Organisations are constantly in transition mode as they adapt to shifting consumer needs. Finding themselves in competitive markets doesn’t help, and if anything, justifies the need for constant improvement on business licensing, to make the life of consumers (and businesses) much simpler.
Commerce experiences have therefore become an industry priority. Fortunately for Mint Group and our partners, the Microsoft Partner Channel has expanded the New Commerce Experience (NCE) for all per-user subscriptions commencing this January 2022.
With Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365, and Power Platform now added, organisations can now enjoy a simplified journey to licensing complexities and costs, and provide consistent and flexible support to client purchasing. The features, benefits and opportunities are plenty, with more expected to roll out throughout the year.
The Need for Expansion and an Improved End-to-End Experience
As a customer, you may be aware that Microsoft’s licensing consists of various complexities in its various models. Each has different terms and conditions and licensing provisions and clauses to take note of.
There are options such as Enterprise Agreement (EA), MPSA, Open Business, and Open Value as part of the Volume License Agreement. You can also purchase through Microsoft Direct, with or without a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP).
The need for Microsoft to add seat-based offers (Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365, and Power Platform) has become evident as an effort for operational efficiency and cost savings. This enables a subscription, per seat, for one user, regardless of how many devices they use for cloud services.
Positioning Business for Future Growth
Why should the NCE be important to you? NCE will impact how you are going to purchase Microsoft licensing going forward. You will have to be mindful of the transitions that come with this change, be aware of licensing, pricing, term agreements and ordering processing that you are going to go through, to transact new and existing subscriptions, and migrate them to NCE. In addition, NCE brings new features, benefits, and offers to customers and partners to advance the customer purchasing cycle.
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Improved Agility and Customer Alignment
NCE includes price benefits for annual term subscriptions and provides price protection with no expected increase. The cancellation policy (reduced to 72 hours cancellation window) encourages long-term pricing benefits for customers and reduces customer churn. It also provides revenue-forecasting predictability for customers.
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Operational Efficiency and Cost Savings
Long-term subscriptions, together with one-time payment subscriptions, will reduce the time and resources spent on invoicing, billing, and payment follow-ups. This is also simplified through automated subscription changes upon renewals. Therefore, subscription management capabilities are improved.
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More Flexibility for Customers
Customers have the option of monthly term subscriptions that allow cancellation of seat-count reduction as and when required. This makes it easier to adopt new products and available separate add-ons. There is also consumption-based billing for telco offers.
Buying Motions Suitable for Your Organisation
To improve your buying experiences, NCE is moving away from incongruent program-specific offers to three new buying options, tailored to your organisation’s scale and business needs.
Due to its reasonable rates and value for licensing contracts, the CSP breadth buying motion (fitting for customers between 2400 seats down) is the chief motion under NCE. It is followed by the Microsoft-led Enterprise Motion (EA) for organisations with global licensing requirements for 2400 seats and above. Those with 50 seats and below will consider the Microsoft-led Self-Service Motion under Microsoft Direct.
Conclusion
As with any business changes and the fluctuating licensing Microsoft landscape, organisations must have a reliable partner to improve their customer licensing and buying journey. This means understanding your business needs and assessing the value NCE will bring you. The long and short term commitments vary and will need you to determine what’s best for your organisation.
To build awareness of the great benefits that NCE brings, there are promotions on subscriptions starting this month, which will be valid until March 2022. To find out more about this offering, you can contact Mint Group here.
