To successfully migrate from traditional to digital, you must invest in the necessary tools and platforms.
Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program is changing! Here’s what you need to know and how to take advantage of the upcoming changes.
Microsoft launched its Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) licensing program in 2015, with the goal of providing customers with more choice and flexibility in how and where they purchase licensing.
With New Commerce Experience, Microsoft is taking the next step in its journey to provide customers with a simplified and unified engagement experience (NCE).
NCE offers customers a unified, connected cloud licensing experience, as well as standardized pricing across the board, regardless of how they purchase Microsoft licensing.
What has changed?
INSOMEA Computer Solutions, as a Microsoft Gold partner, welcomes the simplicity that New Commerce Experience will bring to our clients, with all legacies and licensing approaches now unified under a single common strategy and framework.
In a nutshell, here are the changes in New Commerce Experience that you should be aware of:
– You can now buy any Microsoft license through a single customer agreement.
– Existing CSP customers should migrate from their legacy CSP agreement to New Commerce Experience, subject to NCE’s terms.
– Microsoft is now providing 12- and 36-months agreements for Microsoft 365 licenses
– All monthly term subscriptions are subject to a 20% price increase.
– All new subscription orders for commercial seat-based offers in CSP must be transacted in the new commerce experience as of March 10, 2022; based on 12- or 36-monts agreement.
– Current customers can now switch to NCE in their agreement renewal date.
– Current customers will also be able to renew their existing subscriptions on the legacy CSP platform until July 1st.
– All renewals will be on NCE starting from July 1st, 2022.
– Apart from a 7 days cancellation window, licenses cannot be cancelled or reduced, only increased.
– An NCE subscription can be cancelled only during the first seven days of the subscription term
– Seat counts can be increased on a subscription at any time, but seat counts cannot be reduced
– Once your licensing agreement is in place, you will be unable to change your partner
What do you need to start planning for?
It is important to take these changes seriously and plan ahead to ensure your organization has the right licensing structure in place as it transitions to the New Commerce Experience.
Start planning how your organization will use the software in this new experience, what it will look like, and what level of flexibility you will incorporate into your organization’s licensing.
As mentioned above, once the license agreement is secured, it is not possible to cancel the license agreement or reduce the number of licenses within the contract period (e.g., 12 months), so it is crucial to make a decision in cooperation with your team to get the right licensing mix and procurement mechanism in place
It’s also important to be confident that your technology partner is the right one for you.
Once you get a license, do you provide the services you need because you cannot switch from one partner to another for the duration of your license agreement?
Will they provide you with the service levels you require? given that once your agreement is in place, you will be unable to switch from one partner to another during the commitment (e.g., 12 months)
What comes next?
Now is the time to check Microsoft’s licensing panoply and decide which one is best for your business. With future changes, getting the right license and support partners is more crucial than ever.
We will be happy to help, we will work closely with you to understand the needs of your business, your technology implementation requirements, and user community, and then work hand in hand with you to ensure the New Commerce Experience works in the best way for you and allows you to enjoy the benefits.
