IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM MICROSOFT – does this impact on your business?
On 10th January 2022, Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience (NCE) came into general availability.
The NCE is a new pricing scheme that changes how Microsoft customers purchase and manage their Microsoft product licenses. These changes also precede a price increase across several Microsoft packages, which will come into effect on 1st March 2022.
1. What’s changing?
Office 365 and Microsoft 365 prices are going up for the first time in 10 years and the scale of this increase will depend on the contract length you commit to. If you want to only commit on a month by month basis, you will pay a premium of 20% to do so but have the flexibility to turn licences on and off as required. Alternatively, you can commit to a licence (or set of licences) for 12 months to get the best price (you’ll still pay monthly) but can’t downgrade or switch these off during this period.
Microsoft New Commerce Experience (NCE) (1)
2. When will NCE launch?
It started on 10th January 2022.
3. Which packages are affected by the price increase?
All licences on monthly commit will rise by 20% compared to annual. In addition to that increase, the following licences will also rise for annual commit:
| Licence | Current Price | New Price – Yearly Commitment | New Price – Monthly Commitment |
| Office 365 E1 | £6 | £7.50 | £9 |
| Office 365 E3 | £17.60 | £20.20 | £24.24 |
| Office 365 E5 | £30.80 | £33.40 | £40.08 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | £3.80 | £4.50 | £5.40 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium | £15.10 | £16.60 | £19.92 |
| Microsoft 365 E3 | £28.10 | £31.70 | £38.04 |
4. When will the new prices go into effect?
1st March 2022
5. What could this mean for your business?
If you use any of the above Microsoft packages (or are thinking about moving onto them) and would like to ensure that you have the most suitable setup for your business (with the best mix of value and flexibility) please get in touch. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we can help now. Act before 1st March 2022 and you can freeze your licencing costs at their current level for an additional 12 months.
If you have any queries about the changes, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We’re here and happy to help.
Please email our Head of Modern Workplace, Mark Armstrong or call 0345 565 1767.