Microsoft is increasing its pricing for certain currencies to bring them in line with the US Dollar – but how much more will you have to pay?
- If you pay in GBP, you’ll see a price increase of 9%
- If you pay in Euros, you’ll see an increase of 11%
In real world terms, what does this mean for a customer paying in GBP?
- A Microsoft 365 Business standard license on an annual commitment is rising from £9.40 to £10.25 per month, and a monthly commitment will rise from £11.28 to £12.30 per month.
- A Dynamics365 for Sales Professionals license on an annual commitment is rising from £49 to £53.40 per month, and a monthly commitment will rise from £58.80 to £64.10 per month.
These new prices come into effect on April 1st, but don’t worry, there are still options to save your business money!
So what can you do?
Under Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience (NCE) that was introduced last year, you can save 20% of the price by committing annually instead of a rolling monthly contract. Here’s what you should know about an annual NCE commitment;
Long-term contracts (12 or 36 months) require a customer to commit to a fixed number of users each month,
- Customers retain the ability to add new users, but they cannot be removed. This does not extend the length of your contract
- Once committed, customers now have a one-week window to cancel (previously this was a 72 hour window)
- During your contract period, you can’t change your license supplier
- Your contract is still payable monthly, although some suppliers will ask for an upfront payment
- You are able to have a mix of long-term and short-term contracts to suit your business’ needs.
Click here for more information on Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience
Using our two examples above, 25 users of Microsoft 365 Business Standard, before March 31st 2023 would cost £2,820 annually, this will rise to £3,075 after March 31st, and the same criteria for Dynamics365 Sales Professional would rise from £14,700 to £16,020
What do we recommend?
Evorio recommends that if you can sign up to a new commitment before March 31st – do it. If you’re confident, commit 100% of your users for as long as you can. If not, commit to the number of users you’re confident with on an annual contract, and the rest of your team commit to a monthly contract as and when you need them.
If you’re about to start a new project, like a new Dynamics CRM system, but you’re not quite ready to use it yet, we’d recommend signing up for 1 license on an annual commitment before March 31st – remember you can always add more users in the future, whilst still securing the current pre-hike price.
