On 31st August 2023 Microsoft announced some important changes to the licensing and availability of Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland to address European competition concerns that will become effective 1st October 2023.
The changes will impact the Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for business customers and are designed to address two concerns that are central to the Commission’s investigation: (1) that customers should be able to choose a business suite without Teams at a price less than those with Teams included; and (2) that Microsoft should do more to make interoperability easier between rival communication and collaboration solutions and Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites.
This opens the door for organisation that need Teams to reconsider whether to stick with Office 365 or return to perpetual licensing. Or for organisations that aren’t using Teams to reduce their Office 365 spend.
Reducing costs by purchasing perpetual Office Pro Plus licenses via the second hand license market could be an option. See our articles here and here for more information.
The full Microsoft announcement can be found here
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