Agent 365: How Microsoft Plans to Monetize Your Digital Workforce
Microsoft's revenue model evolved from servers to CPUs to users. Agent 365 marks the next phase: per-agent licensing. And as a result, you'll pay even more to Microsoft. Jukka Niiranen joins us to break down the announcement and why your digital workforce means your software budget just expanded.
What Just Happened
Microsoft announced new licences via M365 Admin Center, launching mid-November. Agentic "Users" get full Entra ID identities, email addresses, Teams presence, and org chart positions. Each one needs its own A365 license.
We saw this coming. Back in July, we discussed per-agent licensing with Jukka because Copilot's per-user model wasn't working. Microsoft needed a way to monetize AI that doesn't depend on convincing every employee to buy Copilot.
Now they've found it: unlimited scaling through digital workers. Your organisation has 500 people? That's 500 potential M365 licenses. But there's no natural limit to how many agents you might deploy.
We'll talk about how Microsoft's revenue model evolved from physical servers to virtual agents, and why this solves their growth problem. What the admin center message reveals about how Agent 365 works, and what Microsoft isn't saying. Why agents getting Entra ID, email, and org chart presence creates compliance questions nobody's addressing yet. And why Copilot's commercial failure made this inevitable.
Jukka Niiranen founded Niiranen Advisory and has worked with Microsoft's low-code platform since 2005, from the early CRM days through to Power Platform and Dynamics 365. He writes uncensored analysis of Microsoft licensing and was the first to publicly dissect the Agent 365 announcement.
Alexander Golev founded SAMexpert and has worked with Microsoft technology for over 30 years, with 20+ years in licensing. Former Microsoft Licensing Consultant of the Year (ITAM Review 2021). SAMexpert operates independently - no Microsoft partnerships, no licence reselling.
Daryl Ullman is SAMexpert's Chief Negotiation Officer with 25 years in enterprise software, including former Executive Contracts & Licensing Manager for Microsoft MEA. Harvard-trained negotiator, authored "Negotiating with Microsoft" (2012). Leads contract negotiations and audit defence for Fortune 500 clients.
What Just Happened
Microsoft announced new licences via M365 Admin Center, launching mid-November. Agentic "Users" get full Entra ID identities, email addresses, Teams presence, and org chart positions. Each one needs its own A365 license.
We saw this coming. Back in July, we discussed per-agent licensing with Jukka because Copilot's per-user model wasn't working. Microsoft needed a way to monetize AI that doesn't depend on convincing every employee to buy Copilot.
Now they've found it: unlimited scaling through digital workers. Your organisation has 500 people? That's 500 potential M365 licenses. But there's no natural limit to how many agents you might deploy.
We'll talk about how Microsoft's revenue model evolved from physical servers to virtual agents, and why this solves their growth problem. What the admin center message reveals about how Agent 365 works, and what Microsoft isn't saying. Why agents getting Entra ID, email, and org chart presence creates compliance questions nobody's addressing yet. And why Copilot's commercial failure made this inevitable.
Jukka Niiranen founded Niiranen Advisory and has worked with Microsoft's low-code platform since 2005, from the early CRM days through to Power Platform and Dynamics 365. He writes uncensored analysis of Microsoft licensing and was the first to publicly dissect the Agent 365 announcement.
Alexander Golev founded SAMexpert and has worked with Microsoft technology for over 30 years, with 20+ years in licensing. Former Microsoft Licensing Consultant of the Year (ITAM Review 2021). SAMexpert operates independently - no Microsoft partnerships, no licence reselling.
Daryl Ullman is SAMexpert's Chief Negotiation Officer with 25 years in enterprise software, including former Executive Contracts & Licensing Manager for Microsoft MEA. Harvard-trained negotiator, authored "Negotiating with Microsoft" (2012). Leads contract negotiations and audit defence for Fortune 500 clients.