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From March 2022 Microsoft are introducing their “New Commerce Experience” for Office 365

This bring an increase to prices for certain Products, and also some very important changes to the Terms & Conditions around licensing and commit periods for Office 365.

New Prices

The products with updated pricing from March 1st are:

• Microsoft 365 Business Basics; from €4.20 pm to €5.10 pm
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium; from €16.90 pm to €18.60 pm
• Office 365 E1; from €6.70 pm to €8.40 pm
• Office 365 E3; from €19.70 pm to €22.60 pm
• Office 365 E5; from €34.40 pm to €37.40 pm
• Microsoft 365 E3; from €31.50 pm to €35.40 pm

Minimum Commit Terms

Under the New Terms, customers are committing to a minimum 12 month contract ( unless using the Flexible pricing, see below ). During this time, it is not possible to downgrade the licence quantity or type, however upgrading or adding new licences is possible.

Clients have 72 hours from placing an order to cancel/modify the order, with billing pro-rata during this period, after which they are contractually tied to the full order for the contract length.

Licences default to auto-renew, so after the contract length, a new period of the same length is entered into. Should downgrades on licence quantity or type need to be made, it needs to be done before the renewal commit date ( although a 72 hour cancellation period will apply again, with billing pro-rata during this period )

Customers need to be aware of the contractual obligations here, as they will be liable to the costs for the entire contract period, whether licences are in use or not.

New Flexible Licence Option

For clients who require the ability to increase or decrease on a month by month basis ( eg: with seasonal staff level changes ) Microsoft have introduced a Flexible option to licences, that are not subject to the 12 month minimum commit period and are billed monthly. There is a 20% premium extra price for these flexible licences.

In Brief

• Price increase to certain licences
• Minimum 12 month commit
• Pay annually to have price locked in
• Autorenew for another 12 month commit unless cancelled before renewal date
• Quantity decreases not available
• Flexible monthly pricing allow decreases but at 20% premium pricing.