{"id":21,"date":"2013-08-19T09:30:17","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T09:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/licensingschool.wordpress.com\/?p=21"},"modified":"2013-08-19T09:30:17","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T09:30:17","slug":"changes-for-smb-customers-buying-office-365","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.licensingschool.co.uk\/licensing-blog\/2013\/08\/19\/changes-for-smb-customers-buying-office-365\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes for SMB Customers Buying Office 365"},"content":{"rendered":"

Again, that very useful Office 365 Microsoft webcast has provided most of the information for this post. View it at http:\/\/bit.ly\/15elDBr <\/a>where the SMB-related information starts at 31:28. However, don\u2019t rush off – I\u2019ve summarised the main points here so feel free just to read on.<\/p>\n

In summary, there are three key things happening for SMB customers who buy or have bought Office 365. These will be implemented between July and September 2013 so let\u2019s see what\u2019s happening month by month.<\/p>\n

July 2013: Easy switching of Office 365 plans<\/strong>
\nJuly gave customers who have purchased their Office 365 licences through MOSA the opportunity to switch EASILY between plans. Customers have been able to switch plans in the past but it involved purchasing a new subscription and then cancelling the old one. Now there\u2019s the \u201cSwitch plans wizard\u201d which makes a number of upgrades simple to implement. Essentially, the wizard allows customers to switch plans in two key scenarios. Firstly, they can switch between plans in the same service family; for example customers currently subscribed to Office 365 Small Business can move to Office 365 Small Business Premium. Then, secondly, they can move from a standalone plan to an Enterprise plan; for example, from Exchange Online Plan 1 to Office 365 Plan E1. Outside of these scenarios (perhaps moving to a different service family) customers will need to switch manually (without using the wizard), although word has it that more switches will be added to the wizard as 2013 moves on.<\/p>\n

I thought these resources were also useful:<\/strong>
\nSwitch plans wizard announcement on Office 365 Technology blog at: http:\/\/bit.ly\/14LI7Uv<\/a>
\nCan I switch to a different Office 365 plan or subscription? FAQ page at: http:\/\/bit.ly\/13vfRLH<\/a><\/p>\n

August 2013: Dynamic PINs<\/strong>
\nAugust is all about the new Dynamic PIN functionality, and Office 365 M SKUs with this new functionality appeared on the August price lists for the Open, Open Value and Open Value Subscription programs. This new functionality helps customers who order multiple seats (you\u2019d think that would be most customers!), and the example used in the webcast is a good one focussing as it does on a customer who wants to buy 87 seats for the M plan. Previously, the M SKUs within the Volume Licensing programs were associated with a certain number of seats which customers had to combine to end up with the required number. So, our customer wanting his 87 seats would have had to have purchased 1 x 50 seat SKU, 1 x 25 seat SKU, 2 x 5 seat SKUs and 2 x 1 seat SKUs. Now I like all things mathematical but even I can see this is a bit tedious for normal people. So the new and improved way of doing things is to purchase a single subscription which has a single key; that key is linked to the amount of seats ordered and will activate that precise number of seats. Lovely!<\/p>\n

September 2013: More enterprise offerings in Open<\/strong>
\nAnd what can we look forward to in September? Well, this is the month that some of the most popular Office 365 offerings get added to the Open, Open Value and Open Value Subscription price lists. It won\u2019t just be the M plan anymore, all of the following will be available too:<\/p>\n