Introduction
This interactive tool is based upon “The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft 365 Education A5 for K-12 Schools“ and “The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft 365 Education A5 for Higher Education,” commissioned studies conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft in August 2026.
For the K-12 schools study, Forrester interviewed six decision-makers and surveyed 64 respondents from K-12 education institutions with experience using 365 Education A5 to identify and quantify potential key benefits of investing in 365 Education A5. For the higher education study, Forrester interviewed six decision-makers and surveyed 65 IT decision-makers from higher education institutions with experience using Microsoft 365 Education A5.
Use the inputs on the left to customize the analysis and estimate the potential impact that an investment in Microsoft 365 Education A5 can bring to your organization.
Inputs
You provided the following information about your organization’s environment.
Name of your organization
Type of institution
Number of faculty
Number of administrative staff
Number of IT security staff
Results for:
Benefits (Three-Year)
Financial Summary
Consolidated Three-Year, Risk-Adjusted Metrics For
Return on investment (ROI)
Benefits PV
Net present value (NPV)
Cash Flow Chart (Risk-Adjusted)
Cash Flow Analysis (Risk-Adjusted)
| Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total costs | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total benefits | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net benefits | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| ROI |
Quantified benefit data as applied to
Total Benefits
| Ref. | Benefit | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atr | Reduced license costs from vendor consolidation | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Btr | Strengthened security | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Ctr | Avoided additional IT security team member hires | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Dtr | Reduced employee downtime | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Etr | Eliminated costs due to Power BI and Microsoft Teams Phone | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total benefits (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Reduced License Costs From Vendor Consolidation
Transitioning from a point-solution integration model to Microsoft 365 Education A5 might help organizations lower licensing costs. Possible ways savings could be recognized include eliminating storage costs associated with other solutions, consolidating security and other software, and avoiding specialist labor.
Reduced License Costs From Vendor Consolidation
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Employees | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| A2 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 subscription costs | A1*$117 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| A3 | Reduction compared to previous solutions | Interviews | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| At | Reduced license costs from vendor consolidation | A2*A3 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓10% | |||||
| Atr | Reduced license costs from vendor consolidation (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| Three-year total: $0 | Three-year present value: $0 | |||||
Strengthened Security
Microsoft 365 Education A5 includes integrated security, compliance, and privacy features that might improve an organization’s security posture in terms of the number and severity of breaches. This improved posture could reduce downtime and cost after a cyber event, protect an organization’s public reputation, and limit disruption to teaching.
Strengthened Security
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Annual risk exposure addressable with Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Forrester research | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| B2 | Reduced likelihood of a breach from addressable attacks with Microsoft 365 Education A5 | Interviews and survey | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| B3 | Savings due to reduced risk of breaches | B1*B2 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| B4 | Reduction in total cost of remaining breaches | Interviews and survey | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| B5 | Savings from lower costs associated with remaining breaches | (B1-B3)*B4 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Bt | Strengthened security | B3+B5 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓0% | |||||
| Btr | Strengthened security (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| Three-year total: $0 | Three-year present value: $0 | |||||
Avoided Additional IT Security Team Member Hires
Microsoft 365 Education A5 might improve IT security team efficiency and effectiveness through integrated solutions, centralized visibility, and built-in automation. This might streamline breach prevention, detection, and remediation; reduce management effort; and enable teams to handle greater workloads without adding headcount.
Avoided Additional IT Security Team Member Hires
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | FTEs on IT security team | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| C2 | Headcount avoided (FTEs) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| C3 | Fully burdened annual salary for an IT security staff member | TEI case study | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Ct | Avoided additional IT security team member hires | C2*C3 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓0% | |||||
| Ctr | Avoided additional IT security team member hires (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| Three-year total: $0 | Three-year present value: $0 | |||||
Reduced Employee Downtime
Faculty and staff might experience less downtime due to fewer successful breaches and faster remediation of those that do occur. Additionally, security tools like SSO and MFA might save users’ time. Microsoft 365 Education A5 might also help reduce downtime associated with on-premises solutions for organizations moving from on-premises applications to a cloud-based platform.
Reduced Employee Downtime
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | Staff | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| D2 | Annual staff time savings (hours) | Y1: 50 weeks*0.33 hours*50%; Y2 and Y3: 50 weeks*0.33 hours | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D3 | Fully burdened hourly salary for a staff member | TEI case study | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| D4 | Reduced staff downtime | D1*D2*D3 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| D5 | Faculty | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| D6 | Annual faculty time savings (hours) | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| D7 | Fully burdened hourly cost for a faculty member | TEI case study | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| D8 | Reduced faculty downtime | D5*D6*D7 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| D9 | Productivity capture | TEI standard | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Dt | Reduced employee downtime | (D4+D8)*D9 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓0% | |||||
| Dtr | Reduced employee downtime (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| Three-year total: $0 | Three-year present value: $0 | |||||
Eliminated Costs Due To Power BI And Microsoft Teams Phone
Organizations might see savings related to PowerBI and the ability to retire legacy phone systems by adopting Microsoft 365 Education A5, as both solutions are included.
Eliminated Costs Due To Power BI And Microsoft Teams Phone
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1 | Power BI users | TEI case study | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| E2 | Annual cost per user | Microsoft | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| E3 | Total Power BI savings | E1*E2 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| E4 | Costs eliminated due to the use of Microsoft Teams Phone | Interviews | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Et | Eliminated costs due to Power BI and Microsoft Teams Phone | E3+E4 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Risk adjustment | ↓0% | |||||
| Etr | Eliminated costs due to Power BI and Microsoft Teams Phone (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | ||
| Three-year total: $0 | Three-year present value: $0 | |||||
Quantified cost data as applied to
Total Costs
| Ref. | Cost | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Total | Present Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ftr | Internal costs | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Gtr | External costs | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Total costs (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Internal Costs
Organizations might need to dedicate some IT staff time to implementing Microsoft 365 Education A5 security, compliance, and privacy features. Implementation time and effort typically depends on organization size and initial feature deployment. Ongoing maintenance and administration will also vary depending on an organization’s needs.
Internal Costs
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | Implementation (months) | Scaled for | 0 | |||
| F2 | FTEs required for implementation | Scaled for | 0 | |||
| F3 | Implementation costs | F1*F2*(C3/12) | $0 | |||
| F4 | FTEs required for ongoing solution management | Scaled for | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ft | Internal costs | F3+(F4*C3) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑0% | |||||
| Ftr | Internal costs (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Three-year total: $0 | Three-year present value: $0 | |||||
External Costs
Organizations typically pay a subscription fee to Microsoft for Microsoft 365 Education A5. Organizations might also engage professional services upfront for deployment, configuration, best practice implementation, and ongoing guidance rolling out new security features.
External Costs
| Ref. | Metric | Source | Initial | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G1 | Microsoft 365 Education A5 subscriptions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| G2 | Incremental Microsoft 365 Education A5 cost over Microsoft 365 Education A3 | $117-$57 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| G3 | Incremental Microsoft 365 Education A5 subscription uplift cost | G1*G2 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| G4 | Professional services | Interviews | $0 | |||
| Gt | External costs | G3+G4 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Risk adjustment | ↑5% | |||||
| Gtr | External costs (risk-adjusted) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
| Three-year total: $0 | Three-year present value: $0 | |||||
From the information provided in the interviews, Forrester constructed a Total Economic Impact™ framework for those organizations considering an investment in 365 Education A5.
The objective of the framework is to identify the cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk factors that affect the investment decision. Forrester took a multistep approach to evaluate the impact that 365 Education A5 can have on an organization.
Due Diligence
Interviewed Microsoft stakeholders and Forrester analysts to gather data relative to 365 Education A5.
Interviews
Interviewed six representatives and surveyed 64 respondents using 365 Education A5 from K-12 education institutions and interviewed six representatives and surveyed 65 IT decision-makers using 365 Education A5 at higher education institutions to obtain data about costs, benefits, and risks.
Financial Model Framework
Constructed a financial model representative of the interviews using the TEI methodology and risk-adjusted the financial model based on issues and concerns of the interviewees.
ROI Calculator
Constructed a calculator based on the model in the associated study and in accordance with Forrester and TEI standards. Forrester’s aim is to clearly show all calculations and assumptions used in the analysis.
Disclosures
Readers should be aware of the following:
This study is commissioned by Microsoft and delivered by Forrester Consulting. It is not meant to be used as a competitive analysis.
Forrester makes no assumptions as to the potential ROI that other organizations will receive. Forrester strongly advises that readers use their own estimates within the framework provided in the study to determine the appropriateness of an investment in Microsoft 365 A5. For any interactive functionality, the intent is for the questions to solicit inputs specific to a prospect’s business. Forrester believes that this analysis is representative of what companies may achieve with Microsoft 365 A5 based on the inputs provided and any assumptions made. Forrester does not endorse Microsoft or its offerings. Although great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this model, Microsoft and Forrester Research are unable to accept any legal responsibility for any actions taken on the basis of the information contained herein. The interactive tool is provided ‘AS IS,’ and Forrester and Microsoft make no warranties of any kind.
Microsoft reviewed and provided feedback to Forrester, but Forrester maintains editorial control over the study and its findings and does not accept changes to the study that contradict Forrester’s findings or obscure the meaning of the study.
Microsoft provided the customer names for the interviews but did not participate in the interviews.
Forrester fielded the double-blind survey using a third-party survey partner.
Consulting Team:
Sam Conway
Jonathan Lipsitz
Published
August 2026
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