Microsoft's results are in, but the E7 subscription remains mythical. For now

Comment The guessing game over when and if Microsoft might add an E7 tier to its Microsoft 365 lineup continues following the company's latest results.

At present, Microsoft has two enterprise tiers, E3 and E5, which offer businesses a variety of services, including productivity and security applications. Other options include tiers for frontline workers and educational customers, but E3 and E5 are where the bulk of the money is.

However, Microsoft has taken to adding extra services on top. Do you want Microsoft 365 Copilot? Sure – that'll be another $30.00 per user per month stateside, or £24.70 plus VAT for the same deal in the UK. That Entra Suite that Microsoft keeps banging on about when talking about identity and access? No problem – we'll add that to your invoice. The European Commission made us unbundle Teams, but you want that too? The Premium version? Absolutely – got a spare kidney handy?

And so it goes on.

Directions on Microsoft analyst Wes Miller writes: "These add-ons each share three characteristics. They each require a service included in one of the Microsoft 365 enterprise suites (E3 or E5); each has reasonably broad appeal to knowledge workers; and each would likely have been added for no additional cost to existing Microsoft enterprise suites, based on past trends."

However, as users might expect, there remains no sign of Microsoft folding those premium services into the E5 subscription tier. So, could the mythical E7 tier finally be about to make an appearance?

Miller again: "Microsoft is always ready to displace the current top-shelf tequila with a new top-shelf."

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With a new price, for sure. Certainly, the company has rarely seen a potential revenue stream that it didn't like the look of. However, after Microsoft's latest results, the question has to be asked: Does it need to? Directions on Microsoft's Mary Jo Foley wrote: "Perhaps Microsoft has done the math and calculated that add-ons will generate more money than suites."

Foley has a point. During the company's earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella stated that Copilot for Microsoft 365 customers increased by 60 percent quarter on quarter, although he did not provide the numbers behind this figure. The company has also seen growth in its other premium subscriptions.

Creating an E7 tier that includes these items would require careful thought given to the pricing structure, considering the money rolling in from E5 and its range of add-ons.

As the company's customers march into the next round of renewal negotiations, they should pay some attention to this shift in Microsoft's approach to peppering its products with add-ons rather than bundling services into a premium subscription. Where once E7 might have been a sure thing, now the company might be more content with the add-on approach. ®