The Silent Watcher
In the old days of software auditing, you'd get a letter, a spreadsheet, and a six-month legal battle. Today, Microsoft has replaced the auditor with a telemetry snitch that lives inside your tenant. At Costif.ai, we are seeing a predatory new tactic in Microsoft renewals that every IT leader needs to understand before their next Enterprise Agreement negotiation.
The Telemetry Trap
Your E3 User
Clicks an E5 feature "just to see"
Microsoft's Dashboard
"Customer benefiting from E5 features"
The "Screw": The Feature That Doesn't Block
Imagine this: A user in your marketing department is licensed for Microsoft 365 E3. They stumble across an advanced security feature—like an automated sensitivity label or an "Identify" risk report—and they click it.
What Doesn't Happen
Instead, the feature simply works. But while the user is enjoying that E5-level functionality, a silent signal is sent via telemetry directly to Microsoft's backend. Your account representative now has a dashboard showing that your organization is "benefiting" from E5 features.
The Renewal Ambush
When renewal time comes, that representative won't ask you to turn the feature off. They will present a "compliance gap" report and claim that because your users are utilizing E5 features, your entire tenant must now be upgraded to E5.
The Result: A single accidental click by a handful of users is used as leverage to force a multi-million dollar "all-in" upgrade for thousands of employees.
Don't Let Telemetry Trap You
With your next EA renewal approaching, you need to know exactly what features your users are accessing. Get a confidential M365 license assessment before Microsoft does.
Why Microsoft Won't "Gate" Their Features
In almost any other industry, if you haven't paid for a service, you can't use it. If you don't have a Netflix 4K subscription, you can't watch 4K content.
Microsoft takes the opposite approach. By leaving E5 features "open" to E3 users, they create unintentional non-compliance.
Microsoft's Three-Part Strategy
Zero Friction for Users
They want your employees to get used to the "better" features. The more they use them, the harder it is to say no at renewal.
Maximum Friction for Admins
It is incredibly difficult for a sysadmin to hunt down and disable every single "premium" toggle across the entire M365 stack. There are hundreds of them.
Automatic Evidence Collection
The telemetry provides "hard data" that makes it very difficult for your legal team to argue against at the negotiating table. Microsoft has proof you used the features.
How Netflix Does It
No 4K subscription? You physically cannot access 4K content. Simple, fair, and transparent.
How Microsoft Does It
No E5 license? Feature still works. Microsoft records it. You pay at renewal or face "non-compliance."
The NCE Handcuffs: No Way Back
To make matters worse, under the New Commerce Experience (NCE), once you are pressured into that E5 upgrade to "solve" your compliance gap, you are locked in.
The NCE Trap
If you realize three months later that you only needed E3, you cannot downsize. You are legally committed to the higher price point for the remainder of your 1- or 3-year term.
The Upsell Cycle
User Clicks E5 Feature
Innocent exploration, no warning given
Telemetry Reports Usage
Microsoft's dashboard flags "E5 feature utilization"
Renewal "Compliance Gap"
Account rep presents evidence of "unauthorized" usage
Forced E5 Upgrade Under NCE
Locked in for 1-3 years, no downgrade possible
You have been successfully "upsold" by your own telemetry.
How Costif.ai Protects You
Microsoft is using your own usage data as a weapon against your budget. Costif.ai gives you that weapon back.
Our platform acts as an Early Warning System. We monitor your environment for "Feature Drift" in real-time.
Instant Alerts
We notify you the moment an E5-level feature is triggered by an E3 user—before it shows up on Microsoft's dashboard.
Remediation Guidance
We show you exactly how to disable the feature or revoke access before it becomes ammunition for your account rep.
Negotiation Intel
We provide you with the same data Microsoft has, so you can walk into your renewal with a clean bill of health and the proof to back it up.
Level the Playing Field
Don't let a "helpful" feature turn into a hostile audit. With Costif.ai, you have visibility into your own environment that matches—or exceeds—what Microsoft sees. No more surprises at renewal time.
Stop Feature Drift Before It Stops Your Budget
Your next EA renewal doesn't have to be a hostage negotiation. Get ahead of Microsoft's telemetry with proactive license monitoring from Costif.ai.