The pricing question comes up constantly. If you’ve compared our Microsoft licensing quotes to what CDW or Dell charges and wondered what’s going on, you’re not being paranoid. You’re being a good IT buyer. The answer isn’t complicated, but it does require understanding how Microsoft actually structures its partner channel.
Here’s the short version, with the full explanation below: we buy directly from Microsoft, we do high volume, we focus on nothing else, and Microsoft’s own pricing framework gives partners full flexibility to compete on price. That’s it. No gray market, no segment mismatch, no tricks.
Who TrustedTech Is
We were founded in 2017 and have grown into a top 1% global Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider. We hold all six Microsoft Solutions Partner designations and Microsoft Managed Partner status, which fewer than 1% of Microsoft’s global partner network carries. You can look us up directly in the Microsoft Partner Directory. Those designations are assigned by Microsoft, not self-reported.
- 1,500+ Microsoft engineers delivering enterprise implementation and support
- 7,500 subscribing cloud customers across industries and markets
- 40,000+ on-premises and hybrid licensing customers globally
- All Microsoft technologies: Azure, Microsoft 365, Security, and more
- $515M+ annual revenue
- All 6 Microsoft Solutions Partner designations
- Fastest-growing CSP in Microsoft history
- #1 global replacement to Microsoft Unified Support
Microsoft Does Not Set Your Final Price
Most people don’t know this. Microsoft publishes a global price list, but it does not control what partners charge customers. Pricing transparency and global parity apply to what Microsoft charges partners upstream, not to what partners charge you.
Partners have full flexibility to set customer pricing based on their business model, volume, services attached, and customer relationships. Microsoft built the channel this way on purpose: to drive competition among partners and give customers real choices. A qualified partner offering lower prices than a large generalist reseller isn’t doing anything unusual. That’s competition working as designed.
What this means for you: any qualified Microsoft partner can provide the same core licenses. The differences are price, service, and support. That’s what you should be comparing.
Why Our Prices Are Lower
We are a Microsoft CSP Direct Bill Partner, which means we transact directly with Microsoft. No distributor in the middle, no extra margin layer. That alone gives us more room than partners who go through a two-tier distribution model.
Beyond that, a few things work in our customers’ favor:
- Direct CSP relationship: We bill Microsoft directly and go through annual compliance review to keep that status. A gray-market reseller cannot hold this credential.
- Volume: 7,500+ cloud customers creates real leverage. We pass that back through pricing rather than pocketing it as margin.
- Microsoft only: We don’t sell hardware, competing cloud platforms, or unrelated IT services. A generalist reseller like CDW carries enormous overhead across product lines. We don’t, and our customers benefit from that.
- Long-term model: We make money on renewals, seat growth, and attached services like licensing optimization and migration support, not on marking up a one-time transaction. That changes how we price the initial sale.
- Licensing depth: We work across CSP, MPSA, EA, and on-premises volume licensing. Most customers save 10–20% from their current spend when we right-size their licensing mix. Some cloud solutions come in up to 33% below standard reseller pricing.
Microsoft Manages Us Directly
In 2025, TrustedTech received Microsoft Managed Partner status. This is not something you apply for. Microsoft awards it to fewer than 1% of its global partner ecosystem based on market position, delivery capability, and growth performance. It comes with a dedicated Microsoft relationship manager assigned to our account.
If you’re wondering whether TrustedTech operates inside or outside Microsoft’s framework, that status is your answer. Microsoft reviewed us and assigned us a direct relationship. That doesn’t happen with gray-market operations.
What “Too Cheap to Be True” Actually Looks Like
The concern is legitimate in one situation: licenses sourced outside authorized channels. That means keys pulled from academic or government licensing pools and resold to commercial buyers, volume keys extracted from software assurance agreements, or keys sold by parties with no Microsoft partner relationship.
Those keys get revoked because Microsoft traces the sourcing chain. When a key comes from the wrong segment, Microsoft can and does invalidate it, often months after activation, leaving the end customer holding an unlicensed deployment.
None of that applies to us. Every license we sell comes through our direct CSP agreement with Microsoft. No segment mismatch. No secondary market sourcing. Our compliance is reviewed by Microsoft annually, and losing our Direct Bill status would put our business at risk. We have every incentive to stay clean.
One note on activation: some Windows Server and SQL Server products delivered through the CSP channel use an evaluation ISO with a DISM /set-edition command to convert to the paid SKU. We see this come up in forums as a red flag. It isn’t one. It’s Microsoft’s documented procedure for those products in the CSP channel. The key is a full paid license. The DISM step is just how the media conversion works.
What Customers Have Actually Experienced
Nordic Investment Bank: EA to CSP Migration
A 500-user European bank moved from an Enterprise Agreement to TrustedTech’s CSP program. Result: 15–20% annual licensing savings, support response down from one to two business days to minutes, three-year pricing protection maintained. Olli, Head of IT Infrastructure and Operations, handled the migration.
Banks don’t treat licensing compliance as optional. A regulated financial institution completing an EA-to-CSP move through TrustedTech and staying audit-ready throughout is worth more as a reference than anything we could say about ourselves.
Seven Years, Zero Sourcing Revocations
In seven years of serving 7,500+ cloud customers and 40,000+ on-premises customers, we have not had a single report of a license revoked due to sourcing. That’s the metric that matters in this conversation. Cheap unauthorized keys get pulled. CSP-sourced licenses don’t, because the source is Microsoft.
If you want to speak with a customer in your industry before deciding, ask us. We can arrange reference calls for organizations comparing TrustedTech against a large incumbent reseller or a direct Microsoft relationship.
What Others Have Said
The Silicon Review named TrustedTech a Top Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider to Watch in 2026. The feature profiles TrustedTech Founder and Chief Visionary Officer Julian Hamood, who explains how the company helps organizations move faster without sacrificing security or compliance.
CIO Bulletin named TrustedTech “Trusted Technology Advisor of the Year 2026,” recognizing IT leadership and digital transformation work across global markets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How can TrustedTech price Microsoft licenses lower than what I see elsewhere?
A. We buy directly from Microsoft as a CSP Direct Bill partner, which cuts out the distributor margin. We do high volume across 7,500+ cloud customers. We focus exclusively on Microsoft, which keeps our overhead low. And we build margin over the lifetime of customer relationships rather than on the initial transaction. All of that means we can price competitively without doing anything unusual.
Q. Is TrustedTech an authorized Microsoft partner?
A. Yes. CSP Direct Bill status, all six Microsoft Solutions Partner designations, and Microsoft Managed Partner status, which fewer than 1% of global Microsoft partners hold. Check the Microsoft Partner Directory if you want to verify independently.
Q. Why does the activation process sometimes involve an evaluation ISO and a DISM command?
A. For certain Windows Server and SQL Server SKUs through the CSP channel, that’s Microsoft’s standard delivery method. The evaluation ISO is the media; the DISM /set-edition command converts it to the paid edition. Your key is a full paid license. This process shows up in forums as suspicious, but it’s documented by Microsoft and standard for those products.
Q. What happens if a key fails or doesn’t activate?
A. Call or contact support the same day. We have transaction records for every purchase and can trace any issue. Most activation problems are resolved the same day. If you haven’t activated yet and need to return, that’s supported too.
Q. How do I know my licenses won’t be revoked later?
A. Revocation happens when keys come from the wrong licensing segment, like academic keys sold to commercial buyers, because Microsoft traces sourcing. CSP licenses are sourced directly from Microsoft, so there’s no segment mismatch to trigger a revocation. In seven years of operations, we’ve had zero sourcing revocations across our customer base.
Q. Do you work with large enterprises or just small businesses?
A. Both. We run 7,500+ cloud accounts and 40,000+ on-premises customers ranging from small teams to large enterprises. For organizations with Enterprise Agreement requirements or hybrid licensing, our in-house team handles those structures directly.
Q. How do I verify your Microsoft status independently?
A. Look us up in the Microsoft Partner Directory. Those designations come from Microsoft. No partner can add them to their own profile.
Talk to Us Directly
If you’re still not sure, call us. We’ll walk through our sourcing, our partner agreements, and our pricing structure with you before you commit to anything. We do this regularly for IT managers who are moving away from a large reseller and want to understand exactly what they’re getting into.
Contact our licensing team and we’ll give you straight answers.
