Your cloud estate is constantly reporting on itself, and Microsoft can read much of what it emits. Knowing your own telemetry before the vendor does is a buyer side advantage.
A modern Microsoft estate emits a steady stream of data. Azure reports on the workloads you run, Microsoft 365 reports on user and service activity, and management tooling such as Azure Arc can reveal servers that the vendor would not otherwise know about. Microsoft uses this telemetry to build the picture an audit works from, and in 2026 it applies anomaly detection across that data to select targets.
This is a transactional concern because the data feeds directly into the number. Usage spikes, entitlement mismatches, and Arc telemetry revealing unlicensed servers all raise your risk of selection and shape the opening position once selected.
If Microsoft can read your telemetry, then the telemetry is part of your exposure whether you look at it or not. The buyer side advantage is to read it first. Knowing what your estate emits, before the vendor builds a case from it, lets you correct genuine gaps, document legitimate patterns, and avoid being surprised by your own data.
Controlling telemetry does not mean hiding it. It means understanding it, governing what is connected, and making sure that what the vendor can see has an explanation you have already prepared.
| Source | What it reveals | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Azure | Running workloads and peaks | Drives the deployed count |
| Microsoft 365 | User and service activity | Drives subscription counts |
| Azure Arc and tooling | Servers outside the cloud | Surfaces unlicensed hosts |
Each source answers a different question for the auditor. Reading all three the way the vendor reads them is how you find the gaps before they do.
The work is to reconcile what your telemetry shows against your entitlement, the same exercise that produces a defensible Effective License Position, but driven by the data the vendor actually holds rather than a static inventory. Where the telemetry shows a real gap, you decide how to close it on your terms. Where it shows a pattern that looks like a gap but is not, you document the explanation in advance.
Done before any audit letter, this turns your own cloud data from a liability into part of your defense.
We help you read your telemetry the way Microsoft does and build a position from it before the vendor sets the number. We work on a Fixed Fee from $18,000 or on Gainshare, a share of verified savings or avoided penalty with zero retainer and no risk to you, and we sit on your side of the table without ever taking vendor money.
Our guarantee holds throughout. We reduce your exposure or we reimburse our service fee. Request a quote and we will start with what your estate is already telling Microsoft.
If you would rather not face that alone, our ELP exposure modeling service builds your own defensible position first.
Microsoft builds audits from your cloud data. We help you see it first.
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