- CMA has nine months to determine whether Microsoft has strategic market status
- The company has 15 million business users in the UK, including the public sector.
- The combination of software and the integration of third-party tools are the focus of the research.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into Microsoft’s business software to determine whether the US tech giant has excessive market power in the country.
Competition, consumer choice, innovation and pricing will be analyzed in the State of the Strategic Market (SMS) investigation.
The British research comes at an important time: Microsoft now has more than 15 million business users across the UK, including public sector organisations.
CMA SMS investigation into Microsoft reaches full speed
The software is undergoing a major shift as AI co-pilots and assistants are introduced and many companies are even turning to fully autonomous agent workflows. With this, the CMA wants to ensure that customers can still mix and match software from different vendors and integrate third-party AI into the Microsoft suite to avoid exclusivity and vendor lock-in.
Regulators have raised concerns about the way Microsoft bundles its products, as well as interoperability restrictions that make it difficult, expensive or impossible to integrate third-party tools and software.
“Our aim is to understand how these markets are developing, Microsoft’s position within them and consider what specific actions, if any, may be necessary to ensure UK organizations can benefit from choice, innovation and competitive pricing,” explained CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell.
If Microsoft is deemed to have too much control over the market, the CMA could impose interoperability requirements, bundling restrictions and other measures.
As for the next stages, the CMA plans to work with rival software providers, challenger companies, enterprise customers and public sector organizations to get a clearer picture of the market.
“We are committed to working quickly and constructively with the CMA to facilitate its review of the enterprise software market,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.
The CMA says its nine-month investigation will be “proportionate and transparent” and that the final decision on whether to appoint Microsoft with SMS will be made in February 2027.
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