On July 30th, I joined Daryl Ullman and Alexander Golev from SAMexpert to discuss the direction of Microsoft Copilot licensing. The session recording is now on YouTube:
Here’s a description of the session
Microsoft’s AI promises sound great until you start working out the numbers. The pricing structures are confusing at best, deliberately opaque at worst. Their cost calculators rarely match real-world usage patterns. And whilst they talk about seamless AI integration, they’re quietly shifting everything to consumption-based models that make budget planning nearly impossible.
Join us for a live session and Q&A with our guest speaker, Jukka Niiranen.
Jukka Niiranen has spent nearly two decades working with Microsoft’s business applications, from CRM systems to today’s Power Platform. He was a Microsoft MVP for 11 years and co-founded a Power Platform consulting company in 2020. He’s worked on everything from solution design and deployment to enterprise governance and adoption strategies. He knows Microsoft’s products inside out and isn’t afraid to call out the gaps between what they promise and what actually gets delivered.
Article Series: The Real Cost of Agentic AI
Since the live webinar, I have dived deeper into the themes in a six part article series on Agentic AI. Please check out the blog posts below for a comprehensive analysis of the topics we discussed as well as additional perspectives that we didn’t have time for in the 1h live session:
From Per-Seat to Pay-As-You-Go – The Shift in Microsoft Licensing
This is Part 1 of The Real Cost of Agentic AI series. Summary Microsoft’s licensing model is shifting from traditional per-user subscriptions towards usage-based “pay-as-you-go” options. This post examines how consumption-based licensing is becoming the norm for new AI offerings like Copilot, why this paradigm shift is happening, and what it means for organizations’ budgeting and strategy. What’s happening Microsoft…
Agent Flows vs. Cloud Flows – New AI Automation, New Licensing Questions
This is Part 2 of The Real Cost of Agentic AI series. Summary Microsoft’s Copilot introduces “Agent flows” – a new type of workflow running within AI agents – which exist alongside traditional Power Automate “Cloud flows”. This post explains the differences between agent flows and cloud flows, how Microsoft has put them under separate licensing buckets, and why this…
The Cost Estimation Conundrum – Why AI Licensing Makes Budgeting Hard
This is Part 3 of The Real Cost of Agentic AI series. Summary Even as Microsoft rolls out pricing and calculators for Copilot and AI services, estimating the actual costs of these “agentic AI” features remains a major challenge. This article explores why predicting spend for AI-powered services (like Copilot) is so difficult – touching on unclear usage metrics, evolving…
Per-Agent Licensing – Will Digital Employees Need Licenses of Their Own?
This is Part 4 of The Real Cost of Agentic AI series. Summary As AI “agents” become part of the workforce (think Copilot acting like a digital employee), Microsoft’s licensing strategy may evolve to treat these agents as licensable entities. This post discusses the concept of per-agent licensing – the idea that each AI agent might carry its own licensing…
AI Feature Gating – Microsoft’s Copilot and the New Paywalls of Productivity
This is Part 5 of The Real Cost of Agentic AI series. Summary Microsoft’s Copilot vision is often talked about as if it’s a single, omnipresent assistant, but in reality “there is no one Copilot”. Different AI features and Copilot-branded products are gated behind specific licenses and add-ons, leading to surprises when customers discover certain capabilities aren’t included by default….
Internal Inertia at Microsoft – Old Models vs. New AI Ambitions
This is Part 6 of The Real Cost of Agentic AI series. Summary Microsoft’s rapid layering of AI offerings on top of its existing products has created a situation where old licensing models and product lines coexist awkwardly with new AI models. This post delves into the internal dynamics at Microsoft – how the need to protect legacy product revenue…
