Doing business in markets that are heavily regulated is challenging for any company, and especially so for a multinational that has outposts in countries around the world. Few organizations experience this challenge as acutely as Microsoft does, because few do business in as many nations.

Microsoft keeps its broad business manageable by standardizing processes wherever possible. Sometimes, though, there are jurisdictions where the common way of doing things in most places on earth simply won't work. This is the situation Microsoft encountered when Covid-19 led customers in most every market to request terms extensions. The company's usual payment financing solution was not an option in some locales.