Time to Prepare for Microsoft’s Price Increase in March

As you may have heard, Microsoft is increasing its subscription prices for Microsoft 365 in March. This is the first big price rise in a decade and we are expecting it to be 20 to 40 percent more then you are currently paying.

Microsoft is also changing the way it sells 365. It will take some time to get used to and there will likely be some short-term pain in the process. You should talk to your IT support partner over the next few weeks to see exactly how it is going to affect your business.

Here are the basic details. You will have a choice between sticking with the rolling month by month contract and swallowing the price increase or you can commit to a 12-month agreement.

The big benefit of the agreement is that it will lock your current pricing for a year. However, this comes with some downsides as you will lose a lot of flexibility. During your contract you can increase the number of licenses you use but you can’t decrease them. This means that if you take on more staff, giving them access to the essential business tools they need won’t be a problem. On the other hand, if your headcount goes down for any reason, you’ll have to pay for the 365 licenses you no longer need.

Another downside is that you also won’t be able to move your Microsoft licensing to another IT support company during that contract.

The other option is to have a monthly rolling contract. You can add or remove licenses as needed, but overall, the price will be higher. For some businesses, that flexibility will be worth paying extra.

It’s worth thinking through your plans for the next 15 months before deciding.

If you want to talk through which option’s going to be best for you, book a 15 minute, no obligation call with us at www.durham-it.ca/book-a-call/.

Published with permission from Your Tech Updates.