Following Microsoft’s move last year to decouple Teams from its business offerings in the EEA and Switzerland, they have now announced this now applies worldwide from April 1st, 2024.
Why have Microsoft unbundled Teams from its productivity suites?
In 2023, anti-competition regulators in the European Union (EU) announced that they would be investigating whether including Teams as part of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 gave them an unfair advantage against rival communication products such as Slack. In order to deter any punitive fines from the EU, Microsoft pre-emptively took the decision to remove Teams and sell it separately.
While this change was only applied to the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, Microsoft have now announced that this change now applies in all regions.
I currently have Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscriptions – what do I need to know?
As an existing customer, you can continue to use, renew, upgrade, and otherwise adjust your subscriptions as before, whilst still keeping Microsoft Teams bundled with the subscription. However, you can now also switch to suites without Teams at anniversary/renewal or add new user subscriptions to suites without Teams or to the new Teams standalone at any time (including alongside suites with Teams).
Should you wish to add additional new subscriptions, your choices will depend on whether you require an Enterprise, Business or Frontline licence:
- Enterprise. For Office 365 E1/E3/E5 and Microsoft E3/E5, these will now only be available without Teams. A new SKU, Microsoft Teams Enterprise, priced at £4.30 can then be added to users who require access to Microsoft Teams.
- Frontline. For new Microsoft F1/F3 and Office 365 F3 subscriptions, these can now be bought with or without Teams bundled, as two different SKUs.
- Business. For new Microsoft 365 business subscriptions (Basic, Standard and Premium), these can now be bought with or without Teams bundled, as two different SKUs.
What will the new prices be for the unbundled Microsoft 365 and Office 365 products?
We have updated the pricing section of our Microsoft 365 Product page to reflect the new options available.
Does this change also apply to Non-profit and Charity licensing?
No. These changes apply only to commercial SKUs. Non-profit specific SKUs are not currently impacted.
Summary
Although having to consider additional SKUs often means a potential headache for organisations planning their upcoming license requirements, these new options do provide an option to save money for those users who do not require Teams for their day-to-day work. If you would like to discuss your options with one of our licensing experts, why not get in touch today?
