If you are a Microsoft Cloud License holder, you may have heard about the new New Commerce Experience (NCE) licensing. If you have not heard yet, you will soon enough, as it affects your licensing! If Sikich is your partner, we will take charge of discussing this with you when the time is right. You may be familiar with the term CSP, as that is how licenses were provisioned before.
The NCE is Microsoft’s new order, provision, and billing platform for seat-based licenses. It includes Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Windows 365. These changes came about in January of this year, and as of March 10, 2022, all new subscriptions are provisioned in NCE. As of July 1, 2022, any renewals that come up have to be renewed in NCE. If your renewal date is 7/1/22 or after, you will be made aware of the changes to renew through NCE upon this next renewal.
Key Differences
- Pricing – In CSP (the legacy licensing), you could pay monthly or annually, and it was the same cost overall. With NCE, if you opt to stick with monthly, there is a 20% premium charge on paying annually.
- Cancellation Options – In CSP, we could offer a prorated refund on any cancellations at any time. With NCE, you receive a prorated refund only within the first 72 hours of the subscription purchase or renewal.
- Trials – In CSP, there was a manual conversation to a paid subscription. In NCE, you get auto-converted to a paid subscription.
- Terms – In CSP, it was always annual terms, even if you paid monthly. In NCE, you can opt for monthly, annual, and multi-year.
Here is a chart to help with NCE Term considerations:
Prior to your renewal date of your current CSP, your Sikich Account Manager will reach out to discuss your options and, from there, will prepare a proposal for confirmation of what your new subscription will look like.
Have any questions about Microsoft NCE licensing? Please feel free to contact us at any time!
