What’s Happening to Microsoft 365 Licensing?
Microsoft have recently announced some changes that are going to come into effect soon. The main points are; price rises and a push to 1 and 3 year commitment terms.
At the moment things are still being finalised but it looks like a significant increase on the monthly plans that we are all on. There are price increases of between 8.5% and 25% on some products and then a 20% premium on top on all if you don’t switch to a longer commitment term.
Update (edited 01/06)
Almost all plans will now be available monthly. This was not the case previously with some only being available on annual or longer plans.
In summary:
- The below items will increase by the amount shown and then by 20% on top for a monthly plan and
- All other subscriptions will increase by 20% for a monthly plan.
Your Options
It seems there are three main choices / combinations to opt for depending on your preferences for up front or monthly costs and how much your staffing levels vary.
- Take the price rises and continue month by month.
- Commit to a 1 or 3 year term to take advantage of the savings.
- Work out your core needs, say 80% and put this proportion on a 1 or 3 year term and put the rest on monthly.
As you can probably work out; 1 is for companies that don’t want the up front capital outlay or don’t like the commitment, 2 is for those with a very static workforce and 3 is for those who want the savings but need to deal with varying staff levels.
You can always plan ahead and take on more licensing than is needed however note it is not possible to decrease midterm on either monthly or 1 or 3 year agreements. You can also add to existing licence numbers; they will be co-termed and renewed on the same renewal date.
It is also possible to buy additional longer term licensing in blocks however we are not yet aware of any method to co-term the licences. It may not be possible to align them on the next renewal and things will get very messy.
One other thing to note is that monthly licensing will not be available on some products. See the table below for reference.
As always, we are happy to help you with this and all things business and IT related. Contact us for more information, book time with one of our experts for a chat, or even use our chat widget below.
