To adjust for local currency fluctuations and harmonize its prices for all Microsoft® cloud services within Canada, Microsoft has announced price list changes outlined below with respect to the specified currencies.
Microsoft periodically assesses the impact of its local pricing for software products and cloud services to ensure there is reasonable alignment across regions. This change is an outcome of that assessment.
Starting Sep. 1, 2023, pricing for Microsoft cloud services will increase 6%.
What does this mean for our clients?
- New purchases and renewals will be subject to the price increases.
- Existing Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program subscriptions will not be affected prior to the end of the subscription term.
- Microsoft Azure® services sold through a Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) are priced in U.S. dollars globally and therefore are not affected.
- These pricing changes do not apply to hardware, on-premises licenses and consumer cloud services.
What licensing programs will be affected?
- SPLA (Service Provide Licenses Agreement)
- New & renewing customers
- Evaluate your existing subscriptions to see if you are able to transition any of your existing CSP legacy user subscriptions into Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience (NCE) and a new term.
- Consider bringing forward any planned purchases to secure current pricing.
- Move monthly term subscriptions to a longer-term commitment.
- Commercial cloud and on-premises services sold through:
- Enterprise Agreement
- MCA, excluding Azure (across online, CSP and MCA for enterprise purchasing options)
- CSP program, excluding Azure in NCE (note Azure in NCE is priced in U.S. dollars)
- Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP through Web Direct)
- Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MSPA)
- Open Value/Open Value Subscription
- Enrollment for Education Solutions (ESS)/School/Education/Campus Agreements
- Existing customers and price protection benefit
- Mid-term commercial licensing agreements have price protection on previously ordered products. There is no price change during their agreement term on those products.
- From Sep. 1, 2023, any new products ordered will be priced at the current list prices.
- Azure price impact details
- Azure Commitment Discount (ACD) is a fixed discount. Customers will continue to receive the discount percentage specified in the contract. ACD has no impact on the baseline price. The fixed discount will be applied to the current month's Enterprise Agreement (EA) list price. Customers will see their pricing adjust, but not above their baseline price protection or SKU price book.
EA, Enterprise Subscription Agreements (EAS) or Server and Cloud Enrollments (SCE)
Customers or partners who purchased Azure within an EA, EAS or SCE agreement have price protection on currently offered Azure services and will receive the lower of the baseline price or the new market price. Price protection refers to PayGo prices only and does not include savings plans and Azure reservations. A baseline price is the price at the beginning of an Azure agreement or the price at which a new Azure service was made generally available. If the new market price is higher than the baseline price, customers may see an adjustment up to, but not above their baseline price. New Azure services will be priced as noted on the then-current price list.
In some cases, the agreement within which Azure is purchased has expired. In these instances, the agreement is referred to as being in "Extended Terms." Customers or partners in Extended Terms have no price protection and the percent adjustment will come into effect on Sep. 1, 2023.
- Pay-as-you-go subscriptions (MOSP/Web Direct)
- Customers under the pay-as-you-go model enjoy the benefits of no minimum purchase requirements and have flexible pricing. For these customers, prices will be adjusted effective Sep. 1 2023. Pricing for customers purchasing Azure in Canadian will be comparable to pricing in U.S. dollars as listed on azure.com.
- Azure in CSP
- In CSP, end-customer pricing for Azure services is determined by the channel partner
- Azure in NCE (MCA-E)
- Azure NCE pricing is in U.S. dollars and will not be affected by this change.
Things to do before the pricing update
Please contact your local Insight representative or fill out the form, should you have questions or need support through our Optimization & Governance services on your wider licensing considerations.