What you need to know about the Microsoft 365 pricing changes
Microsoft recently announced changes to their commercial pricing for Microsoft 365—the first substantive pricing update since they launched Office 365 a decade ago.
Since launching Microsoft 365 four years ago, Microsoft has added 24 apps to the suite, including Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, Power BI, Power Automate, Stream, Planner, Visio, OneDrive, Yammer and Whiteboard. Further, the company has kicked off 1,400 new features in three key areas.
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In terms of communication and collaboration, Microsoft rolled out its Teams software in 2017 as its all-in-one product for chatting, calling and managing projects and tasks. In 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic forced organizations to work remotely, Teams received more than 300 new features, including Together mode, background effects, large gallery view, raise hand, live reactions and breakout rooms.
Looking at security, Microsoft said that it added to Microsoft 365 such features as data loss prevention (DLP) for email and documents, sensitivity labels and message encryption. And to take advantage of artificial intelligence and automation, Microsoft 365 has taken on such capabilities as AI-powered real-time translation, captions and transcription.
Looking ahead, Microsoft announced that it will add unlimited dial-in capabilities for Microsoft Teams meetings over the next few months. This move is designed to help people join Teams meetings when they’re on the go or grappling with a poor internet connection.
New pricing for Microsoft 365
The pricing changes will go into effect in about six months. On March 1, 2022, Microsoft will update their list pricing for the following commercial products: Microsoft 365 Business Basic (from $5 to $6 per user), Microsoft 365 Business Premium (from $20 to $22), Office 365 E1 (from $8 to $10), Office 365 E3 (from $20 to $23), Office 365 E5 (from $35 to $38), and Microsoft 365 E3 (from $32 to $36). These increases will apply globally with local market adjustments for certain regions. There are no changes to pricing for education and consumer products at this time.
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