In episode five of the Directions on Microsoft EA Negotiation podcast series, Mary Jo Foley talks with former  Microsoft negotiator Dean Bedwell about the top pricing,  business, and legal concessions every Microsoft customer should ask for and the best way to negotiate for them.

Think you know all about Microsoft's telephony services in Teams? In this episode, Directions analyst Jim Gaynor talks with Mary Jo Foley about the Teams Phone use cases, licensing requirements and more. Whether you're replacing your organization's phone system or looking for the best way to dial into a Teams meeting, Jim has you covered.

In this fourth installment of a series covering Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EAs), Directions on Microsoft's director of advisory services and former Microsoft negotiator Dean Bedwell shares his top tips and tricks for a successful EA negotiation.

Directions analysts Rob Horwitz and Wes Miller talk with Mary Jo Foley about what they've learned about Microsoft licensing after delivering more than one hundred Licensing Boot Camps over the past fourteen years.  You learn what’s changed – and what never seems to change – about Microsoft licensing programs and rules. You’ll also find out about upcoming changes and the implications for Microsoft customers.

In this third installment of a series covering Microsoft Enterprise Agreements (EAs), Mary Jo Foley discusses the analysis phase of a successful EA negotiation with senior Directions on Microsoft negotiator Steve Kelley.

Microsoft's products, priorities, and strategies never stop changing. In this episode, Directions analyst and former Microsoft CTO for IT Barry Briggs interviews veteran Microsoft watcher and Directions editor in chief Mary Jo Foley about the strategy she’s used to track big shifts at Microsoft for more than 30 years.

When Microsoft stops investing, you should, too. Mary Jo Foley talks with Directions on Microsoft analyst Wes Miller about how to know when it's time to walk away from Microsoft technologies. He also identifies key Microsoft technologies you may being using that are already on that list.

In this second installment of a multi-episode series covering Enterprise Agreements (EAs), Mary Jo Foley talks with Direction on Microsoft senior consultant Joshua Osborne about the EA negotiation discovery process -- what it is, why it matters, how best to do it and key mistakes to avoid.

Microsoft is changing its data and analytics playbook with a new end-to-end platform called Microsoft Fabric. In this episode, Mary Jo Foley and analyst Andrew Snodgrass dissect Fabric to parse out what’s really new. They also discuss how Fabric will -- and won't -- change the way customers work with Microsoft business intelligence technologies.

Microsoft's Viva employee-experience platform is a morphing collection of brand-new and older technologies aimed at improving workers' productivity and job satisfaction. Mary Jo Foley talks with Directions analyst Joshua Trupin about Viva's capabilities (including its AI capabilities), and how its packaging, pricing, and licensing are evolving.