Effective December 1st, 2018, Microsoft will be raising the Canadian dollar price for commercial online services by 5%. Occasionally, Microsoft will review the impact of their local pricing, and this increase for online services is meant to realign their prices with global US dollar levels.
How Will you be Affected?
For business customers, these changes will not affect existing orders under volume licensing agreements for products that are subject to price protection. However, prices for new product additions or new contracts will subject to the new pricing structure.
Microsoft pricing adjustments will be applicable to any new and renewing contracts for those using commercial online services that are available through volume licensing programs. These include:
- Enterprise Agreements (Commercial, Government, Campus, and Enrollment for Education solutions)
- Open Value Agreement (Commercial, Government, and Education Solutions)
- Microsoft Product and Service Agreements (Commercial, Government, and Academic)
- Select/Select Plus Agreements (Commercial, Government, and Academic)
- Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)
- Syndication, and
- Microsoft Subscription Programs (Commercial, Government, Not for Profit, and Academic).
These Microsoft pricing adjustments will not apply to anyone with commercial on-premises software, consumer software, or anyone using consumer Cloud services.
How will this impact Volume Licensing Contracts?
- Mid-term Enterprise Agreement (EA), Enterprise Subscription Agreement (ESA) Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE): Existing EA, ESA and SCE contracts have price protection on previously ordered products and will not experience a price change during the term of their agreement. Any new product additions will be priced at current pricelist price.
- Renewing and New EA/ESA: Renewals and new agreements will be priced at then current pricelist price.
- Mid-term Open Value (OV) Agreement company-wide & Open Value Subscription (OVS) Agreement company-wide: Existing OV and OVS company-wide contracts have price protection on previously ordered products and will not experience a price change during the term of their agreement. Any new products will be priced at the current pricelist price.
- Mid-term Open Value (OV) Agreement non-company-wide: For OV non-company-wide purchases there is no price protection and new orders will be priced at current pricelist price.
- Renewing and New OV/OVS Agreement: Renewals and new agreements will be priced at then current pricelist price.
- Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (MPSA) On-premises sales: MPSA and Select/Select Plus on-premises sales have no price protection and are subject to current pricing for incremental purchases.
- MPSA Cloud sales: MPSA online services benefit from price protection until subscription renewal. At renewal, pricing resets to then current pricelist price.
- Open License Agreement: For purchases under Open, there is no price protection and new orders will be defined by the pricelist at the time of order.
- Cloud Solution Program (CSP) and Syndication: Existing subscriptions receive price protection during their term which is normally twelve months from the start of paid subscription. Additional CSP seats to an existing subscription after December 1, 2018 will be at the previous billing price which remains in place for the remaining twelve-month term purchased before December 1, 2018. Renewals will be subject to the then current prices as determined by the channel partner.
- Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP) with annual commitment and monthly billing: Existing MOSP customers with an annual commitment receive price protection during their term. Adding seats to an existing subscription after December 1, 2018 will be at the previous billing price which remains in place for the remaining twelve-month term purchased before December 1, 2018. Renewals will be subject to the then current prices.
- Microsoft Online Subscription Program (MOSP) with pay-as-you-go and monthly billing: Customers under the ‘pay-as-you-go’ model enjoy the benefits of no minimum purchase requirements or future commitments with Microsoft and have flexible pricing. For these customers prices will increase effective December 1, 2018.
- Customers under trial: Prices are determined at the time of paid sign-up.
- Promotions: Customers enjoying previously ordered promotion pricing are protected on previously ordered services and will not experience a price change during the term of the agreement. Orders for new services will be priced at the then current promotion pricelist price.
Is On-Premises Software Pricing Changing?
No. As of October 2018, the pricing to on-premises software in Canadian dollars will remain the same. If you are using on-premises software, your price will not be increasing at this time.
How Will Microsoft Pricing Adjustments Affect Azure Customers?
The pricing will also increase for those who are using Microsoft Azure. Effective December 1st, 2018, anyone who is purchasing Azure in Canadian dollars will notice that the price level is similar to customers purchasing Azure in U.S. dollars (either through azure.com, or through volume licensing agreements).
Below, we’ve outlined some of the changes that will impact current Azure customers:
- Pay-As-You-Go Subscriptions on Azure.com: Customers under the ‘pay-as-you-go’ model enjoy the benefits of no minimum purchase requirements or future commitments with Microsoft and have flexible pricing. For these customers in Canada new prices will be effective December 1, 2018.
- Prepaid Subscriptions on Azure.com (retired for new customer sign-up as of October 1, 2016): For previously offered subscriptions, prepaid amount, discount and terms remain unchanged. Consumption rates will increase effective December 1, 2018 to the new pricing in Canadian dollars.
- Azure in Cloud Solution Program (CSP): In CSP, end-customer pricing for Azure services is determined by the channel partner. Microsoft pricing to CSP partner is under the ‘pay-as-you-go’ model with the benefit of no minimum purchase requirements or future commitments with Microsoft and flexible pricing with no price lock. For CSP partners, Canadian dollar prices will increase effective December 1, 2018 to levels similar to Azure pricing for CSP partners in other currencies such as the US dollar.
- Azure purchased via Open: Consumption rates will increase effective December 1, 2018 to the new higher pricing in Canadian dollar as applicable on Azure.com.
- Azure in Mid-term Enterprise Agreement (EA), Enterprise Subscription Agreement (ESA), and Server and Cloud Enrollment (SCE): Customers or partners who purchased Azure within an EA, ESA, or SCE agreement have price protection on currently offered Azure services and will receive the lower of their baseline price or the new market price. Customer or partner’s baseline price is the price at the beginning of their Azure agreement or the price a new Azure service was made generally available. If the new market price is higher than customer’s baseline prices, customers may see an increase up to but not above their baseline prices. New Azure services will be defined by the pricelist at the time of order.
If you have any additional questions about how this may impact your business, please let us know.
