As part of the scheme to migrate customers from the legacy CSP licensing model to NCE, Microsoft have announced three upcoming milestone dates.
Update – 22/04/2024. Following several announcements by Microsoft on October 18th, November 16th, December 22nd, and April 22nd, the original November 2023 date for public sector & non-profit subscriptions in this blog post has been updated to its newest date of March 1st, 2024. The new NCE enforcement date has been amended to January 11th, 2024 for renewing commercial subscriptions, and September 1st, 2024 for renewing public sector subscriptions (which include academic, GCC, and Not-For-Profit/charities).
What is NCE?
NCE stands for the New Commerce Experience and is Microsoft’s new model for subscription licensing, designed to replace the legacy CSP (Cloud Solutions Provider) model. Although the new model was introduced in 2022, some customers delayed their transition and remained on the old model. However, as the CSP model is due for retirement, customers need to prepare for their move to NCE.
What are the four new dates to be aware of?
- March 1st, 2024. Public sector subscriptions, which include academic, GCC, and Not-For-Profit/charities, will be eligible to move to NCE. It is important that the organisations that meet this criteria consult with their partners to ensure that the terms of the new licence subscriptions meet their needs.
- August 1st, 2024. New purchases for public sector subscriptions, which include academic, GCC, and Not-For-Profit/charities, can only be made on NCE.
- January 11th, 2024. Microsoft will begin the automatic migration of all renewing commercial customers to NCE. All legacy subscriptions that Microsoft migrates will be set to an annual term, with the same billing plan and seat counts that the customers had in legacy, so if you expect your organisation’s requirements to change, you should consult with your licence partner in advance to ensure you are correctly licensed.
- September 1st, 2024. Microsoft will begin the automatic migration of all renewing public sector customers to NCE. All legacy subscriptions that Microsoft migrates will be set to an annual term, with the same billing plan and seat counts that the customers had in legacy, so if you expect your organisation’s requirements to change, you should consult with your licence partner in advance to ensure you are correctly licensed.
What does my organisation need to do?
If you have already transitioned your licensing over the NCE model, then there’s nothing more to do. However, if you still have one or more legacy CSP subscriptions, it is important to speak to your partner sooner rather than later to ensure that when you are moved to NCE that you are on the correct terms to suit your requirements. Existing clients of Strategy 365 will be contacted in due course, or we can be contacted directly, should you have any questions.
