How The New Commerce Experience (NCE) from Microsoft Affects You

If there is any significant change that you need to know about pricing changes from Microsoft happening in March 2022, the move from the Cloud Solution Partner Program (CSP) to the New Commerce Experience (NCE) should be a top priority.

I admit that it’s hard to keep up with these changes, and in order to keep you well-informed, it is our responsibility to ensure that we have all the facts right before sharing them with you.

What is NCE?

I’m glad you asked. In the constant evolution of Microsoft’s commerce platform, they introduced the New Commerce Experience (NCE) as a way to streamline customers’ purchase experience, and offer more buying options, hence, ensuring flexibility in more ways than ever, but this comes at a cost (literally).

Starting March 10, 2022, Microsoft will be moving all CSP partners to the New Commerce Experience, and the change is not just in the name, but will also have a reflection in the pricing. The good news is that organisations that are already used to annual purchase commitments will have no problem adjusting to this change; however, the flexibility that has always been a great selling point for CSP is taking a whole new turn for monthly commitment customers.

What Changes Are Expected?

Thank you for sticking with me up until this point. Now, I know you’re following. These are changes that should be expected when transacting under the New Commerce Experience:

New Cancellation Policy: Customers can only cancel or reduce their ordered seats within the first 72 hours of order placement (counting from the purchase date) and get a refund. There is no room for cancellation or refund after 72 hours, as partners will be billed for the whole term of the subscription, which will in turn affect the customer financially.
Flexibility for Monthly Commitment vs. Annual Commitment: There is a 20% price increase for customers who are used to purchasing on a monthly basis, as against the 16.7% savings you will get when you opt for an annual commitment. The reason for this is because Microsoft is aligning with standard practices in their Web Direct (otherwise known as buying directly online from Microsoft) and across multiple industries in which monthly term options are priced higher than annual. Where flexibility plays out here is when it comes to cancellation. An annual subscription means that you are locked in a commitment with Microsoft for a year, and cannot cancel until you have reached the end of the term; however, for the monthly subscription, even though you would be paying higher, you have the flexibility of cancelling or reducing the purchased seats at the end of any month. And yes, you can mix and match both options to accommodate your permanent and seasonal employees.
Conversion of Trial Licenses: Trial licenses will now be automatically converted to a paid license once the full 30-day trial period is over. Another thing to note is that trial licenses cannot be cancelled, and can be manually converted to a paid subscription at any time in the trial period. Also, there will be no trial expiration alerts. In the process of conversion, the number of seats can be moved up or down, and the 72 hours cancellation policy will be applied here too.

It’s a lot to take in; I know the feeling! Kudos to you for making it to the end of this information-packed post! I feel like I’ve answered most of the questions you had at the beginning of this post, but if I have somehow missed out on any question(s) that you have, you know we are just an email away —> marketing@ha-shem.com.