April 9, 2024
Microsoft Licensing News
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Microsoft changing the Microsoft 365 & Office 365 plans to include Teams as a separate SKU
WHEN: April 1, 2024
Last year Microsoft updated the way Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Teams were licensed in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland in response to concerns raised with the European Commission. Microsoft is now extending that approach worldwide in order to achieve a globally consistent licensing model. You can read the full announcement here.
ENTERPRISE PLANS:
With the introduction of the new commercial lineup outside the EEA and Switzerland, Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3, and Microsoft 365 E5 suites with Teams will no longer be available to net new subscribers, worldwide.
- Customers who are currently subscribed to any of the suites involved will have new options. They can continue to use, renew, upgrade, and add seats to their current plans as usual. Or, if they wish to switch to the new lineup, they can do so on their contract anniversary or renewal.
- Net new subscribers to Office/Microsoft 365 Enterprise suites outside the EEA and Switzerland who wish to provide their end users with Teams will need to purchase two SKUs: one Microsoft 365 (no Teams) or Office 365 (no Teams) suite and Microsoft Teams Enterprise.
BUSINESS & FRONTLINE PLANS:
Current Frontline suites will coexist with the new lineup. Customers will be able to choose between the existing Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft 365 F1, Office 365 F3, and Microsoft 365 F3 suites with Teams included, or the new versions of those suites without Teams.
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Qualified Plans for Copilot for Microsoft 365 Expanded
WHEN: March 14, 2024
Copilot for Microsoft 365 previously required the user to have a prerequisite license of Microsoft 365 E3/5, Office 365 E3/5, or Microsoft 365 Business Standard/Business Premium. Microsoft has now expanded eligibility to customers that have Microsoft 365 F3 and F1, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, or Office 365 E1. This prerequisite expansion for Copilot for Microsoft 365 also covers Copilot for Service and Copilot for Sales.
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Microsoft Copilot for Security: General Availability
WHEN: April 1, 2024
Copilot for Security is a generative AI security product that empowers security and IT professionals respond to cyber threats, process signals, and assess risk exposure at the speed and scale of AI.
Security compute units are the required units of resources needed for dependable, consistent performance of Microsoft Copilot for Security. To purchase security compute units, you need to have an Azure subscription. This product is sold in a provisioned capacity model and is billed by the hour. You can provision security compute units (SCUs) and increase or decrease them at any time. Billing is calculated on an hourly basis with a minimum of one hour. For more information on pricing, review information at this link.
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Ability to auto-claim Power Automate licenses now live
WHEN: March 15, 2024
With auto-claim for Power Automate licenses, admins can set up policies in the Microsoft 365 admin center that automatically assign licenses to users who need them, reducing the administrative burden, ensure compliance, and improve user satisfaction & productivity. You can create an auto-claim policy that applies to the following Power Automate licenses: Power Automate premium plan Power Automate per user plan (legacy) The auto-claim policy for Power Automate licenses will be applied in the following scenarios when the user do not have the required licenses: User triggers / saves / turns on a premium flow (or standard flow for managed environments) User requests a Power Automate user-based license You can learn how to set this up here.
WHAT'S HAPPENING: Changes to Power BI Premium Licensing
WHEN: July 1, 2024
With the release of Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft is making changes to licensing for Power BI. Microsoft Fabric is a superset of Power BI Premium; meaning it has all the capabilities of Power BI Premium plus six other core workloads. As there are now both pay-as-you-go and reservation options now available for Microsoft Fabric, Microsoft has announced the eventual end of life for the Power BI Premium capacity SKUs.
- New customers will not be able to purchase Power BI Premium per capacity after July 1, 2024.
- Existing customers without an Enterprise Agreement (EA) will be able to renew their Power BI Premium capacity subscriptions until January 1, 2025. Customers who have a renewal date after January 1, 2025 will need to replace their Power BI Premium capacity subscription purchase with the purchase of Fabric capacity at the end of their agreement.
- Customers with an existing EA agreement can continue to renew their Power BI Premium capacity purchase annually until the end of their EA agreement. If the end of the existing EA agreement is after January 1st, 2025, they will have to transition to Fabric capacity once the agreement has ended to continue using Microsoft Fabric.
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