SaaS vendors often push programmatic renewal price increases—whether you used the product’s features (new or existing) or not. Here’s a fairer, customer-focused approach: only permit price hikes at renewal when (1) the SaaS vendor enhanced the production being subscribed to since your last renewal and (2) you’re actually using those enhancements. That aligns spend to delivered value and incentivizes vendors add enhancements of value and put in effort to help drive adoption.

Key points

• Renewal price increase caps (3–5%, even 0%) are helpful but programmatic and often are littered with conditions
• A better standard: tie any increase to verifiable feature use.
• SaaS vendors should proactively enable usage (training, outreach, no cost resources…etc.)
• Most customers underutilize features—don’t pay for what you don’t use, certainly don’t pay more for air

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In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, UpperEdge’s Adam Mansfield joins to break down Microsoft’s recent announcement to eliminate Enterprise Agreement (EA) volume discounts starting November 1st. Adam explains what this change means for enterprise customers, how executives are reacting, and the strategies organizations can use to prepare. From executive-level conversations to utilization analysis, alternative solutions, and the role of Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs), this discussion provides practical guidance for navigating Microsoft’s evolving pricing model.

Resources:

UPCOMING WEBINAR - Breaking the Microsoft Mold: How to Negotiate on Your Terms

BLOG - Microsoft Ends EA Volume Discounts: What It Means and How to Respond

VIDEO - Microsoft Ends EA Volume Discounts – What It Means for You

About the Show:
Welcome to Insights for IT Negotiations, a podcast by UpperEdge, a leading IT sourcing, negotiation, and project execution advisory firm. Join John Belden, UpperEdge’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer, and Kylie Chisholm, UpperEdge’s Marketing Manager, every other week as they share valuable insights to help you maximize the value of your key IT relationships.

For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, subscribe to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on LinkedIn and Twitter.

In this episode, Adam Mansfield, Salesforce Practice Leader at UpperEdge and industry expect, explains what the new Pay-As-You-Go and Pre-Commit, and Pre-Purchase pricing models mean for enterprise customers and why Salesforce is providing them.

Key takeaways and what will be covered:

• Breakdown of all three Agentforce pricing options: Pre-Purchase, Pay-As-You-Go, and Pre-Commit
• What EVP of Corporate Strategy, Bill Patterson’s public comments really signal about internal Salesforce priorities and current Agentforce adoption
• How to use this moment of leverage to negotiate better terms, definitions, and future flexibility

For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, subscribe to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Effective November 1, 2025, Microsoft will eliminate EA volume-based discounts for online services like Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365. Adam Mansfield, Microsoft Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down the impact, why Microsoft is making this change, and how enterprise customers can push back. Learn how this move ties to Microsoft’s motivation to accelerate ARPU growth, increased product adoption and upgrades (Microsoft 365 Copilot, E5), and shift more customers towards an MCA-E or CSP contracting model—and what actions need to be take right now.

For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, subscribe to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Microsoft closed FY25 with strong revenue growth, fueled by Copilot adoption, E5 momentum, and Azure’s breakout 39% growth. Adam Mansfield, Microsoft Practice Leader at UpperEdge, breaks down the key takeaways from the earnings call, including what the numbers mean for enterprise customers with upcoming renewals or considering in-term purchases. Learn how Microsoft’s focus on moving customers to E5, AI (M365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Copilot Studio…etc.) will shape pricing, commitments, and negotiation leverage in the year ahead.

For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, subscribe to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on LinkedIn and Twitter.

In this episode of Insights for IT Negotiations, UpperEdge’s Ryan McGhee joins John Belden and Kylie Chisholm to explore how generative AI is influencing SAP S/4HANA brownfield transformations. From productivity claims and risk mitigation to transparency challenges and use case development, the conversation uncovers what IT leaders need to know before engaging their system integrators. Learn how to separate hype from value, ask the right questions, and prepare your environment to fully leverage AI’s potential without sacrificing control or incurring hidden costs.

Resources

BLOG – Rethinking Transformation Strategy in an AI-First World: AI is Changing SAP Strategy. Is Your Business Ready?

BLOG - Brownfield and the AI Gap: What Your SI Isn’t Telling You and Why It’s More Complex Than It Looks

Want to go deeper? Contact us to discuss how we can support your transformation strategy.

Welcome to “Sourcing Enterprise AI,” the podcast where we unravel the intricacies of AI sourcing and explore the latest news in Artificial Intelligence and its potential impact on the market.

In this week’s episode, co-hosts John Belden and Kylie Chisholm discuss some of the most pressing AI news as of late. From Oracle's push of "free" AI capabilities to the US government's ban of Microsoft Copilot and the EU's updated AI laws, we help IT and Procurement professionals understand how these news events could impact their AI strategy moving forward.

For a more tailored conversation that considers your organization's unique needs, reach out to one of our expert advisors to book a discussion, visit upperedge.com/who-we-are/contact-us and tell us you're coming from Sourcing Enterprise AI!

Stay at the forefront of AI sourcing for enterprises and subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts to never miss an episode.

For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, ⁠⁠⁠subscribe⁠⁠⁠ to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠.

Welcome to “Sourcing Enterprise AI,” the podcast where we unravel the intricacies of AI sourcing and explore the latest news in Artificial Intelligence and its potential impact on the market.

In this week’s episode, co-hosts John Belden and Kylie Chisholm sit down with UpperEdge's Salesforce Practice Leader, Adam Mansfield, to discuss Salesforce's recent AI offering - Einstein Copilot. They discuss what Einstein Copilot is, how much Einstein Copilot costs, and the leverage customers have if they want to adopt Einstein Copilot.

For a more tailored conversation that considers your organization's unique needs, reach out to Adam ([email protected]) or explore our Salesforce Advisory Services to learn more about how we can help.

Stay at the forefront of AI sourcing for enterprises and subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts to never miss an episode.

For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, ⁠⁠⁠subscribe⁠⁠⁠ to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠.

Welcome to “Sourcing Enterprise AI,” the podcast where we unravel the intricacies of AI sourcing and explore the latest news in Artificial Intelligence and its potential impact on the market.

In this week’s episode, co-hosts John Belden and Kylie Chisholm are discussing how executives can better capture and communicate the value of AI. AI will be an inevitable part of enterprise organizations' roadmaps moving forward, but executives are challenged with articulating the value to drive AI adoption and use. John talks through the four channels of AI value that IT execs need to understand and gives next steps on communicating the value of AI to their teams.

For a more tailored conversation that considers your organization's unique needs, reach out to one of our expert advisors to book a discussion:

Stay at the forefront of AI sourcing for enterprises and subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts to never miss an episode.

For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, ⁠⁠subscribe⁠⁠ to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠.

Welcome to “Sourcing Enterprise AI,” the podcast where we unravel the intricacies of AI sourcing and explore the latest news in Artificial Intelligence and its potential impact on the market.

In this week’s episode, co-hosts John Belden and Kylie Chisholm are discussing the trends we are anticipating in 2024 for Generative AI's role in ERP implementations. From advising against sole source evaluations to unexpected delays in the implementation process, John gives specific customer recommendations for those navigating an ERP implementation with Generative AI technology.

Stay at the forefront of AI sourcing for enterprises and subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts to never miss an episode.

For more innovative IT sourcing and risk mitigation insights, ⁠subscribe⁠ to the UpperEdge newsletter and follow UpperEdge on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Twitter⁠.