Cloud Solution Provider
Microsoft CSP, explained without the sales gloss
Partner-led purchasing with annual or monthly terms, INR billing and GST invoicing. It suits most organisations below roughly 250 seats — and we will tell you when it does not suit yours.
Under CSP, licences are bought through a partner who handles billing, provisioning and first-line support. The commercial characteristics that matter are the term length, the ability to change seat counts mid-term, and the billing currency.
What CSP gives you
- Annual or monthly commitment terms, chosen per subscription
- Seats addable at any point in the term, billed prorated
- Seat reductions at the subscription anniversary
- Billing in INR on a compliant GST invoice, with no currency exposure
- One partner relationship across all your Microsoft subscriptions
- Provisioning and licence assignment support
Where CSP is not the better answer
Above roughly 500 seats with a stable headcount, a volume licensing agreement usually costs less across three years and adds Software Assurance benefits that CSP does not include.
Organisations that need licence mobility for SQL Server or Windows Server on cloud infrastructure need Software Assurance, which comes through volume licensing rather than CSP.
Between 250 and 500 seats both should be modelled across the full term before deciding. We will do that rather than assume.
Moving an existing tenant to CSP
Transferring the billing relationship is an administrative change. Your tenant, data, configuration, users and settings are unaffected, and there is no downtime or migration of any kind.
The transfer takes effect at your next subscription renewal date for annual terms, or at the next billing cycle for monthly ones.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Cloud Solution Provider programme?
When is an Enterprise Agreement worth considering?
What is Software Assurance and do we need it?
Talk to us about CSP
Send us your current subscriptions and renewal dates. We will model CSP against your alternatives across a full three-year term.