Adam Mansfield | Source | Commercial Advisory Practice Leader at UpperEdge

CNBC: Microsoft Office prices going up 20% for some business clients unless they move from monthly to annual subscriptions December 6, 2021

Adam Mansfield, who helps companies negotiate purchases of software from Microsoft, Salesforce and ServiceNow at consultancy UpperEdge, told CNBC that the hike announcement in August was unwelcome news inside some organizations.

Microsoft is betting that customers will stick around, in part because Google’s Workspace bundle, previously known as G Suite, presents the only significant competition.

Mansfield said that one concern for Microsoft, though, should be the potential for unhappy customers to choose a different public cloud provider when they have upcoming projects. In that market, Microsoft trails Amazon Web Services, while Google is investing heavily to lure new clients.

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"The reason more businesses are leveraging multi-cloud environments includes limiting or minimizing heavy reliance on one vendor’s cloud solution. By having a multi-cloud environment, the business is set up to have necessary compute resources and data storage available to address downtime or potential data loss."

International Business Times: Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Deal -- Is The Cash Well Spent? January 21, 2022

Adam Mansfield, a Microsoft practice leader at UpperEdge, said he isn't that sure as to whether Microsoft's cash is best spent in acquisitions outside its core businesses. And it may upset the company’s enterprise customers.

"Many enterprise customers who spend millions of dollars with Microsoft on Microsoft 365, Power Platform, Azure, etc., will likely pay even closer attention to whether or not they feel they're getting the expected value from these products," said Mansfield. "They will look closer at whether Microsoft is spending their money on solutions that benefit them."

That raises the "innovator's dilemma." Should a company invest in its core businesses, promoting current growth, or venture into new enterprises promoting future growth?