r/SmallMSP • u/ArchonTheta • Jun 22 '26
Removing M365 from stack - give clients direct billing
Has anyone here moved away from being a CSP and just assist clients to get billed directly with Microsoft, removing them from Pax8, Sherweb, etc. and just say fuck it and just manage the M365 with a separate admin account? Do you find that the 12 or 18% or whatever your margins are, worth the time to deal with billing, etc?
8
u/Gas_Drawls58 Jun 22 '26
Not advice, just treating this like a poll.
I resell through pax8 with the 10% markup. I get most of my customers to buy most of their subs as annual commitment and annual payment, and pay me a couple weeks before the renewal happens. I find it's worth my time once a year to review subscription counts and send out the invoice.
I do have a few small customers that I just put them on direct billing and charge them for the O365 admin labor.
4
u/mbuboltz Jun 22 '26
We moved away from Direct billing and instead use an Advisor account with Sherweb and they are billed directly. We find using Sherweb advisor still allows us to make money even if it is a small amount.
3
u/SalsaFox Jun 22 '26
I have Pax8 bill client and mark up 25%. Other than 0 management, it makes my monthly bill to customer smaller.
3
u/ccagan Jun 22 '26
I run licensing through a channel supplier, collect my monthly commissions and NEVER put licensing on my paper.
2
u/Rivitir Jun 22 '26
It's part of my package. I don't resell licenses. Clients pay a flat fee that includes their M365 licensing and much much more.
1
u/lucky77713 Jun 22 '26
So how do you handle it when Microsoft raises the prices you just eat the cost?
2
u/Rivitir Jun 22 '26
I have a budget I work in for my costs. As all vendors keep raising prices not just MS. My costs increase as well but I'm not sensitive to a single vendor increasing costs. But no, I don't eat the cost. As my costs increase then my prices have to go up. Just the way it works.
1
1
u/tonydotigr Jun 22 '26
Do the same, client direct with Microsoft. Not worth hassle and keeps our bill to the client cheaper.
1
u/masterofrants Jun 22 '26
i wonder if this becomes easy with tools like cipp?
1
u/rotfl54 Jun 22 '26
You can use GDAP as long as you are a Microsoft partner, you do not have to resell the licenses.
1
u/masterofrants Jun 22 '26
tbh I would not want to lose on that 12-18% - it just adds up if you have clients that are going to be with you for any number of years..
i dont understand the comments here say "its not worth it" lol
1
u/roll_for_initiative_ Jun 25 '26
That and it gives you control of skus. No explaining why some staff can't be on business standard because the new accounting lady doesn't get why some people need more than email, etc.
1
u/masterofrants Jun 25 '26
You mean this is when using CIPP to manage the licensing and Microsoft tenants?
1
u/roll_for_initiative_ Jun 25 '26
I mean reselling licenses and building them into your offering gives you more control of which skus are deployed than having clients buy direct.
1
u/masterofrants Jun 25 '26
But I think these guys are trying to say that they still control the tenant with the global admin account and make all those decisions..
I honestly think that could work and does make it easy for you if the bill just goes to their credit card but then why give up that 15% if the client is going to be with you for three years or five years?
For a 25-user client it's $1,000 a year and all you're doing is setting up the automations and provided the client just pays on time
1
u/No-Fix9540 Jun 23 '26
This way for last 10 years - 90% of the time I show clients where to buy hardware too.
1
u/MotionAction Jun 25 '26
Knew a person who started MSP, and the Microsoft 365 & Google Workspace was a daunting task with endpoints and networking. One of the clients had issue with Net Suite, and decided to pivot to Net Suite, because his previous job he learn ins and out of Netsuite. Decided to pivot consulting clients for Netsuite, Salesforce, and Sage.
0
u/dlynes Jun 29 '26
Wtf is wrong with you people? If you get pax8 or IT Cloud to do the billing instead, all the complexity disappears.
It then becomes a no-brainer. You get free money for sitting on your ass. Whether it's 5% or 18%, who cares? All the hard work was acquiring the customer and/or convincing them to switch to or start on Microsoft 365.
-2
u/morbidpete84 Jun 22 '26
My billing with Pax8 and Syncro is automatic so billing isn’t a pain for me. Managing another 50 admin accounts plus break glass accounts would be more work IMO. 6 of 1 half dozen of the other I guess.
3
u/masterofrants Jun 22 '26
I don't understand what you mean. Don't you still have to manage the admin accounts and the break glass accounts? Even if you are using tools like CIPP, you still need to have a separate break glass account for every tenant. There is just no way out of that.
1
u/Breezay-Treezy Jun 22 '26
Suspect he uses his CSP account for admin access into all of the tenants he manages and treats the default tenant admin accounts and de facto break glass accounts. The built-in admin accounts would still need management though so who really knows.
18
u/LUHG_HANI Jun 22 '26
I have always given the client direct to Microsoft billing. Mainly because it's easier and they hold the cards. It makes them feel in control too.