Author Archives: Louise Ulrick

Azure Savings Plan recommendations

Azure Savings Plans are a great way of saving money in Azure – you commit to a fixed hourly Azure spend for 1 or 3 years, and then you’re eligible for special rates for compute resources. Working out the right amount to commit can be hard work and so Azure makes recommendations for you.

If you want to understand how it comes up with those recommendations, then this article is a good read: https://bit.ly/45phn2f, and if you want to get to grips with Azure Savings Plans all-up, then our Azure book is a great read: https://bit.ly/BOK22Azure.

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (August 2023) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide with two main additions.

Firstly, an allowance of 100 invoice capture transactions is added to Commerce, Finance, Project Operations, Supply Chain Management, and the Electronic Invoicing Add-on Capacity licences. This capability automates the Accounts Payable invoice-to-pay process – find out more in this article: https://bit.ly/3qunZ0D.

Secondly, Business Central Premium licences are added as eligible Base licences for Field Service Attach licences.

Find this updated guide here: https://bit.ly/441pot6.

Microsoft Clipchamp

Clipchamp is a tool to help users to create professional-looking videos, and Microsoft announce that it will be available to users with Microsoft 365 E3/E5 or Microsoft 365 Business Standard/Premium licences starting at the end of August 2023.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3YvSik1, and the product pages here https://bit.ly/443U3WL and here https://bit.ly/3Soihc5, confirming which plans will have access, and that Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers already have Clipchamp included.

Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 availability

Historically, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 has only been available through the OEM channel, but from 1st August, 2023 customers will be able to purchase perpetual licences without SA through the MPSA and Select Plus agreements, as well as from their CSP partners.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/45nmIqV, and a note in the Product Terms here: https://bit.ly/3prduoo.

Power Platform Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (August 2023) Power Platform Licensing Guide. Visually, this guide looks quite different, but the main amendments are for the changes to Power Automate licensing (see our blog: https://bit.ly/44GB0Dd), the renaming of the Power Apps per User licence to Power Apps Premium, and the availability of Power Automate Process Mining (see our blog: https://bit.ly/45gaoJ1).

Get this updated guide here: https://bit.ly/44TVtVg.

Microsoft Defender for IoT goes to site-based licensing

From 1 June, 2023 Microsoft Defender for IoT is licensed via site licences for organisations protecting their Operational Technology  (OT) environments.

These site licences are applied to a site which is a physical location such as an office building, hospital, rig etc. There are different tiers depending on how many devices need to be protected, starting at an Extra Small tier for up to 100 devices, Small for up to 250 devices, Medium for up to 500, Large for up to 1,000, and an Extra Large tier for up to 5,000 devices.

Customers self-serving buy these site licences through the Microsoft 365 Admin portal and then add them to an Azure Subscription in the Azure Management Portal.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3OmX52M, and information on how to purchase and manage the licences here: https://bit.ly/45lpvkx.

Visio app in Teams

In July 2021 the Visio Web App was made available for users with Microsoft 365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium, Office 365 E1/E3/E5/F3, Microsoft 365 F3/E3/E5, and Microsoft 365 Apps for business/enterprise licences.

Now there’s a new Visio app for Teams available for users to view, edit and create Visio files without leaving Teams. If a user is licensed with Visio Plan 1/Plan 2 then that’s the functionality available to them in the Teams app, otherwise it’s the Visio Web App (AKA Visio in Microsoft 365) functionality for those users licensed with the Office/Microsoft 365 licences listed.

Find the Teams app announcement here: https://bit.ly/3Oe4bpW, and a comparison between the functionality available in Visio in Microsoft 365 and Visio Plan 1/Plan 2 here: https://bit.ly/455zNVM.

Power Automate Process Mining is generally available

Microsoft announce that Power Automate Process Mining is generally available.

From a licensing perspective, you need a Power Automate Premium licence which gives you 50 MB of Process Mining Data Storage, and a further 50 MB for every additional licence that you purchase up to a maximum of 100 GB per customer.

From there, you can purchase a Power Automate Process Mining Add-on licence which gives a further 100 GB of Data Storage and costs $5,000 per month.

Find the announcement article here: https://bit.ly/47id22H, specific licensing information here: https://bit.ly/3Ks4zQO, and pricing information here: https://bit.ly/3ooVJb2.

Teams Essentials and Teams Phone bundle offers

Microsoft announce promotional pricing for Teams Essentials and Teams Phone bundles for customers in the US, Canada, and the UK. Organisations can choose Teams Essentials with just Teams Phone Standard, or with a Domestic or International Calling Plan, or PAYG calling. Equally, customers could choose to add these Teams Phone options on to their existing Teams Essentials licences at a promotional price. Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3QidSXf, and details of the promotional offers here: https://bit.ly/3rKyDjZ.

Changes to Power Apps licensing

Microsoft make a small change to Power Apps licensing – the Power Apps per User licence is renamed the Power Apps Premium licence. There are no other changes – it’s still a user licence costing $20 per user per month, and allows the licensed user to access an unlimited number of apps and Power Pages websites. It continues to include Dataverse capacity and AI Builder service credits – find the detail here: https://bit.ly/BOKPApPricing.