Dear partner,
You've probably already heard that major changes are being made to Microsoft CSP. There are still many uncertainties, but one thing is for sure: The „New Commerce Experience“ (NCE) will be fully implemented on March 10, 2022.
(For readers in a hurry: scroll down to the paragraph "What course of action do you recommend?"!!)
What this means in concrete terms:
- It will No daily billing After use, it will give more than we know it today, and scalability will be significantly limited/prevented.
- The subscriptionDuration It can be taken out monthly, annually or for 36 months.
- The Price protection Applies according to the booking period (1 month, 12 months, 36 months).
- In parallel, one can opt for a Payment method decide: either pay for the annual subscriptions monthly or annually (not as before exclusively annually in advance).
- Monthly subscriptions will in the future 20 % more expensive be available as annual subscriptions.
- Once a subscription has been activated/booked, it can only be changed within the first 72 hours suspended or scaled down After that, you are bound to exactly this number of units until the renewal date (depending on the subscription period: 1 month, 12 months, 36 months).
- Scale up It always works (even after the 72-hour period).
- Upgrades Upgrades to "larger packages", e.g. from E1 to E3, can also be performed.
- End customers are for the duration of their subscription to the bound to the respective reseller. This means that they can no longer switch resellers in the meantime (suspend subscriptions and leave), as the licenses will be automatically recalculated until the renewal date.
In the future, the following options will be available in SYNAXON Cloud-iQ for managing active subscriptions:
- Pause: It's crucial to understand that "pause" is not the same as suspension in the "Legacy CSP." The difference is that the partner continues to be billed. The purpose of this function is to send the customer a reminder or notification. The customer recognizes that their services are not working and can contact their provider. Once payment is received, the provider can reactivate all services.
- Cancellation: This feature was not available in the "Legacy CSP". If an error was made during booking, the subscription can be cancelled for up to 72 hours, and a pro rata refund will be issued.
- Auto-renew: This feature lets you decide whether the subscription should renew automatically or not.
The new features of the New Customer Experience, and thus the ability to book subscriptions via NCE now, will be activated in the SYNAXON Cloud-iQ during this week!
Microsoft price increase
Independent of the introduction of NCE, but almost simultaneously at 01.03.22, it will also be a Price increase Microsoft has announced the following plans:
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic (from $5* to $6)
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium (from $20 to $22)
- Office 365 E1 (from $8 to $10)
- Office 365 E3 (from $20 to $23)
- Office 365 E5 (from $35 to $38)
- Microsoft 365 E3 (from $32 to $36)
*US dollars
A Microsoft 365 Business Standard plan as an annual license will therefore have the same Microsoft list price as before. If you subscribe to it monthly, it will be 20 % more expensive. However, if, for example, a Microsoft 365 Business Basic plan is needed – and on a monthly basis – then you will have the regular price increase plus a 20 % surcharge!
Important: As of now, Microsoft has not yet published a price list! Our latest information is that the price list will only be released on March 1st, 2022, the day of the price increase.
OK. Understood. Where can I get more information about NCE?
Our operator of the SYNAXON Cloud-iQ, Crayon Deutschland GmbH, has recorded two webinars on the topic of NCE, which can be accessed here:
- NCE Newsflash (Recording) | presentation
- NCE "Finals"“ (Recording) | presentation
What options are available to me?
In light of the changes that will affect everyone from March onwards, we offer you the following scenarios:
- Option 1 – Legacy CSP: Anything newly or resubscribed to in the CSP by March 9, 2022, will still run under the existing CSP model. Since a subscription always runs for one year, regardless of the chosen billing cycle, you retain the option to increase or decrease your licenses at any time for 12 months. Anything subscribed by February 28, 2022, will also receive price protection for the "old" price list. After 12 months, the subscription will automatically expire, and you will need to subscribe in NCE with the then-current prices. Important: You should not wait until February 28, 2022, to secure the old terms, as increased demand is expected, and Microsoft's Partner Center may be overloaded!
- Option 2 – book NCE now and receive an additional discount on top of the old price: Microsoft is offering a discount of 5 % for annual subscriptions in the NCE. If you subscribe in NCE by February 28, 2022, you'll receive the current price plus a 5 % promotional discount for the year. This promotion is valid until March 31, 2022. Licenses subscribed in March will then be charged the new price, but will still receive the 5 % discount. If you subscribe to monthly subscriptions in NCE by June 30, 2022, the 20 % surcharge will be waived, but only until that date. (Example: If you subscribe to a monthly subscription on June 29, 2022, the 20 % surcharge will be waived, but only until July 29, 2022.)
Important: If you book again through the Legacy CSP, you only secure the terms for existing subscriptions at that time. If the customer wants to book a plan that is not yet available in May, it will be offered under NCE and will be subject to a price increase.
What course of action do you recommend?
Use now The option to resubscribe to the Legacy CSP subscriptions. This secures your prices and conditions – including the ability to scale down at any time – for another full year! Since no purchase price list has been published yet, you can quote your customer an actual price and have a reliable calculation. From March Are there any other options? no way back. And importantly: Don't delay too long – booking Legacy CSP is expected to become quite challenging in the last days of February due to high demand.
And last but not least: Inform your customers Regarding the upcoming changes to prices and conditions in CSP! Even though you can offer your customer a grace period with Legacy CSP, this option is only available for their existing licenses.
I still have questions…
No problem at all. Send us an email to m365_support@synaxon.de or call us on 05207 9299 365.
Questions?
Email: m365_support@synaxon.de | Tel: 05207 9299 365