Changing Plans – New Microsoft 365 Pricing Coming March 2022

In August 2021, Jared Spataro, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365, posted a blog about new pricing for Microsoft 365 that will take place. Office 365 products have gone through some impressive changes over the last decade. Just a few improvements are:

24 additional applications to the suite of products
Microsoft Teams to call, chat, meet, collaborate, and automate business processes in a single integration solution
Security and Compliance with data loss prevention, mobile device management, and attack surface reduction capabilities

Lock In Current Rates before Microsoft 365 Price Changes
in March 2022 and avoid Monthly Premiums

Most importantly, is that there have been minimal price changes over the past decade even though Microsoft has used extensive resources to make these improvements. Improvements which we have all experienced firsthand with the switch to remote work during the pandemic.

So, what is the new pricing and what other important details should you keep in mind while planning out your 2022 licensing?

Business Plans

Microsoft 365 Business Basic is going from $5 to $6/user/month¹
Microsoft 365 Business Premium is going from $20 to $22/user/month¹

Enterprise Plans

Office 365 E1 is going from $8 to $10/user/month¹
Office 365 E3 is going from $20 to $23/user/month¹
Office 365 E5 is going from $35 to $38/user/month¹
Microsoft 365 E3 is going from $32 to $36/user/month¹_{Pricing is in USD}

Another important change is that Microsoft is enforcing an additional premium for companies who chose to license month over month instead of signing a yearly or multi-year agreement.

For companies who have a high turnover rate or seasonal employees, this can cause additional expense that they are not used to. For example, with the new yearly or multi-year plan enforcement, a company will no longer be able to reduce the license count when employment numbers drop.

You will also no longer be able to downgrade your licenses to a less complex plan such as E3 to E1 during the agreement.

What does this mean to you?

As a decision maker, you will need to decide whether your company will benefit more from locking in a set number of licenses at a set cost (yearly plan) or whether it makes more sense to have the flexibility of adding and reducing your license quantity through out the year.

How can you lock in the current rates and avoid monthly premiums?

Through eMazzanti Technologies, you can sign up for a 1 to 3 year license agreement before March, 2022 and your license costs will be at the current rate. Sign a 1 to 3 year agreement to prevent monthly premiums.