Category Archives: Uncategorized

Azure Container Apps now eligible for Azure Savings Plan discounts

Microsoft announce that Azure Container Apps are now eligible for Azure Savings Plan discounts. Customers able to commit to a 1-year plan can expect savings of 15%, and 17% for a 3-year plan, compared to Pay-As-You-Go costs. You can find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/40oG9P3, and a reminder of how Azure Savings Plans work on our blog here: https://bit.ly/3tQVCe9.

Microsoft Viva updates

There are more changes to the Viva family. A couple of mini-suites were added to the October Product Terms – the (snazzily named) Viva Employee Communications and Communities User SL and the Viva Workplace Analytics and Employee Feedback User SL. Prices are $2 and $6 per user per month respectively, and you can see what’s included in which suite using the updated (September 2023) Viva comparison document which you can find here: https://bit.ly/493U5BM. In other news, Viva Amplify is now available worldwide (https://bit.ly/3s4YFiw), Copilot in Viva Goals is available in private preview (https://bit.ly/408VgMc), and Skills in Viva will enter into private preview by the end of 2023 and will be included in the Microsoft Viva Suite licence (https://bit.ly/49jT4Wz).

Office/Microsoft 365 EEA offerings

Late in August 2023, Microsoft announced that there would be changes to the offerings available in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to address European competition concerns – you can read that article here: https://bit.ly/3Pfx0Ty. These offerings are now live in the October 2023 Product Terms, so here’s the summary…

A customer in these regions who has not purchased Office 365 E1/E3/E5 or Microsoft 365 E3/E5 before 1 October, 2023 must now buy “EEA (no Teams)” SKUs – which, as the names suggest, don’t include Teams. If the customer does want Teams, then they need to purchase a separate Teams EEA User SL for their users. If they have purchased any of these licences before 1 October then they can add more licences and renew existing Subscriptions.

For Microsoft 365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium, customers in the affected regions will be able to choose the original offerings or new EEA flavours without Teams. The same goes for Microsoft 365 F1/F3 and Office 365 F3.

This site, aimed at partners, has information about pricing, and a useful FAQ document: https://bit.ly/3EDGHX4.

Dynamics 365 minimum purchase requirements

Microsoft adjust the Product Terms removing the option to combine Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, and Project Operations licences to meet the 20 licence minimum, requiring all customers to now meet the minimum with a single product.

Check out the Product Terms here: https://bit.ly/3aAQVsy.

Auto-claiming a Power Apps licence

Microsoft announce the public preview of auto-claim for Power Apps licences. This feature enables IT administrators to set up policies that automatically assign Power Apps Premium licences to users when they launch an app that needs them.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3EEfjs8.

Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide

There’s an updated (September 2023) Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide. The biggest amendment is for the changes to the licensing of Marketing and Customer Insights, and you can find the details of that on our blog here: https://bit.ly/3sEPkOq. Viva Sales is rebranded Sales Copilot, and there are some new Business Central Essentials Attach licences for Customer Service Enterprise, Sales Enterprise and Field Service Base licences, details of which you can find in the table on page 4.

Get this updated guide here: https://bit.ly/3PzAtOj.

Dynamics 365 Marketing and Customer Insights changes

Microsoft announce that from 1 September, 2023 Dynamics 365 Marketing and Customer Insights will be sold together as a single product called Customer Insights. The original products retain their existing functionality but are renamed Customer Insights – Journeys and Customer Insights – Data respectively. There’s no change for existing customers and they can choose to renew their separate licences until 31 August, 2024.

New customers will be able to choose an Attach licence at $1,000 per month if they have qualifying Dynamics licences, or a standalone licence costing $1,700 per month if they don’t. Both Customer Insights licences include capacity for 10,000 Interacted People (the new Marketing Contacts) and 100,000 Unified People (the new Customer Insights Profiles), with additional capacity packs for both Interacted People and Unified People being available in three tiers of pricing. You can find pricing information, qualifying licences, and definitions here: https://bit.ly/3YZifJb.

Find the announcement article here: https://bit.ly/44EerhE, with a useful general FAQ here: https://bit.ly/3PoqSJS, and one specific to transitioning to Customer Insights – Journeys here: https://bit.ly/3R6oKHW.

Microsoft Entra update

Microsoft introduced us to the Entra family in May 2022 and it’s grown steadily since then; this is a good diagram showing the current portfolio – find the source diagram in Microsoft’s blog post here: https://bit.ly/3qB3EXu.

However, it’s not immediately obvious what’s available, how much it costs, and how it’s licensed, so here’s the summary:

  • Microsoft Entra ID – available in a free edition, Plan 1 costing $6 per user per month, or Plan 2 costing $9 per user per month. Get the plan comparison document here to see where it’s included in EMS and Microsoft 365 licences: https://bit.ly/3sdixQj
  • Microsoft Entra ID Governance – available costing $7 per user per month
  • Microsoft Entra External ID – currently in public preview
  • Microsoft Entra Verified ID – currently included with any Microsoft Entra ID licence, including the free one
  • Microsoft Entra Permissions Management – available costing $10.40 per resource per month
  • Microsoft Entra Workload ID – available costing $3 per workload identity per month
  • Microsoft Entra Internet Access – currently in public preview
  • Microsoft Entra Private Access – currently in public preview

For further detail, find Microsoft’s Entra plans and pricing page here: https://bit.ly/3skNulo.