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.

General Availability of Viva Sales

Microsoft announce that Viva Sales is generally available as of 3 October, 2022. Viva as a brand is about improving the employee experience, with the Viva Suite aimed at employees in any role across a business.

Viva Sales, however, is tailored to improve the employee experience for a specific role – sellers – and it enables these users to use Office 365 and Teams to automatically capture, access and register data into a CRM system, eliminating the administrative burden of manual data entry.

Viva Sales is included in Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise and Premium licences, and is also available as a standalone licence priced at $40 per user per month.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3fZC28I, with links to other useful resources such as pricing information and an “Introduction to Viva Sales” course on Microsoft Learn.

Viva Sales in preview

Microsoft announce that Viva Sales is in preview. Viva as a brand is about improving the employee experience, and the Viva Suite is aimed at employees in any role across a business. Viva Sales is tailored to improve the employee experience for a specific role – sellers – and enables users to use Office 365 and Teams to automatically capture, access and register data into a CRM system, eliminating the administrative burden of manual data entry. In the public preview, Viva Sales will be available at no additional charge to organisations who use Microsoft 365 and Teams, and you’ll need to be licensed for Dynamics 365 to try out the full experience. Further details on licensing will be released when Viva Sales is generally available.

Find the announcement here: https://bit.ly/3bPH0TR, and a useful FAQ here: https://bit.ly/3vRZPwz.

Office 365 and Microsoft 365 nonprofit pricing changes

Microsoft announce that there will be per user per month price increases for the following nonprofit products from 1 September, 2022:

  • Office 365 E1 (up to $2.50 from $2)
  • Office 365 E3 (up to $5.75 from $4.50)
  • Office 365 E5 (up to $15.20 from $14)
  • Microsoft 365 E3 (up to $9 from $8)
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium (up to $5.50 from $5)

Find the Microsoft FAQ here: https://bit.ly/3NVg3MW.

Privacy Management for Microsoft 365

Microsoft announce the general availability of Privacy Management for Microsoft 365.

This product helps organisations to safeguard the personal data they hold, and to make it easier to respond to subject rights requests – when individuals ask to see the specific pieces of data an organisation has collected about them.

From a licensing perspective, it’s an Add-on to Office 365 E1/E3/E5 costing $5 per user per month, with Privacy Management – Subject Rights Requests costing $200 per request. These requests are available in packs of 1, 10 or 100 and are active for 12 months after purchase. Privacy Management for Microsoft 365 is a tenant-level service and so this is a good resource: https://bit.ly/30zMAnU.

Find the availability announcement here: https://bit.ly/3FdxOle.

Audio Conferencing update

An Audio Conferencing licence enables you to provide a dial-in phone number for Teams meeting attendees, and to dial-out during a meeting to invite other callers into that meeting.

Currently there are two promotions that entitle EA and CSP customers to free Audio Conferencing licences (https://bit.ly/33NIFkN), with both promotions running until 31 December, 2021 (https://bit.ly/3gn1wu8).

However, Microsoft have now announced that over the coming months they will add unlimited dial-in capabilities for Teams meetings for existing Office 365 and Microsoft 365 licences. Find the information towards the bottom of this page: https://bit.ly/3kdqvBg.

Pricing changes for Microsoft 365

Microsoft announce that there will be per user per month price increases for the following products from 1 March, 2022:

  • Office 365 E1 (up to $10 from $8)
  • Office 365 E3 (up to $23 from $20)
  • Office 365 E5 (up to $38 from $35)
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic (up to $6 from $5)
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium (up to $22 from $20)
  • Microsoft 365 E3 (up to $36 from $32)

Find the announcement from Microsoft here: https://bit.ly/3kdqvBg.

Microsoft 365 comparison document

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.