Microsoft Q2 2024 Licensing Updates

Microsoft continues to deliver a stream of thrilling announcements throughout 2024!

Here at CloudServus, we're all about keeping you in the loop with Microsoft's ever-evolving product scene and licensing stuff so your organization is ready to handle whatever changes come your way. Let’s dive into the latest updates from Microsoft about licenses and new products.

These are the noteworthy announcements in Microsoft licensing from the second quarter of 2024:

The New Microsoft 365 Subscription Structure

In the summer of 2023, Microsoft modified the licensing for Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Teams in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. This past April, Microsoft announced plans to apply the same approach to other regions worldwide. To facilitate this, Microsoft is launching new commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites that don’t include Teams in regions outside the EEA and Switzerland. Additionally, there’s a new standalone Teams offering for Enterprise plan customers in those regions. The expansion of these offerings will help Microsoft provide more consistent and transparent licensing for customers, simplifying their decision-making and negotiations. Customers with existing subscriptions that include Microsoft Teams can continue using the plans they’ve already selected. Net new subscribers to Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3, and Microsoft 365 E5 suites with Teams will be affected. You can find more information on this topic as well as an FAQ in our original blog post.

Significant Updates to Power BI Premium Capacity Licenses

Microsoft has announced that they are officially retiring Power BI Premium capacity SKUs (the P-SKUs) on July 1st, 2024, for new customers. This retirement does not affect Power BI Pro and Power BI Premium per user (PPU). The new Fabric plans give more choice in SKU size, pay-as-you-go billing options, and access to Azure-only features.

Current Power BI Premium capacity NCE customers can buy more under their current contract until it ends. The impact of this retirement announcement to customers will vary based on theirNCE agreement renewal date. Customers with an NCE renewal date prior to January 1st, 2025,will have the option to renew Power BI Premium capacity for one more year. NCE customers with a later renewal date will have to switch to a Fabric capacity and pricing plan that fits their needs.  You can find more details in our blog post.

Grace Period Update for Azure Reservation Exchanges

Great news for Azure customers! Microsoft has yet again extended the ability to exchange Azure reservations for the foreseeable future, giving organizations more time to prepare for future business needs. You can find the official announcement here. To give you a clearer picture, let's look back at when these exchange policy revisions for Reservation were first communicated and what was expected to change. Back in October 2022, Microsoft announced that Azure compute Reservations purchased after January 1st, 2024 would no longer be able to be exchanged. Then, last year in October, they announced that there would be a 6-month grace period which would give customers more time to exchange their Reservations. You can find my original blog about the upcoming changes to the Reservations exchange policy here.

Coming Soon - Windows Server and System Center 2025

Microsoft announced in May that Windows Server 2025 is now available in public preview and will be generally available later in 2024. Microsoft has stated that this latest Microsoft Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) release will “delivers advanced security, new Azure hybrid features, a high-performance platform for your existing apps and AI workloads, and a modernized Windows Server experience.” You can find more information about it here. System Center 2025 will also be generally available later in 2024 and according to Microsoft this release includes “enhancements that provide support for infrastructure modernization, capabilities to manage heterogenous infrastructure while embracing enhanced security.” You can find more details about the upcoming release of System Center 2025 here.

Dynamics 365 Price Increases are Coming

Microsoft announced that effective October 1st, 2024, they're hiking up the prices on their Dynamics products. This applies to both the cloud and on-premises versions. The price jumps vary, with CRM Enterprise licenses going up by about 11% (from $95 to $105) and ERP Enterprise licenses seeing about a 17% increase (from $180 to $210). Also, all tiers of Microsoft Relationship Sales licenses will cost an extra $15. You can find the full table of changes here.There will be no changes for Dynamics 365 Business Central pricing though.

Microsoft Publisher End of Life is Coming

There’s some sad news for fans of Microsoft Publisher. In October 2026, Microsoft Publisher will reach its end of life. After that time, it will no longer be included in Microsoft 365 and existing on-premises suites will no longer be supported. You can find the announcement here.

Since Microsoft Publisher is being retired, Microsoft is checking out new ways to do the common Publisher scenarios with apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Designer. Fortunately, a lot of typical tasks done in Publisher, like designing branded templates, printing envelopes and labels, and making personalized calendars, business cards, and event programs, can already be accomplished using other Microsoft 365 applications such as Word and PowerPoint. Customers can find a wide range of customizable templates here. 

Microsoft 365 Multi-Tenant Organization Capabilities are now GA

Microsoft has made its multi-tenant organization (MTO) features in Microsoft 365 available to all, aiming to improve teamwork and communication within Teams and Viva Engage for businesses with multiple tenants. Each employee needs just one Microsoft Entra ID Plan 1 license per MTO, while Viva Engage requires additional Viva Suite or Employee Communications & Communities User Subscription Licenses. Check out the full announcement here as well as a detailed explanation of options for multi-tenant organizations here.

Azure Reservation Renewals Have Become Easier

Exciting news for Azure Reservation customers! Microsoft has shared that you can now turn on the Auto-renew feature when you buy a Reservation. This feature is not on by default, howeveryou can now switch it on or off whenever you want, all the way up until your Reservation expires. Opting in for automatic renewal is a convenient method to maintain access to reservation discounts without the need to vigilantly track when a reservation expires. See the announcement article here.