Keeping up with change at Microsoft as you plan for Microsoft 365

This blog was originally published by Softchoice, a World Wide Technology co.

We don't just share a "file;" it's a Word doc or a PowerPoint presentation. It's not a "virtual meeting;" it's a Teams call. We depend daily on Microsoft 365 for productivity and Azure for hosting data and building new products and systems.

In many ways, modern businesses run on Microsoft. Given the degree to which many organizations have invested in Microsoft technologies, it's imperative that they get the absolute best value for their investments.

That said, the Microsoft ecosystem of product and service offerings is vast. It's complex. And it's constantly changing.

In the context of IT teams trying to keep the lights on today while preparing for big, generational shifts in how business and work get done, it can be overwhelming. These leaders today face a constant stream of updates on products, licensing models, feature releases and OEM partnerships.

Assessing the risk of standing still as Microsoft innovates

Microsoft adds capabilities to existing licenses or launches new SKU options all the time. Remaining unaware of these can and does result in higher spend on features users don't need and missed opportunities to benefit from bundled offers.

Underutilization and wasted spend

In fact, research from CoreView, a Softchoice vendor partner, suggests more than fifty percent of licenses end up inactive, underutilized, oversized or unassigned due to inaccurate planning.

Furthermore, new features and capabilities in the Microsoft ecosystem do nothing to create business value if IT doesn't surface and communicate them out to users. Simply put, users don't know (and won't use) what they don't know about.

Imagine for instance, Microsoft introduces a powerful new collaboration feature in Teams or a security enhancement in Entra ID, that directly targets a source of pain and friction in the business. Without knowledge of these updates and integration into your roadmap, these features sit idle.

Security and compliance gaps

Microsoft's cloud security capabilities advance at a rapid clip, in response to new threats and changes in the regulatory environment. Falling behind means operating with sub-optimal protection by default.

Opportunity cost in competitive advantage

At the end of the day, if the competition is embracing the latest and best Microsoft has to offer, particularly in the arena of generative and agentic AI, and you're not, this means forfeiting serious business value in automation, data insight and workflow optimization.

Putting change in Microsoft 365 into perspective

The year 2023 heralded the arrival of Copilot along with major evolutions in the Microsoft 365 security suite. But let's consider some of the major changes to the Microsoft 365 ecosystem from roughly the past 18 months.

• Early 2024: Teams Premium Feature Adjustments – As Microsoft 365 Copilot matured, Microsoft re-positions some features, notably including AI-powered meeting features originally announced as part of Teams Premium moving under the Copilot license
• Q4 2024: New Billing Options and Promotions – By the end of 2024, Microsoft responded to customer feedback on billing by introducing a new monthly billing option for annual subscriptions of Microsoft 365 Copilot (and certain other add-ons), giving organizations more flexibility in budgeting for AI features.
• April 2025: Price Changes on Microsoft 365 and Related Services – Microsoft announced that effective April 1, 2025, many Microsoft cloud products would see price changes on Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans for customers who pay per month on annual subscriptions.

In fact, from 2023 to mid-2025, we saw several sea changes in Microsoft 365, namely AI and Copilot, as well as new licensing paradigms (NCE), premium add-ons (Teams Premium), and rebranding of core services (Entra), pricing and packaging adjustments. It's not hard to imagine how organizations not keeping track of Microsoft's roadmap could be caught by surprise by change.

There's a clear pattern: Microsoft's roadmap, while complex and far-reaching, creates more opportunity than chaos, especially for those prepared to seize it. The next step is figuring out how to integrate these changes to your advantage.

How to leverage the Microsoft 365 roadmap and CSP to create business value

To optimize the value from Microsoft 365, you'll need to formalize your approach to staying up-to-date and folding changes at Microsoft into your planning and visioning. This looks like:

Making time for regular reviews of the Microsoft roadmap: Just as you might do QBRs, it's a good idea to schedule a quarterly or bi-annual look at the Microsoft Roadmap with your team. This should focus on going over recent announcements, previewing the upcoming roadmap and pinpointing those items that could make an impact on your environment and licensing. This routine helps avoid a massive shift flying out from under the radar.

Considering both technical and licensing/commercial changes: We find organizations often follow feature updates, but don't always mind the fine print when it comes to licensing. Is that new feature free under your current subscription or an add-on that calls for additional budget? Does that new SKU or change in commerce terms affect your next renewal?

Exploring Microsoft's Insider or Preview Programs or Customer Immersion Experiences (CIEs): Consider enrolling a subset of users or IT staff in Microsoft programs to preview and evaluate new functionality before adopting it organization-wide. A CIE with Softchoice, for example, provides your team with hands-on experience with Microsoft technology in a live environment with technical guidance. This way, you can vet whether the technology is useful and start preparing internal training and adoption ahead of deployment.

Audit your M365 usage and licensing analytics: Changes at Microsoft don't impact new features and capabilities alone. You'll also want to optimize what you've already installed on a regular basis. Microsoft 365 provides analytics and utilization tools to help you understand how users are actually working with M365 applications. Additional solutions, including Softchoice SAM+, can provide even greater context to help find opportunities to consolidate duplicated functions or capabilities under Microsoft 365 and CSP.

Align changes with core business objectives: In truth, not every update will matter in your specific context. Filter out the noise by evaluating what's coming through from Microsoft through the lens of your own priorities, strategy and roadmap. That way, you can gain buy-in from stakeholders to support adoption of new features or add-on licenses mapped to tangible business outcomes.

Don't go it alone

Infusing these practices into your planning cycle transforms Microsoft's rapid changes into an advantage, leaving you ready to adjust your licensing course, renegotiate an enterprise agreement (EA), or switch to the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) model in lockstep with Microsoft's latest and greatest.

To get the most out of Microsoft 365 investments, you need to treat Microsoft's ongoing changes not as random noise but as a key input into your IT strategy. Regular processes to monitor, evaluate, and adopt relevant updates, your organization can stay modern, secure, and competitive with less risk of overspending or underutilization.