What's new (July 2026): Microsoft has expanded access to its EA-to-CSP for Azure tool, so more partners can now move Azure customers off Enterprise Agreements and into CSP. Here is what changed, what both migration tools do, and where the opportunity sits.
Microsoft's move off Enterprise Agreements is now well underway, and the Azure transition tool just opened up to more partners. Here is what is changing, and where the opportunity sits.
Microsoft provides two distinct paths in Partner Center, and the Azure one is the piece that just changed.
Azure: the EA-to-CSP for Azure tool (new in July 2026). Transfers the Azure billing relationship into CSP with no service interruption. Subscription and resource IDs are preserved, and the customer approves the move in Azure. As of July 2026, access is open beyond Azure Expert MSP to partners with a Cloud and AI Solutions Partner designation plus CSP direct bill authorization. It requires an Azure plan and Microsoft Customer Agreement, and supports Direct EA subscriptions.
Seat based: channel transfers. Renews Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Teams subscriptions from EA directly into CSP. It keeps existing SKUs even where they are end of sale, aligns renewal dates, and prevents double billing. It runs in the 90 day window after the EA ends, is UI driven, and is designed for account by account moves rather than bulk migration.
For years, EA was the domain of large LSPs and LARs, legacy partners with scale and special status. CSP partners could not compete in that motion. That has changed.
Microsoft is reshaping its commercial model around the Cloud Solution Provider program, a flexible, partner led way to buy cloud services. From November 1, 2025, online services pricing under EA, MPSA, and OSPA aligns to Microsoft's list price at renewal, so many EA customers lose their traditional volume discounts. At the same time, CSP has grown up: three year terms (available since June 2025 for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 and Teams Enterprise), monthly and annual billing, and dedicated migration tooling for both seat based and Azure workloads. CSP now matches EA's stability while adding flexibility.
This is not just a contract switch. It is a structural shift in how Microsoft expects customers to consume cloud services, and in how partners operate.
Microsoft makes the license transfer relatively straightforward. Billing is where partners miss.
At enterprise scale, even 2 to 3% revenue leakage is around $200K lost per $10M of CSP business. That is the difference between a migration that grows margin and one that quietly erodes it.
The tools solve the transfer. They do not touch the operational layer that decides whether the migration is profitable. That is where Work 365, the revenue and operations platform for Microsoft CSP partners, does its work.
Microsoft's tool moves the license: the subscription and billing relationship transfer, at the tenant level, with no data movement and no downtime.
Work 365 runs the revenue that follows:
Work 365 mirrors Microsoft's billing cadence of monthly, annual, and triennial while letting you run custom partner terms, and it brings price, catalog, and self-service management for enterprise customers. The result is a clean cutover and protected margin, not a leaky one.
Innovia Consulting grew its CSP business by 300% without adding headcount. GadellNet recovered 2 to 3% of revenue that was leaking, with a return on investment inside three months.
If your customers have EA renewals coming up, you have a choice. Let them renew at list aligned prices with less flexibility, or help them move to CSP where you deliver flexibility, value, and partner led support. The move also lines up with FY27, where earning now follows growth and premium adoption. See our companion post on the FY27 CSP incentive changes for how the two connect.
The partners who win will be the ones who map their EA renewals early and make the cutover clean. Book a CSP migration strategy session with Work 365, and we will help you align contracts, automate the billing cutover, and turn Microsoft's commercial shift into your growth advantage.