Over the past few years, Microsoft has been slowly replacing its legacy CSP offers with the New Commerce Experience, known as NCE. Microsoft is concluding this transition with the last step of phasing out legacy seat-based licensing in the commercial space and the introduction of NCE into the public sector.
Beginning in 2024, NCE offers will be available for non-profit, government community cloud, and academic customers. All legacy subscriptions must migrate to NCE upon their 2024 renewal date. Please stay tuned for additional timeline updates as we receive them.
What Is New Commerce Experience and What Does It Mean for Your Organization?
New Commerce Experience, in a nutshell, is an updated set of terms and offers available to CSP customers. Customers can choose to maintain much of the flexibility with monthly commitment options, which allow them to make changes or cancel subscriptions upon each monthly renewal, or they can maintain current pricing by choosing an annual commitment term with either annual or monthly installments. Limited products are available for purchase as a three-year commitment, including Defender Threat Intelligence, Microsoft Sales Copilot, Teams Room Pro, and many Dynamics 365 offers.
Microsoft will be migrating all customers to an annual term with the same billing frequency (monthly or annual) that customers have in legacy today if no action is taken prior to their renewal date. In advance of your 2024 renewals, coordinate with your Connection Account Team to discuss your options and make sure the path forward is the best fit for your organization.
What Are the Benefits of Moving to NCE for My Company?
While one of the key differences between the legacy CSP terms and the NCE terms does include replacing the ability for customers to reduce their license count at any time with a 7-day reduction window upon their monthly, annual, or triennial renewal, there are many other features that make NCE stand out.
Some of these features include the ability to align renewal dates between different subscriptions, either upon initial purchase or by scheduling this change in advance of renewal, purchasing add-on subscriptions independently of the parent product it is linked to, and upgrading products in the middle of your commitment term. Additionally, Microsoft offers the ability to enable overages for the minutes included in your calling plans so you can be billed in arrears instead of having to add credits prior to going over your minutes. For more information, please reach out to your Connection Account Team today, and engage the vast wealth of knowledge from within our Cloud Center of Excellence to find out how Connection can introduce you to the New Commerce Experience and take your projects to the next level.
Carrie Pecoraro
Carrie shares her expertise in Microsoft licensing for state and local government, and education. In her free time, Carrie enjoys concerts, football, and traveling.
