- Written by Rick Meacham - Solutions Architect
- Connect with Rick on LinkedIn
This blog contains the following information:
Microsoft License Renewals 2024
In 2019, Microsoft launched their new commerce experience (NCE) “per seat” licensing model for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365, and Power Platform. It was launched for customers to reduce licensing complexity and simplify costs.
Between February and April 2024, many businesses will have their Microsoft licenses up for renewal where they can switch Cloud Solution Partners (CSP) to benefit from better service levels and specialist expertise. At Opus we offer a highly skilled, vendor trained pre-sales and product engineering department to ensure all of our Microsoft customers are getting the most from their licenses.
The 2023 Microsoft Price Increase
If you didn’t know already from 1 April 2023, Microsoft will be implementing a 9% automatic price increase which will affect ALL Microsoft products and services. This follows the New Commerce Experience (NCE) they implemented in 2022 designed to simplify licensing.
Microsoft will assess pricing in local currency on a scheduled twice-yearly cadence with consideration of local currency fluctuations vs the USD.
The recently announced price increase applies across their cloud product portfolio. Here we explore some solutions to different licensing scenarios.
How can we avoid the price increase?
There is the ability to secure 12 months of the current pricing if you sign a contract before 31 March 2023.
We signed up to NCE last year, does this price increase apply?
Microsoft price changes will only apply once the current licence term has expired. If a new licence agreement is put into place before 1 April 2023 the price increase would not come into effect for 12 months.
What happens if our current licensing agreement expires after the deadline?
Please get in touch with our consultants as soon as possible as a solution might be available to avoid this.
What specific licensing does the price increase affect?
The 9% UK price increase applies to all Microsoft product SKUs. This is not to be confused with the NCE price changes in February 2022.
As a reminder, the NCE cost increases affected the following license types:
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic (20% increase)
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium (10% increase)
- Office 365 E1 (25% increase)
- Office 365 E3 (15% increase)
- Office 365 E5 (8.5% increase)
- Microsoft 365 E3 (12.5% increase)
Does Microsoft decrease prices?
Yes, Microsoft has decreased prices most recently in New Zealand and Taiwan. As part of the new semi-annual cadence, prices will be aligned up or down to maintain global pricing alignment.
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