In September 2020, Microsoft announced two promotions which entitle Enterprise Agreement and CSP customers to free Audio Conferencing licences. The changes listed on the Product Terms site for 1 February 2021 (http://bit.ly/3prduoo) confirm that these promotions are now extended to 30 June, 2021 from the previous end-date of 31 March, 2021.
Find the original announcement with details of the promotions here: https://bit.ly/33NIFkN.
Microsoft announce that Azure Cost Management capabilities are now available for Azure Government customers buying through azure.com.
Find out more about Azure for government (US federal agencies, state and local governments) here: http://bit.ly/3dk9nI8, and the Azure Cost Management announcement here: http://bit.ly/3jWjKTK.
From 1 February, 2021 Planning Services days and Training Vouchers will no longer be allocated on new or renewing Software Assurance, and thus they are removed from the Product Terms website. Customers can redeem existing days and vouchers through December 2021, and the Software Assurance website is useful for further information: http://bit.ly/2kXtbbA.
Microsoft announce new security and compliance offers for Frontline Workers.
These workers, until recently known as Firstline Workers, are those users who have jobs on the frontline of their businesses and have different technology needs to desk-based users.
Now organizations who have licensed their Frontline Workers with Microsoft 365 F1 or F3 can add separate Microsoft 365 F5 Security and Compliance offers for $8 per user per month each, or a combined license which costs $13 per user per month. These offers are available from 1 February, 2021 and are available through the Enterprise Agreement and CSP partners.
Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/3p9hQA1.
Microsoft announce the launch of their Employee Experience Platform (EXP) branded as Microsoft Viva.
There will be a number of modules within Viva, with Viva Topics available now, Viva Insights in public preview, Viva Learning in private preview, and Viva Connections coming soon. From a licensing perspective, Viva Topics is available in the EA, EES, and CSP as an add-on licence costing $5 per user per month for commercial users.
There are a whole host of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 licences which qualify as prerequisites which you can find on the Product Terms site here: http://bit.ly/2OFt7vB.
To find out more about the Viva vision and the modules themselves, find the Microsoft Viva announcement here: http://bit.ly/36ZSPBf.
If you want to compare the components that are included in the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 plans for Enterprise and Frontline Workers, then there’s an updated comparison document from Microsoft that you’ll find useful. It’s a comprehensive five pages long and you can find it here: https://bit.ly/2LG4gqi.
If you want an overview of the Volume Licensing agreements available for government customers then you may find this new overview brochure useful.
It covers the agreements available for all sizes of government customers and is up-to-date with changes such as the retirement of the Open License Program announced recently.
Find this brochure here: https://bit.ly/3p5mlN0.
Microsoft launch a new site to help partners find resources around the Power Platform products.
There are pages for each of the products – Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, and Power Virtual Agents – with a comprehensive set of resources for each, as well as information on programs such as Catalyst and FastTrack which help customers realise value from Microsoft solutions.
There’s also help on building a Power Platform practice and links to training resources and other useful sites such as the Business Applications Microsoft Partner Community and the Power Platform blog.
Find the announcement here: http://bit.ly/39UfX4O, and the site itself here: http://bit.ly/3ocNRqD.
Microsoft announce an update on the old Azure offer in CSP. Today, there are two offers that a partner can transact to sell the Azure consumption services to their customers: the “old” Azure offer which is the original way that partners transact these services, and the new Azure plan which is billed via the new commerce platform.
When the Azure plan launched, Microsoft were clear that at some point the old Azure offer would be retired, and there’s now information on the timeline for this to happen. Firstly, customers new to Azure will only be able to purchase through the Azure plan from 21 July 2021, then partner incentives for the old Azure offer will be retired sometime in 2022, and in the third phase, on a date to be determined, customers on the old Azure offer will be migrated to the Azure plan.
Find the announcement with a few more details here: http://bit.ly/3iEmhBu.
Microsoft announce the General Availability of perpetual software licences in CSP from 21 January 2021.
Commercial customers can now buy licences for a range of on-premises products through any CSP partner. This was previously only available for selected partners in some geographies, and additionally both the range of products and geographies are extended with this launch – if you’re interested in what’s been added, there’s a useful document here: https://bit.ly/3oehDLx, and the announcement itself is here: http://bit.ly/3iOCunF.
The Product Terms document is also updated with an additional CSP column to show availability of the on-premises products through this channel.