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IMPORTANT – Microsoft 365 price increases and the New Commerce Experience (NCE) March 2022

What's changing? Office 365 and Microsoft 365 prices are going up for the first time ever and they have also launched a New Commerce Experience (NCE), which includes a new set of licensing rules.  Due to this, we have little choice but to follow these changes ourselves, meaning there will be some important updates for our customers. As we strive to keep our customers updated with the most important information, we feel now is the perfect time to break this down for you. We have split the changes in to two sections (price increases and licensing terms).

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Price increases

In order to not overload you with information, we have bullet pointed the changes below for you:

  • From March 1st, Microsoft are raising the pricing of six of their most popular products in the market, the following are the estimated rises (based on an annual commitment):
    • Microsoft 365 Business Basic – 20%
    • Microsoft 365 Business Premium– 10%
    • Office 365 E1 – 25%
    • Office 365 E3 – 15%
    • Office 365 E5 – 8.5%
    • Microsoft 365 E3 – 12.5%
  • Customers can have a monthly rolling contract for the above products, but an additional 18-20% increase will apply, so we recommend renewing on an annual commitment (you can still pay monthly).
  • 365 / Azure services other than the ones above will not go up in March if they are on an annual commitment, otherwise the 18-20% increase will apply if they are on a monthly rolling commitment.

 

License terms

As part of the NCE, Microsoft have changed the way that the licensing works; we have summarised these changes for you below:

  • New contract options are available:
    • 1 Month (most expensive)
    • 12 Months
    • 36 Months (coming mid-2022)
  • At the start and renewal of an agreement you will have a 72 hour window to make any licensing changes you require, after that you are locked in for the duration of the term.
  • Licenses can be added at any point, but not removed during the term.
  • Licenses can be upgraded at any point (E1 -> E3 for example), but not downgraded.
  • You won’t be able to move supplier or cancel your contract mid-agreement.
  • Some licenses are no longer available on monthly rolling terms.

 

What do I need to do now and when will this affect me?

Microsoft 365 license subscriptions created before March 2022 are price protected for the duration of the existing term.  So, we are strongly urging customers to re-sign up for 365 licenses on an annual commitment by the end of the month, to continue paying the same amount you are now and price protect yourselves for a further 12 months.

The price increases mentioned above will affect you at the renewal date of your current license subscriptions, so re-committing to another 12 months means the renewal date will be in a year’s time rather than sooner.

We will endeavour to contact each customer in due course, but in the meantime, if you have any questions please contact your Account Manager directly or get in touch with us here and we’ll be happy to help you.

Please note these changes apply to commercial and business customers only, education and consumer subscriptions are unaffected.

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