Price Update

Microsoft has announced its first “substantive” price increase in over a decade, for services including Microsoft 365 and Office 365. Effective 1 March 2022*, the increase is set to affect business and commercial users of Microsoft’s offerings. There will be no change to educational or consumer pricing.

*A grace period has been announced, extending the old pricing until 14 March 2022.

The following products will be impacted:

Microsoft 365 Business Basic
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Office 365 E1
Office 365 E3
Office 365 E5
Microsoft 365 E3

The price increase has arisen as a result of continuous innovation and product releases since Office 365 launched a decade ago, with more than 20 apps now becoming favourites such as Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint and Power Apps. Not to mention the host of security additions including data loss prevention (DLP) for documents and emails, message encryption and attack surface reduction capabilities.

Further information from Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365, can be found in this Microsoft news article.

New Commerce Experience (NCE) Billing Update

In a separate and unrelated release, Microsoft has issued revisions to its subscription-based model. The New Commerce Experience (NCE) is replacing the existing billing model, bringing seat-based cloud offers for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Windows 365. The aim of the New Commerce Experience is to simplify and streamline purchasing methods, whilst offering more options tailored to customers’ needs and goals.

The key takeaways are:

Greater flexibility with monthly, annual and 3-year term offers
Favourable pricing for long-term subscriptions
Annual and 3-year terms require upfront payment but are now offered with price protection
Simplified subscription management with billing aligned to calendar month
72-hour cancellation window for all plans (including weekends)

Under the NCE, options are available that include both a monthly term and annual subscriptions. This allows seasonal businesses with higher levels of staff at certain times of the year to efficiently accommodate the larger system requirements.

For all affected Kick customers, your account manager will be in touch shortly to explain these changes in more detail. With the NCE available for purchase from 10/01/2022, we will start discussing a tailored consultation to your business needs.