Microsoft have announced that pricing is to be recalculated based on an up-to-date foreign exchange rate, and also that certain products are increasing in price worldwide. They are also encouraging people to commit to longer contracts by increasing the pricing for 30-day licenses.
Affecting Everyone from 1st July 2022 – 30-days / 12 month commitment pricing:
Monthly-commitment licenses are increasing by 20% under Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience aka NCE. This includes all Microsoft 365 services, but for illustration purposes the table below compares only Microsoft 365 Business Standard (previously known as Office 365 Business Premium) licenses.
| BEFORE: |
M365 Business Standard |
Payment scheduled |
Commitment Term |
| Microsoft |
£9.40/month |
1 annual payment of £112.80 |
12 months |
| Lansalot |
£9.40/month |
Monthly, £9.40/month |
30 days |
|
|
|
|
| AFTER (with NCE): |
|
|
|
| Lansalot |
£9.40/month |
Monthly, £9.40/month |
12 months |
| Lansalot |
£11.28/month |
Monthly, £11.28/month |
30 days |
Affecting some services from 1st March 2022 – General Price Increase:
Certain products are increasing in price, and thus are potentially subject to a double-increase this year. The price will be based on the current exchange rate against the USD so some new prices are still to be confirmed exactly (specifically Office 365 E3). New Prices below are correct as of 1st March 2022. The NCE commitment and pricing changes described above do also apply to these licenses from 1st July.
| Product |
Previous Price per user, per month |
New Price, per user per month |
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic
(Previously known as Office 365 Business Essentials) |
£3.80 ($5) |
£4.50 ($6) |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium
(Previously known as Microsoft 365 Business) |
£15.10 ($20) |
£16.60 ($22) |
| Office 365 E1 * |
($8) |
£7.50 ($10) |
| Office 365 E3 |
£17.60 ($20) |
£20.20 ($23) |
| Office 365 E5 * |
($35) |
£33.40 ($38) |
| Microsoft 365 E3 * |
($32) |
£31.70 ($36) |
* These services not currently provided by us to any customers.
Information about Auto-Renewal
If you choose to convert your 30-day licenses to annual licenses, by default your annual commitment licenses will auto-renew for another 12 months when they expire. If you do not want your subscription to auto-renew, or if you want to decrease the number of annually-committed licenses, you will need to let us know at least 90 days before the renewal date, in order for us to switch off the auto-renewal. You can choose then to swap to a 30-day commitment for some or all of the licenses, or choose to cancel at the point of renewal.
FAQ
Q. What is annual commitment?
A. This is you committing to a service for at least 12 months – similar to a mobile phone. You still pay us for it monthly. The price is locked for the duration of the commitment.
Q. Can I mix-and-match?
A. Yes absolutely – it’s recommended that you commit to the 12 month packages for the core number of staff you expect to run with for the next 12 months, and consider a monthly commitment for ‘fast moving’ positions. For example, you may choose 10 users who you expect to remain for 12 months, and then license 4 users on the 30-day commitment.
Q. Can I reassign licenses if a person leaves?
A. Yes absolutely – you just can’t cancel an annual commitment license until it is due to renew (you will still be charged for it until the end of the commitment).
Q. Can I increase the number of licenses without changing the renewal date?
A. This should be possible yes, but you can’t decrease the number mid-term.
Q. Can I Upgrade licenses mid-term?
A. Currently it looks like you can upgrade all licenses of a type until the renewal term, i.e. you can update ALL of your M365 Basic licenses to M365 Standard, but you can’t update 1 or 2 M365 Basic licenses and leave the rest. You’d have to commit to a new 12 months of M365 Standard (assuming you don’t already have any quantity) and then let the now not-needed M365 Basic licenses run until they expire. We will advise customers of this as license changes are requested.
Q. What happens after 12 months?
A. You can re-commit to another 12 months at the then-current pricing, or swap to the higher-priced 30-day commitments for as many or as few licenses as you have. E.G. you have 10 licenses due for renewal, you can renew 10 for 12 months, or you could renew 8 on 12-month and move 2 to 30-days – or just reduce to 8 licenses if you no longer need the extra 2. This does mean that customers who committed to 12 month licenses before the 1st March 2022 increase WILL see an increase at their renewal in March 2023.
All prices are +VAT
