Microsoft recently announced that six Microsoft services will increase in price in 2022. These changes are referred to by Microsoft as the ‘New Commerce Experience’, or NCE.
Since initial release a decade ago, 24 new apps and more than 1,400 new features have been added to the suite. Microsoft’s 365 suite has allowed organisations to consolidate their IT into a single platform and replace a host of other services such as Zoom, Slack, Dropbox, Box and many more. The identity, security and compliance features built into the Microsoft 365 platform put it streets ahead of any other option and it has become the gold standard in almost all of the areas it covers.
Although price increases are never welcome, it is hard to argue that the current Microsoft 365 suite is not vastly superior to the suite that was introduced a decade ago and we have been expecting a price increase for some time.
The following services will undergo price increases in 2022:
| Service | Current Monthly Price | New Monthly Price (annual commitment) | New Monthly Price (monthly rolling) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Business Basic | £3.80 | £4.50 | £5.40 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium | £15.10 | £16.10 | £19.92 |
| Office 365 E1 | £6.00 | £7.50 | £9.00 |
| Office 365 E3 | £17.60 | £20.20 | £24.24 |
| Office 365 E5 | £30.80 | £33.40 | £40.08 |
| Microsoft 365 E3 | £28.10 | £31.70 | £38.04 |
In the past, Microsoft have sometimes allowed annual commitments to be terminated early. This will no longer be possible under the New Commerce Experience and all annual contracts will be enforced.
We recommend that most 365 subscriptions should be switched over to annual commitment contracts under NCE, locking in the lower monthly price.
The exception to this is for organisations that expect a reduction in staff headcount over the course of the next 12 months. In such cases, we recommend a mixture of annual commit (to keep prices low for your base headcount) and a number of monthly rolling subscriptions for your variable headcount.
For organisations with very volatile staff headcounts, a 100% monthly rolling subscription may be suitable but we expect this to be poor value for most organisations.
We will contact all of our clients directly to discuss your specific subscriptions, but in the meantime if you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our accounts team.
In closing, we think the Microsoft 365 platform continues to provide organisations with excellent value, even at the increased prices. As part of our commitment to helping our clients get the most out of their technology investment, we are going to be running a series of sessions aimed at helping your teams get the most productivity and efficiency out of their tools. We will be contacting all of our clients directly about this, but once again please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’d like to discuss this.