Microsoft recently announced the first Office price increase in more than ten years. This price increase seems justified because of its increased capabilities, and business owners need to make sure their spending matches their needs and usage. However, some people question if the rise in cost will deter customers from using this valuable service.

Understand the Increase and When it is Happening.

This price increase leaves many wondering if the new price affects its overall user base. With the updated prices, the Office 365 Business Basic plan will have a cost of $72 per year for each license. Microsoft has announced the new pricing structure will only take effect in six months, precisely on March 1, 2022. However, it might be hard to justify this cost when other options provide a similar service with more features and capabilities. 

According to Microsoft, the updated price reflects the value they have delivered to their customers in the last ten years. Some of the updates and innovations they have shown in the previous decade are in communications and collaboration, security and compliance, artificial intelligence and automation, and audio conferencing capabilities announced today. In addition, Microsoft has come to consider dial-up as an essential element of the overall Teams experience. As a result, they announced that they would offer unlimited dial-up access for Microsoft Teams meetings in business, commercial, frontline, and government suites for the next several months.

The progress of technology and culture in any digital transformation is linked. Microsoft Digital has progressed from a process-centered, rigid, manual operations model with a disconnected consumer experience to one that puts people at its center. Microsoft’s Teams and cloud-based technologies are used in both work and personal life. Moreover, the company has evolved its culture, moving towards a customer experience that is more digital-centric with the introduction of products like the Office 365 SaaS offering, which allows for people to have mobile access from any location.

Some people think that there is a risk for Microsoft that their business customers could be moving towards free or less expensive alternatives such as Google Docs and LibreOffice.

Understand Your Existing Subscription

When you sign up for a Microsoft 365 business subscription, you agree to pay for a specific collection of apps and services on either a monthly or annual basis, depending on the product you choose.

 

Microsoft Office Plan NEW PRICING

Annual

OLD PRICING

Annual

% Price Increase
Office 365 E1 $120 $96 25%
Office 365 E3 $276 $240 15%
Office 365 E5 $456 $420 9%
Microsoft Office E3 $432 $384 13%
Microsoft 365 Business Basic $72 $60 20%
Microsoft 365 Business Premium $264 $240 10%

 

You can use as many licenses as you need if you have a subscription. You then establish accounts for people in your business and assign them licenses. When new workers join or leave the company, you may add more licenses to accommodate them or transfer licenses to other users when they depart. These management tasks can be overwhelming, but you can use third-party providers like Asignet UCaas expense management software to automatically provision and remove users. You can also backup company documents when people leave the company using workflows.

At the same time, you can organize multiple subscriptions into different categories and then assign licenses to each class to individuals. So you may, for example, bundle all of your users under a Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscription and give them access to all Microsoft 365 applications and services. Ucaas management software also helps in managing security and access control to the company documents.

Evaluate Your Usage and Avoid Spending More Than Necessary

Understand Your Options

Choosing which plan is more convenient for your company may be difficult, and it’s critical to keep all of your choices open. Ucaas Expense management software may come in useful here.

Asignet Ucaas Expense Management is a cloud-based solution that helps organizations manage their UCaaS costs and usage by providing them with the necessary information needed for financial forecasting, budgeting, accounting, auditing, chargeback/show back process. It also gives users technology independence while allowing them to work from anywhere and on any device. Asignet is an excellent option because it is simple to use and fully integrated with MS Teams and Office 365. It also allows you to manage UCaaS expenses for all cloud-based systems with one dashboard, not just Microsoft Office 365 UCAS Expense Management. In addition, Asignet UCaaS Expense Management can help you understand your license usage and when the increase is happening.

Finally, it’s best to keep the options open. By making Microsoft pricing hikes simple to forecast, track, budget, account, and control, Asignet UCaaS Expense Management aids in cost management by giving you technological independence while allowing flexibility. 

Contact us today for more information about how we can help your organization save money and increase efficiency in managing your Microsoft Office 365 expenses.