Microsoft New Commerce Experience (NCE)

What changed

From 1 March 2022, Microsoft increased their global prices for Microsoft 365 BASIC, Microsoft 365 PREMIUM and Office 365 E3. See https://aka.ms/M365PriceUpdate for clarification. In addition Microsoft will no longer allow resellers (us) to charge their clients (you) at Microsoft’s cheaper annual rate without an annual commitment.

Why did they increase prices

Microsoft had not increased their Office 365 pricing for several years so a price increase is long overdue. The 20% increase on monthly rates for resellers, however, is felt as desperately unfair by all resellers but unfortunately we have to conform.

So what choices do I have

It depends.

If you have a current Giga Tera or Peta support package with us or host your website with us, are on Direct Debit AND have a monthly spend of more than £50 on Microsoft 365 products, then you have the following options

• Commit to a set number of licenses for the next twelve months at the cheaper rate.
• Pay an additional 20% to continue with the flexibility of increasing and decreasing your licenses month on month.
• Commit to a set number of licenses for the next twelve months at the cheaper rate, but add a few licenses on the higher monthly rate which can fluctuate month on month.

If you don’t have a support or hosting package, OR are not Direct Debit OR do not have a monthly spend of more than £50 on Microsoft 365 products, then the only two options are to pay the additional charges on a month by month basis with no annual commitment or manage your own Microsoft licensing.

I don’t have support or hosting with you, why can’t I get the cheaper rate

In order to get the cheaper rate, customers need to commit to a minimum number of licenses for the next 12 months. If we order licenses for a client on this basis but the client fails to pay or is bankrupt part way through the year, we will still be liable for the balance of the term with Microsoft. With this in mind, we can only commit to a full year term with Microsoft for clients that are committed to us through our support or hosting packages.

OK, so what do you need me to do

If you are happy to continue with the month on month flexibility, then you don’t need to do anything, we will invoice as normal on 1 March 2022 at the new rate. If, however, you want to commit to a year of Microsoft licensing for a certain number of licenses, let us know how many licenses of each product. The following are the monthly rates on an annual commitment. Please note that some prices have still not been released by Microsoft in UK GBP.

• Azure Information Protection Premium P1 – £1.64
• Exchange Online (Plan 1) – £3.30
• Exchange Online (Plan 2) – £6.60
• Microsoft 365 Apps for business – £8.60
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic – £4.90
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium – £18.10
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard – £10.30
• Office 365 E3 – £22.00
• Power BI Pro – £8.20
• Project Plan 1 – £8.20
• Project Plan 3 – £24.70
• Visio Plan 2 – £12.30
• Microsoft Teams Phone Standard – £6.60