At bedigital, we work with IT and procurement leaders across a wide range of sectors. One trend that consistently appears in enterprise environments is the growing complexity of managing Microsoft Cloud services.
As Microsoft accelerates its Cloud-First strategy, prioritising cloud-based products, subscription licensing, and exclusive online features, organisations are feeling the impact. While cloud services offer scalability and innovation, they also introduce new risks, including spiralling costs, opaque licensing models, and increased exposure to non-compliance. Effective Microsoft Cloud cost management is essential to mitigate these risks and optimise your cloud investment.
This blog breaks down what Microsoft’s Cloud-First approach means for your organisation and, crucially, how you can stay in control.
Understanding the impact of Cloud-First
Microsoft’s cloud-first approach means new features, updates, and even entire products are being released exclusively to Microsoft 365 and Azure customers. Perpetual on-premise licenses are being phased out, and subscription-based models are now the norm.
This has serious implications for IT and finance teams:
- More complex licensing structures that often include unnecessary or underused features
- Automatic renewals that occur without review or optimisation
- Increased shadow IT, with business units purchasing or subscribing to tools outside of procurement oversight
- Reduced flexibility due to a high reliance on Microsoft’s ecosystem and pricing model
Without a proactive strategy, these changes can lead to rising costs, poor value and increased compliance risks.
5 practical steps to regain control
At bedigital, we help organisations navigate these challenges by aligning IT assets with real business needs. Here are five proven ways to regain control of your Microsoft Cloud environment.
1. Gain full visibility of usage and spend
Many organisations lack a complete picture of their Microsoft usage. Understanding what services are being used, who holds which licences, and how those licences are being consumed is fundamental to gaining control and ensuring successful Microsoft Cloud cost management.
Tools like Azure Cost Management and the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre can help track usage, but to link usage to actual business value, further analysis is often required.
2. Right-size your licences
Licensing is flexible by design, but that flexibility can become costly if not regularly reviewed. Outdated bundles, unused features, and blanket provisioning are all common causes of overspend.
Regularly reviewing your licensing (ideally every quarter) allows you to:
- Remove licences assigned to inactive or departed users
- Downgrade premium licences where full functionality isn’t needed
- Match licence types to real user needs, not assumptions
We’ve helped clients achieve significant savings simply by aligning licence types with user roles and actual usage.
3. Automate compliance and governance
As cloud environments become more dynamic, manual governance becomes harder and riskier.
Using tools such as Microsoft Compliance Manager and Azure Policy allows you to:
- Enforce access and usage policies consistently
- Automate compliance controls
- Monitor for non-compliant behaviours before they become serious issues
Automation not only reduces the administrative burden but also builds in resilience and reduces risk across the environment.
4. Tackle shadow IT
It’s common for departments to adopt their own SaaS tools, especially when cloud services are just a few clicks away. But this decentralised adoption creates duplicate spending, fragmented data, and unmanaged risk.
A well-defined ITAM process can help identify these tools early, assess their value, and bring them into a managed environment. This ensures spending is visible, aligned with strategy, and compliant with policies.
5. Work with an independent ITAM partner
Microsoft’s licensing model is constantly evolving, and keeping up internally can be a challenge. That’s why many organisations choose to partner with specialists who can provide independent, expert advice.
At bedigital, we work with enterprise organisations across sectors to:
- Conduct license usage and optimisation reviews
- Prepare for renewals with a clear understanding of value and need
- Manage licensing across Microsoft and other major vendors
- Identify and resolve cost and compliance risks
Our vendor-agnostic approach ensures our recommendations serve your business, not Microsoft’s sales goals.
One client saved 23% on Microsoft 365 spend following a detailed optimisation project led by our team, with no loss of performance or disruption to users.
Don’t let cloud first become cost first
Microsoft’s cloud-first future is here to stay. But it doesn’t have to mean higher costs, reduced visibility, or compliance headaches.
By taking a proactive approach (built on visibility, governance, and optimisation), you can realise the full benefits of Microsoft Cloud while staying in control of your costs and compliance obligations.
How bedigital can help
Whether you’re working to get better visibility of your Microsoft Cloud usage, reduce licensing costs, or improve compliance across multiple vendors, bedigital can help.
Get in touch to learn how we can support your ITAM strategy with expert, independent insight that delivers measurable value.
