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Save now on Microsoft 365 before the price increase

Organizations need to start work now to reduce the impact of coming price rise. Microsoft 365 enterprise licenses can increase by up to 25% on 1 March 2022 . Here’s some tips to keep the costs of Microsoft 365 down, despite Redmond’s efforts to get more money from customers.

Individuals and small businesses can also save on Microsoft with Office Watch advice see Six simple steps for saving on renewals or first purchase of Microsoft 365 .

Act before March 2022

It’s important to re-negotiate Microsoft 365 contracts before the price list officially changes on 1 March 2022.

Waiting until after the start of March will be too late, especially for the many organizations with contracts expiring in June of each year.

Even if your company has two or more years to go on an existing contract, consider trying to re-negotiate now.  Perhaps get a renewal price protection based on the current, pre-increase, prices?

Cheaper plans will be more expensive

As we showed in our original analysis, the low-end or cheaper plans are getting the biggest price hikes.

Business Basic and E1 plans get 20% and 25% increases compared to the lower % rises for higher plans with more features. The top-end and Microsoft preferred E5 plan isn’t changing price at all.

Microsoft and their resellers will try to argue that organizations will ‘save more’ by upgrading to more expensive plans with more features.  Of course, the overall cost will be a lot higher.

Do you need all the extra stuff?

Microsoft does have a point when they boast about all the features and services that have been added to Microsoft 365 over the years.

The question for customers is … do we need all that extra stuff?

It’s heresy at Microsoft but some organizations can work quite happily with less.  Maybe just the core Office apps with email and perhaps OneDrive or SharePoint plus Skype or Zoom.   Teams, Yammer, Viva, Planner and loads more might not be necessary or worth the high price.

How many staff need a costly high-end Microsoft 365 plan at all? It’s possible to save a lot of money buying lower cost plans for staff who don’t need much.

Hiding away in the license lists are cheap ‘browser only’ options or choices with only the core Office apps and few of the pricey frills.

Consider alternatives

Microsoft 365 isn’t the only game in town even though it might seem that way.

There are realistic alternatives from Google, Zoho and Salesforce which all have rivals to Microsoft 365. Standalone software like OpenOffice and LibreOffice are also available.

Make up a practical plan for switching some or all staff to non-Microsoft options.  If only as a believable negotiating tactic <g>.

Get the right reseller

Microsoft 365 resellers are not your friends. They have a vested interest in selling more and more expensive Microsoft 365 plans. Not just for the commission but to keep in good favor with Microsoft.

Look around for a better reseller who can work with you to reduce your Microsoft 365 costs.

Six simple steps for saving on renewals or first purchase of Microsoft 365

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