**: Keystone worked with internal stakeholders to build and validate a defensible Azure forecast—helping anchor the negotiation in credible data.
- **MACC Restructure**: We restructured Microsoft’s MACC proposal to introduce **staged consumption targets, flexibility, and governance guardrails**, including **clear expectations for the reseller’s role in tracking and supporting MACC attainment**.
- **Incentive Unlock**: Our strategy surfaced **significant End Customer Investment Funds (ECIF)** that were not initially disclosed. These funds were repurposed to support onboarding, migration, and optimisation activities.

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### **The Outcome**

The final Azure agreement delivered:

✅ **38% total discount** on Azure compared to Microsoft’s opening proposal  
✅ A **custom MACC structure** with ramp flexibility and clearer accountability for MACC tracking  
✅ **Significant ECIF incentives** tied to execution and technical milestones  
✅ A **standalone cloud deal** that avoided unnecessary entanglement with the Microsoft EA

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### **Why It Worked**

This result was possible because the customer had:

- **Leverage** — They ran a truly competitive process between hyperscalers  
- **Clarity** — Their Azure forecast and goals were clearly defined  
- **Independence** — Keystone brought strategy, benchmarks, and execution experience not available through resellers or Microsoft account teams