Why Nordic Investment Bank left the EA and found a better deal in CSP.

Nordic Investment Bank is a European banking organization running a fully Microsoft-centric IT environment for just over 500 users. As a mid-sized bank, they spent months trying to renegotiate their Microsoft Enterprise Agreement before realizing the CSP model would give them more leverage, lower costs, and a partner who could actually pick up the phone.

A mid-sized bank stuck inside Microsoft's enterprise sales motion.

Nordic Investment Bank had been on an Enterprise Agreement, but renewing it was getting harder every cycle. At just over 500 seats, the team felt deprioritized inside Microsoft's direct commercial process. Pricing flexibility was limited and negotiations dragged on for months, while support response times had stretched to one or two days at a time.

The IT team needed someone in their corner who actually understood Microsoft's licensing programs and could negotiate on their behalf. They started evaluating CSP partners to find a model that fit how a mid-sized bank actually operates.

A CSP partnership built on three things the bank actually needed.

After evaluating multiple CSP partners, Nordic Investment Bank chose TrustedTech for the depth of Microsoft licensing knowledge across the team. Conversations felt different from direct Microsoft sales calls. They were more consultative, more transparent, and grounded in the bank's actual situation rather than a generic enterprise playbook.

The engagement was structured around three pillars that mattered most to the IT team:

The combination meant the bank wasn't just trading one vendor for another. They were getting a Microsoft-specialized partner whose team could advocate on their behalf, advise on licensing changes before they hit the next renewal, and respond when the IT team needed help.

CSP beat the Enterprise Agreement on price, not just service.

One of the bigger surprises for the Nordic Investment Bank team was that CSP pricing came in below what Microsoft was offering directly on the EA renewal. Mid-sized organizations often assume the EA is the lowest-cost path for a Microsoft-first environment. For Nordic, that turned out to be wrong.

TrustedTech's CSP arrangement delivered 15 to 20% in annual licensing savings on the same Microsoft footprint. The bank also kept the three-year pricing protection they relied on under the EA, which removed the usual concern about losing long-term cost stability when moving away from a direct enterprise agreement.

From multi-day response times to a partner who picks up.

Under the direct Microsoft engagement, support tickets could sit for one or two days before getting a substantive response. For a bank running a Microsoft-first environment, that lag was a problem. Every hour a licensing question or technical issue went unresolved was an hour the IT team had to spend either waiting or working around it.

TrustedTech's support model changed the rhythm. The bank now has direct access to specialists who already know their environment and can answer questions in minutes rather than days. The self-service licensing portal also lets the IT team manage day-to-day changes on their own schedule, instead of waiting for an account manager to return a call.

• Direct access to Microsoft-specialized support staff who know the bank's environment
• Response times measured in minutes, not days
• A self-service licensing portal for everyday provisioning and changes
• Advisory support to plan licensing decisions before the next renewal hits
• A consultative relationship that feels collaborative rather than transactional

Better pricing, faster support, and an advocate inside Microsoft's world.

1. 15–20% in annual licensing savings

   Nordic Investment Bank now pays meaningfully less for the same Microsoft footprint than they did on their direct Enterprise Agreement, with the savings showing up on their bottom line.

2. Support response down to minutes

   Tickets that used to wait one or two days for a Microsoft response now get an answer almost immediately, which matters when a bank's infrastructure has to keep moving.

3. Microsoft expertise on call

   The bank now works with a Microsoft Managed partner whose team knows the licensing programs deeply and can advise on changes before they hit the next renewal.

4. Self-service licensing flexibility

   Through TrustedTech's CSP portal, the IT team can handle day-to-day licensing decisions on their own schedule rather than waiting on a Microsoft account manager.

For mid-sized organizations, CSP can outperform an Enterprise Agreement.

For Nordic Investment Bank, leaving the EA was never just about price. It was about finding a partner who could provide real Microsoft expertise, stronger commercial advocacy, and a faster, more personal customer experience. After months of difficult conversations with Microsoft directly, they found that CSP through TrustedTech offered all of that on top of meaningful cost savings.

A deeper lesson is one more mid-sized organizations are discovering. A specialized Microsoft partner who knows the licensing programs inside and out can deliver more value than going direct, especially when you're not big enough to command an enterprise-level relationship with Microsoft on your own.