Microsoft EA Renewal Best Practices: 2025 Enterprise Playbook

Microsoft EA Renewal Best Practices: How to Prepare With Confidence (2025 Edition)

Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA) renewals are high-stakes events that can lock in your IT costs and capabilities for years.

In 2025, preparation is more critical than ever. Microsoft’s sales teams are pushing cloud-first deals and new AI add-ons, such as Copilot, and unprepared organizations often overspend or get stuck with inflexible terms.

This guide is a step-by-step playbook for Microsoft EA renewal strategies, designed for CIOs, CFOs, procurement leaders, and IT executives.

These best practices to optimize costs, eliminate unused licenses, and enter your renewal negotiations with confidence and leverage.

Why Preparation Matters in Microsoft EA Renewals

Renewing a Microsoft EA without a plan is a recipe for overspending.

Microsoft has become more aggressive in 2025 with cloud-first and AI-driven tactics – for example, urging customers to adopt Microsoft 365 Copilot or bundle additional Azure services.

If you enter renewal discussions unprepared, you may end up agreeing to expensive features or additional licenses that aren’t truly necessary.

Proper preparation flips the script: it creates leverage for you, the customer. By starting early and doing your homework, you can identify what you need (and what you don’t), clean up wasted spend, and set clear goals.

Early action also gives you time to consider alternatives and benchmark Microsoft’s offer against market standards. In short, preparation means you negotiate from a position of strength rather than reacting to Microsoft’s agenda.

Step 1 — Start Planning Early (12–18 Months Ahead)

Don’t wait until the last minute.

Begin your EA renewal planning 12–18 months.

An Enterprise Agreement covers a lot of ground (Office 365, Windows, Azure, etc.), so you need ample time to analyze and strategize.

Here’s a high-level timeline and checklist for early planning:

1. 18–12 Months Before Renewal: Assemble a cross-functional team to oversee the renewal process. Include stakeholders from IT, procurement, finance, and legal. Assign an executive sponsor (like a CIO or CFO) to provide guidance and support. Start collecting data on current license usage and costs. Set initial goals for the renewal (for example, reduce costs by 15%, or secure more flexible terms).
2. 12–9 Months Before Renewal: Refine your objectives. Define clear goals, such as cost savings targets, the required flexibility (e.g., the ability to reduce licenses if headcount decreases), and alignment with your technology roadmap. Determine what success looks like: Is it purely spending less, or also acquiring new capabilities? Additionally, consider engaging with an independent licensing expert or consultant now if you plan to use one – they can help benchmark and advise on strategy.
3. 9–6 Months Before Renewal: Conduct internal analyses (see Steps 2 and 3 below) – complete your license and usage audit, and begin modeling scenarios for different licensing options. Identify any major decisions (such as moving some services to the cloud or adopting certain Microsoft products) that might impact the renewal. Communicate internally with executives about the potential budget implications and ensure everyone is on the same page.
4. 6–3 Months Before Renewal: Develop your negotiation strategy (we’ll cover leverage and negotiation tactics in Steps 4 and 5). Begin preliminary talks with your Microsoft account team or reseller, if applicable – but hold off on committing to anything. Use these discussions to gather Microsoft’s intentions (Are they pushing an E5 upgrade? Azure commitment? Copilot licenses?) without revealing your hand. Internally, prepare your negotiation walk-away points and have executive buy-in for them.
5. Final 3 Months: Enter formal negotiations with Microsoft, armed with your data and requirements. Ensure your core team reviews all proposals and counter-proposals. Keep leadership informed. Plan for final executive-to-executive discussions if needed to close the deal on acceptable terms.

Starting early ensures you won’t be forced into a corner. With a year or more of lead time, you can methodically clean house on licenses, explore options, and build consensus on what you need.

Microsoft’s sales reps often try to impose tight timelines as the renewal date nears — but if you’ve been planning for months, you won’t be pressured by time.

Early planning is the foundation of Microsoft EA renewal best practices, setting you up for success in all the following steps.

Step 2 — License Cleanup and Shelfware Reduction

One of the fastest ways to optimize your Microsoft EA is to clean up your license portfolio well before renewal.

Over a 3-year EA term, it’s common for companies to accumulate “shelfware” – licenses for products not being used or oversubscription of high-end plans that aren’t fully utilized.

Before you negotiate a new agreement, perform a thorough Microsoft license cleanup:

• Run an Internal License Audit: Inventory all the licenses and subscriptions under your EA. Check actual usage data for each product. Tools like the Microsoft 365 admin center reports, Azure usage reports, and third-party software asset management tools can help reveal what is actively used versus sitting idle.
• Identify Unused or Underused Licenses: Look for clear candidates to cut or downgrade. Common examples include:
  • Office 365 E5 vs. E3: If you’ve been licensing the full E5 suite for all users, examine who truly uses the E5-only features (advanced security, telephony, analytics, etc.). Many organizations find that a significant percentage of users can be perfectly served with E3 licenses. You might plan to renew with a lower E5:E3 ratio, such as only power users on E5 and the rest on E3 – instantly saving costs.
  • Add-ons like Teams Phone or Power BI Pro: Perhaps you have purchased the Teams Phone System add-on or lots of Power BI Pro licenses, but adoption is low. If only a small group needs these, scale back the quantity for renewal or cut them entirely for now. You can always add licenses later if demand grows, but don’t keep paying for unused capacity.
  • Legacy or Redundant Products: Identify any older software or cloud services in your EA that your organization no longer needs. For example, Visio or Project licenses assigned to users who don’t use those tools, or on-premises server licenses if you’ve migrated those workloads to the cloud. Eliminating these frees up budget for more relevant needs.
• True-Down Before True-Up: In the year leading up to renewal, try to right-size your license counts. If your EA allows annual adjustments and your user count has decreased or you have unnecessary licenses, perform a “true-down” if possible. Removing excess licenses now means you won’t carry that cost into the new agreement. (Microsoft EAs historically focus on true-ups for growth, but savvy customers negotiate the ability to reduce counts or at least drop them at renewal time — make sure you take full advantage of the renewal to reset your baseline lower.)
• Address Compliance Gaps Proactively: During your audit, if you discover you’ve been using more licenses than you purchased (for instance, unlicensed users or extra installations), address it before Microsoft does. It’s better to resolve compliance issues privately by acquiring the necessary licenses or re-harvesting some, rather than having Microsoft discover them during an audit. An unexpected compliance penalty during renewal negotiations would erode your leverage. Show Microsoft that you have your house in order – you’ve eliminated unnecessary licenses and ensured compliance. This puts you in a strong position to ask for concessions since you’re a responsible customer.

By cleaning up your environment, you achieve Microsoft EA cost optimization on two fronts: you reduce wasteful spend (which directly lowers your renewal quote), and you remove ammunition that Microsoft’s sales or audit team could use to pressure you (such as “We see you have 500 more users active than licenses, you need to buy more now”).

Going into the renewal with a lean, well-documented license position means you’ll only renew what you truly need, avoiding overspend.

Step 3 — Benchmarking and Scenario Modeling

With your current license usage data in hand, the next step is to benchmark costs and model future scenarios. Microsoft’s pricing and discounting can be opaque – you should not simply accept the first quote as a fair deal.

Use independent benchmarks and careful modeling to determine what you should be paying and what mix of licenses makes the most sense for your business.

Why Benchmarking Is Critical:

Microsoft’s initial renewal offer may claim to give you a certain discount, but how do you know if it’s competitive?

Research what similar enterprises are paying for EAs. If possible, engage in peer networking or use third-party consultants who maintain Microsoft EA pricing benchmarks.

Knowing the typical discount percentage or price per user that companies of your size/industry typically receive provides a target to aim for.

For example, if your benchmark data shows that companies of your size get 20% off the list price on Microsoft 365 E3, you’ll know that Microsoft’s offer of 10% off is leaving money on the table.

Independent benchmarks arm you with facts to counter Microsoft’s claims and push for a better deal.

Scenario Modeling: Don’t assume the same bundle of products is right for your next term. Use scenario modeling to explore different combinations of licenses and services, and their impact on cost and value.

Consider scenarios such as:

• E3/E5 License Mixes: Model a scenario where a larger portion of users are on Microsoft 365 E3 instead of E5, compared to the scenario where more users are on E5. What features or compliance requirements do you lose, and can those be mitigated with add-ons for far fewer users? Often, the cost difference is substantial. For instance, 1,000 E5 licenses might cost significantly more than 1,000 E3 licenses plus 100 add-on security licenses – and if only 100 people truly need those extra features, the latter scenario yields big savings.
• Adopting or Dropping Certain Products: For example, if you’re currently licensing an on-premises product with Software Assurance, what if you shifted to a cloud equivalent (or vice versa)? Or, what if you removed a product, such as an analytics tool, from your EA and purchased it separately only for the departments that use it? Model the total cost of ownership for 3 years under each approach.
• Cloud Consumption (Azure) Commitments: If Azure is part of your Enterprise Agreement, model your expected Azure spend under different growth scenarios. Microsoft often seeks an upfront Azure commitment (e.g., $X over 3 years). Compare the scenarios of committing versus pay-as-you-go or even using alternative cloud providers for some workloads (more on that in the next section). Ensure the commitment, if you make one, is sized realistically to avoid overcommitting budget to Azure that you can’t utilize fully.
• Incorporating Support Costs: Remember that Unified Support (Microsoft’s enterprise support program) often costs a percentage of your license and Azure spend. When modeling scenarios, include support costs to accurately compare the total cost of ownership (TCO) with the actual costs. For example, a scenario where you license everything at a higher spend could also mean higher support fees (since Microsoft might charge ~10% of your total EA value for support). A learner licensing scenario will also reduce support costs. You may find that after adding support, one scenario proves to be more cost-effective than another.

Through this scenario modeling, you can identify the optimal target setup for your renewal.

This means you’ll approach Microsoft with a clear picture of, say, “We plan to renew with 5,000 E3 licenses and 2,000 E5 licenses, drop these SKUs, and commit $Y to Azure, and based on our benchmarks, we expect a total cost of $Z over 3 years.”

This level of preparation forces Microsoft to either meet your well-reasoned position or risk losing parts of the deal. It turns the renewal discussion into a data-driven negotiation rather than a sales pitch.

Step 4 — Securing Negotiation Leverage

Even with all your internal preparation, how you negotiate can make a huge difference in the outcome.

This step involves strengthening your bargaining position and creating leverage to motivate Microsoft to accommodate your requirements.

Here are key tactics to secure negotiation leverage:

• Time for the Negotiation with Microsoft’s Fiscal Calendar: Microsoft’s sales teams are under pressure to hit quarterly and annual targets. Microsoft’s fiscal year ends on June 30, which means the April–June quarter often brings the strongest push to close deals. If your EA renewal happens to fall in Q4 (Microsoft’s Q4, April-June) or even Q2 end (December) or Q3 end (March), use that to your advantage. When Microsoft knows that a deal’s closure will help it meet year-end or quarter-end goals, you can often extract better discounts or concessions. If your renewal is off-cycle, you can still leverage timing by adjusting your approach to align with a quarter-end. In some cases, customers have even negotiated short extensions to align the final signing with a more favorable timing for Microsoft’s sales incentives.
• Leverage Alternatives (Real and Perceived): One of your strongest bargaining chips is the credible threat of alternatives. Identify areas in your Microsoft stack where you could switch to a competitor if needed. For example:
  • If Microsoft is pushing a big Azure commitment, have comparative quotes or estimates ready for AWS or Google Cloud for similar workloads. Showing that you’re considering moving some cloud workload to AWS can put pressure on Microsoft to improve Azure pricing or offer incentives.
  • If you’re negotiating Office 365 or Teams licenses, subtly remind Microsoft that you have other options (Google Workspace for productivity, or Zoom and other collaboration tools). Even if a full switch is unlikely, demonstrating that you’ve evaluated alternatives for certain functions (email, meetings, telephony, etc.) makes Microsoft more eager to keep those workloads in their ecosystem by sweetening the deal.
  • For any high-cost Microsoft security or compliance add-on (from EMS E5 features to Purview or Defender suites), consider third-party solutions. If Microsoft knows you might opt for a different security vendor rather than paying an exorbitant price for their bundle, they may become more flexible with pricing or bundle components.
• Establish Your Walk-Away Points: Before you enter final negotiations, define what “no deal” looks like and be willing to invoke it if necessary. This could mean having a plan to:
  • Let the EA lapse and use month-to-month licensing via Microsoft’s CSP program or the new Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA-E) for a short period if Microsoft’s terms aren’t acceptable. (While not ideal long-term due to higher costs, it’s a viable short-term backup rather than signing a bad 3-year deal.)
  • Drop certain products from the scope if Microsoft won’t budge on them. For instance, if Microsoft won’t offer a fair price for a certain module or on-premises software, be prepared to exclude it from the EA and explore alternatives, such as third-party options or maintaining an older version. You might say, “If we can’t reach an agreement on Product X, we will postpone its purchase or seek an alternative solution.”
  • Engage Microsoft executives or even consider competitor promotions. Microsoft often expects that customers will ultimately renew with them, which weakens your stance. By showing you have a legitimate Plan B (even if temporary), you change that dynamic.
• Control the Narrative and Pace: Use your preparation to drive the conversation. Present Microsoft with your analysis – for example, share that you’ve identified 15% of current licenses are unused and will be removed, that you’ve benchmarked pricing, and that you have an executive mandate to stick to a certain budget. When Microsoft sees you have done the math and are ready to say “no” to a bad deal, they will be more inclined to cooperate. Also, don’t allow them to rush you. If the sales team says, “We need to close this by next week to give you this discount,” be ready to hold firm or call their bluff. Usually, that “deadline” will evaporate if you hold out, especially if they need your business for their quota.

In essence, securing leverage means making Microsoft compete for your business, even though they are an incumbent vendor.

You achieve this by being willing to challenge the status quo, by showing you have options, and by timing things to your advantage. Combined with the solid data from steps 2 and 3, you’re now in a powerful position to negotiate the best Microsoft EA renewal terms possible.

Step 5 — Renewal Negotiation Checklist

When you finally sit down at the negotiation table (figuratively or literally), come armed with a negotiation checklist to ensure you cover all the critical terms, not just the price per license.

Below is a checklist of key items to consider when negotiating your Microsoft EA renewal. Each item is a lever that can save money or provide flexibility over the life of the agreement:

• ✅ Price Caps and Protections: Don’t just negotiate the starting price – negotiate the price trajectory. Ensure your EA includes caps on price increases for any subscriptions that may fluctuate in quantity or for any optional renewals/extensions. Ideally, lock in pricing for the full term (e.g., “Year 1, 2, and 3 per-user costs are fixed at $X”). If you anticipate adding new products mid-term, consider including a clause that grants you the current discounted rate for those additions. Price protections shield you from Microsoft’s habit of raising list prices annually or from currency exchange changes.
• ✅ True-Down Rights for Licenses: Standard EAs require you to commit to a certain number of licenses upfront for 3 years, with the option to add more (true-up) annually if needed. However, many enterprises have fluctuating staff or shifting needs. Negotiate flexibility to reduce license counts at the anniversary or at least at renewal without penalty. Even if Microsoft won’t allow a mid-term reduction for all products, try to incorporate provisions such as an early reduction for specific products or the ability to offset growth in one area with reductions in another. True-down rights ensure you won’t pay for capacity you no longer need, which is especially important if your organization might downsize or divest units during the term.
• ✅ Unified Support Cost Alignment: If you have a Microsoft Unified Support agreement (which is often tied to your EA size), address it during the renewal. Unified Support fees are typically a percentage of your license and Azure spend. Push for alignment of support costs to actual usage. That could mean negotiating a reduced support fee percentage commensurate with any reduction in spend, or setting a “not to exceed” cap on support cost increases. You might also consider de-linking the support contract from the EA value, opting to negotiate support separately to avoid automatic price increases. The goal is to ensure that higher support fees don’t offset any savings you achieve on licensing.
• ✅ Avoid AI/Copilot Oversell: Microsoft is excited about new AI features (like Microsoft 365 Copilot) and will undoubtedly encourage customers to bundle these in the EA renewal. Be cautious about over-committing to unproven or nascent technologies. Negotiate the optionality of these add-ons rather than a mandatory, full deployment from day one. For example, you could agree to a small pilot or a fixed number of Copilot licenses at a discounted rate, with the option to expand later once you’ve validated the value. Or simply carve it out of the EA and take a “wait and see” approach. The key is to not let shiny new products inflate your agreement cost unless they align with clear business value. It’s perfectly acceptable to tell Microsoft, “We’ll consider Copilot in the future, but right now our renewal is focused on core services.”

Tip: Document these negotiated terms in your agreement or as amendments. It’s not enough to get a verbal agreement from the sales rep; ensure the final paperwork reflects every concession (price locks, flexibility, special terms) you’ve fought for.

A Microsoft EA renewal negotiation checklist, like the one above, helps you ensure that everything is documented in writing.

Step 6 — Governance and Internal Alignment

Internally, treat the EA renewal like a major project with executive visibility. Strong governance and alignment within your organization will prevent Microsoft from using divide-and-conquer tactics and will streamline the negotiation on your side. Here’s how to keep your team united and effective:

• Create a United Front: Bring together IT, procurement, finance, and any other key departments for regular renewal strategy meetings. Agree on roles — for instance, procurement might lead the commercial negotiations, IT defines the technical requirements and product roadmap needs, finance sets the budget guardrails, and legal reviews the contract terms. When Microsoft engages different people in your company (and they will, e.g. the account manager might call the CIO directly to talk up a new product), make sure those internal contacts funnel everything back to the core team. Consistent messaging from your organization is crucial. Microsoft should hear one clear set of priorities and constraints, whether they’re talking to a technical architect or the CFO.
• Executive Sponsorship and Sign-Off: Before final negotiations, brief your C-level executives on the strategy and get their explicit support. This is important because Microsoft may attempt end-arounds — for example, having a high-level Microsoft executive call your CEO or board member to push the deal. If your leadership is already on board with the plan (and the possibility of saying “no” to an offer that doesn’t meet your needs), they won’t be swayed by these tactics. The CIO or CFO should be prepared to support the negotiation team and, if necessary, participate directly to reinforce the message that your company stands united.
• Escalation Playbook: Despite your best efforts, negotiations can get tough. Microsoft might threaten to withdraw a discount or imply that delays will result in pricing adjustments. Plan your escalation path. For instance, decide at what point you should involve a higher-level Microsoft contact or when to escalate internally to your CEO for intervention. Sometimes, a polite but firm message from your CEO to Microsoft’s sales VP stating “we need a fair deal or we will explore alternatives” can break a stalemate. Knowing when and how to escalate issues – and having internal agreement on this – ensures you’re not scrambling under pressure.
• Document Everything: Maintain a clear record of all communications, proposals, and agreed-upon terms throughout the process. This helps avoid any “he said, she said” confusion later. It also means that if personnel changes on either side, the history of what was discussed is not lost. Good documentation is a key part of governance that will help with this renewal and the next one.

By maintaining internal alignment, you present a solid wall that Microsoft must face. There’s no weak link for them to exploit by saying “Finance already agreed to this higher price” or “IT wants this product now.” Instead, your team speaks with one voice.

This unified approach significantly enhances your negotiating power and helps you adhere to the Microsoft EA renewal best practices you’ve established, without being sidetracked by internal disagreements or unexpected requests.

Example Scenario — Renewal Preparedness Pays Off

Let’s illustrate how these best practices can yield tangible results.

Consider a global company (let’s call it “Contoso Inc.”) with 10,000 users that had an EA expiring in 2025. Contoso followed this playbook:

• Started Early & Set Goals: Fifteen months before expiration, Contoso formed a renewal task force with IT, procurement, and finance leads. The CIO’s goal was to avoid any cost increase and ideally find savings, despite Microsoft hinting that prices were generally going up.
• Cleaned-up Licenses: The team performed a thorough audit of license usage. They discovered about 2,000 (!) unused licenses across various products – including many Power BI Pro and Project Online seats that were assigned but not actively used. They also realized that only 30% of their staff were using the advanced features of their Microsoft 365 E5 licenses. Armed with this information, Contoso decided to downgrade a large portion of users to E3 and remove the truly unused subscriptions, trimming the fat before even obtaining a quote.
• Benchmarked & Modeled Scenarios: Contoso used industry benchmarks (via a third-party advisor), which showed that similar enterprises were paying 15-20% less per user than their current rate. They modeled a renewal scenario with a mix of E3/E5 that matched their real usage needs and projected Azure consumption based on current trends. This scenario showed a potential savings of millions compared to simply renewing “as is.” They set an internal target: no more than $X million over three years, which would be a roughly 10% reduction from the last EA.
• Built Negotiation Leverage: As the renewal talks began, Contoso let Microsoft know they were considering all options. For one, they obtained a quote from an AWS reseller for a portion of their cloud workloads to compare against Azure, providing a fallback option if Azure discounts were insufficient. They also evaluated moving some licenses to Microsoft’s CSP program if needed, to avoid a big upfront commitment. Their message to Microsoft: “We have choices, and we’ll do what makes the most financial sense.” Meanwhile, they timed negotiations so that Microsoft knew a deal needed to be reached by late June (Microsoft’s year-end) if they wanted Contoso’s business in the fiscal year.
• Negotiated Methodically: Contoso presented Microsoft with a detailed outline of what they wanted, including adjusted license counts, benchmark-based pricing, and key terms such as price locks and flexibility to reduce if needed. When Microsoft’s first proposal came back higher than their target, Contoso didn’t bite. They countered with data — “we know companies of our size pay less,” “we don’t need these extra licenses you included,” etc. — and even showed willingness to delay or escalate if needed. Over several rounds, Microsoft conceded on most points: they matched the industry pricing and even included a clause allowing Contoso to drop 10% of seats in year 2 if business conditions changed.

Result: Ultimately, Contoso Inc. achieved a stellar outcome. They avoided a price increase and reduced their total Microsoft spend by roughly 15% (~$5 million in savings) over the next 3-year term. They secured a price lock on their core Office 365 licenses, ensuring no surprise hikes.

They eliminated all the identified shelfware, so every license they’re paying for is actively used – boosting their ROI on Microsoft spend. And they maintained a good compliance standing throughout, which kept the negotiation focused on forward-looking value rather than any audit-related issues.

This example shows that with early, strategic preparation, an enterprise can turn a potentially painful renewal into an opportunity for cost savings and improved terms.

Related articles

• Evaluating Microsoft EA Renewal vs Alternative Options
• EA Renewal Preparation Timeline
• Pre-Renewal License Audit for Microsoft EA Negotiations
• Identifying Unused Services Before Microsoft EA Renewal
• Engaging Stakeholders in Microsoft EA Renewal Planning

FAQ

When should you start preparing for EA renewal?
Start preparing at least 12–18 months before your EA expiration date. Early planning allows you to audit your usage, clean up licenses, explore alternatives, and establish a negotiation strategy. The bigger your organization, the more lead time you need. Some large enterprises even begin informal preparations for renewal two years in advance. Early preparation ensures you won’t be scrambling as the clock runs down.

How do I reduce costs before renewal?
Begin by identifying and eliminating any unused licenses or services (shelfware). Downgrade expensive licenses (like moving users from E5 to E3 if they don’t need the extra features). Optimize your Azure usage to avoid overcommitment. Essentially, right-size your environment to meet your true needs. These actions will lower the baseline on which Microsoft’s renewal quote is built. Additionally, resolve any license compliance issues promptly to avoid costly true-ups during negotiations.

Can I negotiate terms, not just price?
Absolutely. Everything is negotiable in an EA renewal, not only the per-license price. You can (and should) negotiate contractual terms: price protections for future years, the ability to reduce licenses if your headcount drops, payment schedules, support arrangements, and even terms around new product additions (like pilot programs for new tech). Negotiating terms can sometimes deliver more long-term value than a one-time price cut, as good terms provide flexibility and guard against future cost increases.

What’s the biggest mistake enterprises make?
A common mistake is waiting too long to start and then rushing into a renewal dictated by Microsoft’s timeline. This leads to poor visibility into what you’re buying and often accepting a boilerplate deal that favors Microsoft. Another significant mistake is not conducting an internal usage audit – many companies blindly renew all existing licenses, even if a portion isn’t used, resulting in pure overspend. Finally, going into negotiations without alternative options or executive alignment leaves you at Microsoft’s mercy. In short, a lack of preparation and internal coordination are the biggest pitfalls.

How do I handle Copilot pressure in renewals?
Microsoft will eagerly talk up AI and Copilot as the future. While these tools are promising, they come with hefty costs. Handle this by focusing on your actual business needs and insisting on proof of value. You might respond to the sales pitch by saying: “We’re interested in Copilot, but we need to run a pilot or see ROI before we commit enterprise-wide.” You can negotiate a small number of Copilot licenses or defer the decision until mid-term when the product is more mature. The key is not to get swept up in the hype – include Copilot (or any new AI service) in your EA only if it aligns with a clear, budgeted plan on your end. It’s okay to say ‘not now’ and revisit it later, rather than committing to a large expenditure for something unproven for your organization.