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Microsoft’s End-of-Year Push Is on.
Don’t Sign Anything on E7 Until You’ve Read This.
It’s Q4. Microsoft’s fiscal year ends June 30th. Their account teams have quota to hit, and they’re under pressure.
We see this every year. But 2026 is different, because this time Microsoft has something new to sell: E7.
And based on what we’re hearing from clients, the pitch is aggressive.
This blog is our take on what’s actually going on and what you should do about it.
1. This didn’t start with E7
To understand the E7 push, you need to go back a few years.
Microsoft has spent the last three years moving E3 customers to E5. Not because E5 was the right fit for every organization it wasn’t. But because a large E5 base is commercially useful. It gives Microsoft the installed base it needs to justify the next step up.
That next step is E7. And the business case practically writes itself when your entire customer base is already sitting on E5. Microsoft wrote that case. Not you.
This is the pattern: every step in the upgrade ladder feels rational, because Microsoft engineered the step before it.
The logic isn’t yours. It’s theirs.
2. What E7 actually includes and who it’s actually for
E7 bundles Microsoft 365 E5 with a broader Copilot package, more security features, and additional compliance tooling. It looks comprehensive on a slide.
For some organizations, it’s genuinely the right buy. Large enterprises, heavy compliance requirements, active Copilot use with real numbers to back it up. If that’s you, E7 makes sense.
Most organizations we talk to? Not there yet.
Microsoft’s message right now is that E5 is passé and everyone should move to E7. That’s a commercial position, not a technology assessment.
The real question before any E7 conversation is simple: are we actually using what we already pay for?
If the answer is no and it usually is you’re being asked to pay a higher price for more things you won’t use.
3. Five things Microsoft’s account team will do in Q4
None of this is secret. It’s just worth naming clearly.
The fake deadline
“We can lock in this price if you sign before June 30th.” The deadline is real for Microsoft’s sales team. It’s almost never real for your organization. Your renewal timeline and your budget cycle are yours don’t let Microsoft’s fiscal year run your IT decisions.
The pre-packaged business case
Expect ROI calculators, Forrester studies, and a Total Economic Impact report that makes E7 look like a no-brainer. These are professional documents built to justify a specific outcome.
Let them build the case. Then have someone else validate it against your real usage data before you act on it.
Copilot as a bundle default
Copilot is included in E7 in a way that makes opting out feel odd. But Copilot ROI is real only when adoption is real and real adoption requires training, change management, and time.
If you haven’t done a Copilot pilot yet, you’re not ready for E7 pricing.
Multi-year lock-in sold as savings
A three- or five-year term looks cheaper per year. What it costs you is flexibility. The AI market is moving faster than any multi-year contract can adapt to. That flexibility has value.
It just doesn’t show up in Microsoft’s calculator.
True-Up as a trigger
Annual True-Up meetings are meant to reconcile usage. In Q4, they’re also used to open the upgrade conversation. If you went over your seat count, that’s the moment Microsoft will introduce E7.
Be ready for it. Don’t get pushed into a decision at a table where you’re already writing a check.
4. The one thing that changes the conversation: your own data
Microsoft builds the E7 case on an assumption: that you’re fully using E5.
Pull your Microsoft 365 Usage Analytics and see if that’s true.
What percentage of your users actively use Advanced Threat Protection? Defender for Endpoint? Information Protection? In most organizations we work with, active E5 feature adoption is well below 50%.
That data is your leverage. Three ways to use it:
- Show that E7 is premature. Low E5 adoption means the E7 business case is built on assumptions that don’t match your org. Say that clearly, with numbers.
- Offer an adoption milestone instead. “We’ll commit to E7 when E5 adoption is above 75%. Let’s build that into the agreement.” Microsoft prefers a committed future deal to a reluctant current one.
- Use it to negotiate price or transition terms. Low adoption makes you a risk as an E7 customer. That’s room to push on pricing, phased rollout, or contract flexibility.
Walking in with your own usage data is a completely different conversation than walking in and reacting to Microsoft’s slides.
One of those conversations you’re in control of. The other you’re not.
5. What to actually do before your next renewal
A few concrete things worth doing now, before any Microsoft meeting this quarter:
- Pull your M365 Usage Reports from the admin portal. Look at active use per workload not licenses assigned, actual usage. That’s your baseline.
- Get an independent review of any business case Microsoft presents. Not a sanity check from your IT team an external one, from someone who isn’t trying to close a deal.
- Build at least three scenarios: stay on E5, phase in E7 over 18 months, and take Copilot as a standalone. Know the numbers on all three.
- Push back on the timeline. If your renewal isn’t in Q4, don’t let yourself be pulled into Q4. If it is, don’t rush. A week of delay rarely costs you the deal — and almost always gives you better terms.
- Talk to someone who doesn’t work for Microsoft. An independent licensing advisor has no quota, no fiscal year, and no incentive except getting you a good outcome.
Our take
Microsoft builds great products. They also run an extremely well-tuned commercial operation, and Q4 is when that machine is running at full speed.
E7 might be right for your organization. We’re not saying it isn’t.
We’re saying: make that decision yourself, on your terms, with your data.
Not because a deadline made you.
Want to know where you actually stand?
LicenseQ offers an independent Microsoft license scan based on your actual adoption data. Through QHub, you can see clearly whether E7 is justified for your organization before you sit down with Microsoft.
