10.2. Microsoft 365 NCE

• Summary
• Introduction
• NCE (New Commerce Experience)
• Timelines
• Multi-GEO
• Strict Cancellation and Seat Adjustment Policies
• NCE – New Pricing For Monthly License

SUMMARY
Starting 1st April 2022, all Clients will automatically be placed on new Monthly licenses under NCE which incurs a new 20% increase in price. Microsoft SPLA licensing has also increased in line with NCE. This price increase will apply to all Microsoft 365 titles (X365). If Clients would like to consider the 12 or 36 month options, there will be a small discount available over the Monthly pricing. However, the 12 month and 36 month options are contractual commitments and Clients must agree to pay upfront for the entire term, or provide XSTRA with suitable security to off-set XSTRA’s risk, or finance the cost either through the Clients own funders or XSTRA can introduce the Client to IngramMicro who offer financing. While the Monthly license comes at a premium cost, for most Clients the flexibility to be able to alter seat numbers and not be locked into a contract, means the Client is best to stick to the Monthly license in our opinion. Please contact XSTRA if you would like to discuss any of the 12 month or 36 month options.

INTRODUCTION
XSTRA supplies Clients with Microsoft software from our supplier IngramMicro under the Cloud Services Provider (CSP) platform . Microsoft is imposing a new licensing model called NCE on IngramMicro and XSTRA, and we must make you aware of this and pass through the changes that come with NCE. To be clear, NCE replaces the old CSP platform. This page is devoted to providing Clients with information on this new NCE licensing system.

NCE – Microsoft’s New Licensing System
Microsoft is introducing a new platform for ordering Microsoft 365 licenses. Known as NCE, it replaces the existing CSP platform. Under the new NCE platform , Microsoft intends to alter licensing structures, and, increase prices by up to 20%. NCE has some advantages including access to enterprise features such as Multi-GEO. Here is a document that summarises the differences between NCE & CSP and identifies what features and structural elements are common between both – CSP_vs_NCE.PDF

TIMELINES
The change to NCE is complex and there are a myriad of time lines to be aware of which we summarise here:

• March 1st 2022 – Microsoft will increase prices across the 365 range NCE & CSP
• March 10th 2022 – all “new” orders must go through NCE
• Existing CSP agreements will run their full term, licences can continue to be increased or reduced.
• July 1st 2022 – Ingram’s robot will move all current CSP licenses that are set to “Auto-Renew” to NCE on Annual Plans with monthly payments. (from July 1st onwards, you can no longer renew CSP Agreements)
• Feb 2023 – CSP portal is closed permanently (possibly, let’s see how it all pans out)
• A new month-to-month license will be available under NCE at a 20% premium over the NCE Annual license options.
  

MULTI-GEO
The biggest benefit to large multi-national Clients from the new NCE platform is the availability of Multi-GEO data and licensing residency. This feature allows Client data to reside in multiple global locations and is coming to NCE. But this feature has not yet been released by Microsoft under NCE. There is no certain time line for when this feature will be available. There will be an additional cost to enable this feature in the future. Here is a document outlining what Multi-GEO is and its benefits – Multi Geo Datasheet.PDF

STRICT CANCELLATION AND SEAT ADJUSTMENT POLICIES – see summary below