If your customers are running CrowdStrike alongside Microsoft E5/E7 they may not realize they're paying twice for endpoint security, and leaving identity, cloud, and SaaS gaps wide open. Ascent's complimentary Cost-Benefit Analysis makes that case in concrete numbers, creating a clear path to E5/E7 expansion and managed services.
An Ascent expert will reach out to you.
Takes 2 minutes. Delivers a business case in 2 weeks.
Why This Matters to Your Accounts
Most customers don't realize the overlap until they see the numbers side by side. This is the conversation that opens the E5/E7 expansion door.
Microsoft E5/E7 includes enterprise-grade EDR, the same category of protection CrowdStrike charges a separate license for. Most organizations never activate it. The meter keeps running on both. Your customer is funding duplicate coverage.
CrowdStrike is endpoint MDR. Identity, email, cloud, and SaaS require separate add-ons or separate vendors. Their E5/E7 covers all of it natively, they're just not using it. That's your expansion conversation.
CrowdStrike has no native SIEM. Most CrowdStrike customers are running a third-party SIEM alongside it. Microsoft Sentinel is included in E5/E7. That's a third contract they don't need.
CrowdStrike renewal costs are rising. Getting in front of your customer's renewal with a CBA gives you a data-driven reason to have the consolidation conversation before they sign another year.
The Co-Sell Opportunity
The CBA engagement is designed to create measurable co-sell outcomes for your accounts.
The CBA surfaces the full value of E5/E7 licensing your customer already owns but hasn't activated. That's the business case for upgrading accounts still on E3.
Consolidating onto Defender for Cloud, Sentinel, and the full Microsoft Security stack drives meaningful Azure consumption increases, directly tied to your quota.
Submit the CBA referral in Partner Center. Ascent tracks the engagement against your referral ID, ensuring pipeline attribution for every deal the CBA creates.
After the CBA, accounts move into Defender Rapid Adoption and CTEM Managed Services. Ascent manages the full stack. You get the consumption and co-sell credit.
The Process
Submit a referral or send Ascent the account name. We handle the outreach and scheduling. You don't need to prep anything.
Ascent maps the customer's current security spend: CrowdStrike, SIEM, identity tools, and Microsoft licensing. We come prepared. Your customer answers a handful of questions.
We identify where their E5/E7 investment is underutilized and where coverage gaps exist across their attack surface.
We build a side-by-side TCO comparison: current state versus fully consolidated Microsoft with Ascent managed.
Your customer receives a CFO-ready business case summary. You receive a co-sell-ready opportunity with a defined outcome and a natural next step.
What the CBA Produces
A complete map of what you're currently paying across your entire security stack.
A clear view of what you own in Microsoft E5/E7 versus what's actually turned on and working.
CrowdStrike vs. Microsoft + Ascent - total cost of ownership, apples to apples.
An honest assessment of where your current stack leaves identity, cloud, email, and SaaS exposed.
Projected savings figures and ROI framing your CFO and board can act on with confidence.
A recommended path from your current state to a fully managed, consolidated Microsoft Security platform.
A one-page pipeline summary formatted for Partner Center submission — deal size estimate, consumption impact, and recommended next engagement.
The CBA gave our customer a CFO-ready deliverable before their CrowdStrike renewal hit. They had everything they needed to make the switch, and we had the co-sell attribution to go with it.
Microsoft Account Executive · Ascent CBA Co-Sell Engagement
Free for Your Accounts · Co-Sell Eligible
The CBA is complimentary. It takes two weeks. And it gives your customer everything they need to make a confident platform decision, and gives you a defined co-sell outcome with attribution.
Submit a CBA Referral →Not ready to refer an account yet? Forward this page to your customer and copy us in. We'll take it from there.
