Are you ready? Microsoft recently announced the most significant change to the CSP program since its launch in 2015. And it's a biggie. Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience (aka NCE) will impact how you do business in CSP today and lay the foundations for future business opportunities.
But don’t worry, we've got this.
NCE overview
Microsoft is introducing the New Commerce Experience (NCE) for their seat-based solutions, with the technical preview available from 14 October and general availability from 10 January 2022. Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Windows 365 will change, impacting subscriptions. Changes include the Subscription Terms; the cancellation option and enforcement, standardisation of offers and terms including billing periods and aligning the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program with other licensing motions and subscription models (EA; Web-Direct).
New tools within NCE will enable you to recommend solutions at lower costs to customers while increasing efficiency, automation, availability, security and performance.
You can check out the official Microsoft announcements here.
In a nutshell – how will this impact you and your end customers?
Enforcement of no-cancellation policy – you can no longer cancel or reduce seats for your customers during annual term, only at term renewal.
Easier to understand billing data and less administrative work – which is always a pleasure to hear!
New monthly subscription option – customers who require more flexibility to adjust seats can opt for new monthly term offers with a premium price.
New options to manage subscriptions – these include upgrading products and schedule changes for renewal.
The benefits for you? For starters – with committed annual terms your income from licensing is predictable, year in, year out. Customer churn is reduced, and you are assured of an ROI in providing subscription support, services, and billing.
Welcome to a simplified purchasing journey (phew)
Then.
Now.
Microsoft’s ‘old’ way of doing things had become incredibly complex. Licensing options depended on the size of the organisation, and the type of customer they were (for example, commercial, government, academic, not-for-profit). And the type of partner you were.
By comparison, NCE is designed to reduce licence complexity. And we think you’ll agree that the future looks considerably more straightforward and easier to negotiate.
How does it work?
Now, it’s much NiCEr!
So, under the New Commerce Experience, Microsoft have just two billing options.
One for enterprise and large corporates known as the “Enterprise Motion” and the other for smaller corporates and SMB known as the “Breadth Motion”. This is where CSP reseller partners sit.
Under the Enterprise Motion, Microsoft will build a customer deal with the partner.
Whereas, under the Breadth Motion, the customer can choose to buy licenses either through Microsoft’s website, or though you as a CSP partner.
To note: While you can support customers via CSP up to 2,400 seats per customer, you’ll only receive discounts and incentives for seats up to that number. For 2,401 seats on upwards, you will be charged MSPR pricing and there aren’t any further incentive payments.
So, what do
NCE partner opportunities
look like?
As a CSP partner, you play a critical role in helping customers digitally transform, regardless of where your customer is in their journey and how they decide to transact with Microsoft.
NCE is designed to enhance customer long-term commitment, and reduce customer churn, while making administration less of a ‘thing’ for you. Plus, your revenue-forecasting becomes predictable – you know how much income you can count on from licensing each year.
That’s a NiCE deal!
Worried about the price changes? Microsoft and Tech Data have some promotional offers to help you and your customers make the transition.
PLUS
Tech Data is offering an additional 5% incentive for net new Microsoft 365 Premium SKU’s (Annual term/Annual billing only), making this a 10% discount for Microsoft Partners. Those products are: Microsoft 365 Business Premium; Microsoft 365 E3, Microsoft 365 E5, Microsoft5 365 E5 Security & Compliance add-on’s, Office 365 E5.
It all sounds complex.
How can we help you make this a NiCE transition for you?
We know that when you're already under the pump, it's not always easy to navigate change, and spot the new opportunities. But in true Tech Data style, we're all geared up to help.
- Our Tech Data Sales Teams, Solution Experts and License Desk are here to support you. We'll help you find the best solutions, and help you upgrade to the NCE new offers.
- StreamOne Cloud Marketplace is set up to support the NCE offers and billing logic. So once Microsoft launches the new offers on 10 January 2022, it's all go.
- We'll work with you over the next few months to create the best plan to upgrade from old CSP offers to the new ones.
- We've organised multiple webinars and training sessions to help you and your sales teams understand the changes and leverage the new commerce offers for maximum impact.
Uh oh, did I hear the words ‘price increase’?
Yes, Microsoft also announced that on 1 March 2022 there will be a price increase for annual and monthly subscriptions to:
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic (+20%)
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard (+0%)
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium (+10%)
- Microsoft 365 E3 (+12.5%)
- Office 365 E1 (+25%)
- Office 365 E3 (+15%)
- Office 365 E5 (+8.5%)
Pricing for your education customers is the only exception. The good news is that if you lock in customer licenses prior to March 2022, you can help your customers save!
When’s this all happening?
The NCE timeline
NCE Training for Resellers
Here at Tech Data, we appreciate how important it is for you to have the training and understanding of the Microsoft NCE changes to take to market. To help ensure that you and your company are ready, we have created a self-directed training program for your sales team. The course is designed to give them the confidence to explain the changes to their customers. It covers why NCE is being introduced and the NCE implementation process.
Plus, we have NCE badges to aware to the first 1000 partners that complete the course, to demonstrate that you are NCE trained.
Topic: Make sure you're one step ahead with TD.
As part of our continued enablement on the New Commerce Experience, we’re running educational webinars in February 2022.
Join us to learn about how NCE differs from the legacy structure and the best practice approach to the changes.
Agenda:
- Important changes coming to Microsoft CSP
- Transition from Open Program (MLOP) to CSP
- Make the move from Azure Legacy to Plan
- NCE – Why now?
- Highlights - Legacy vs NCE
- NCE Roadmap
- Notable Changes in New Commerce
- Additional CSP price increases for M365/O365 products
- Microsoft Partner Incentives – Legacy vs NCE
- Q&A
Register now for the Tech Data NiCE Q&A session
Still have questions on what the changes mean for your business and the best way to approach them? Our Partner Development Manager, Shaun Canavan, will be holding an open Q&A session to answer all your queries and ensure that you are fully prepared.
Book your place now
Additional resources
NCE Technical Preview
Register for the NCE Technical Preview with Tech Data here – new and existing partners can trial NCE subscriptions to test or sell to customers now)
Subscription management
Blog posts
Click through for our series of blog posts to support you through the transition.
Why partner with Tech Data?
Your choice of partner is critical to your success, and that's why we invest in being the best. We want to make a difference to your business and customers.
In 2021 Tech Data was named Microsoft's Worldwide Partner of the Year and Indirect Partner Provider (for the fourth time in seven years). That’s why you can be confident we know what we're doing.
We designed our Centre of Excellence to deliver specialist business and tech capabilities around readiness and enablement, pre-sales and solution design and deployment services – all to help you do better – more profitable – business. And we provide access to tools, resources, and programs to boost your cloud access.
We're one step ahead, so you can be too. (We’re nice like that).
Contact the Tech Data Team
Email: aus-sales@techdata.com
Phone: 1300 36 2525
