ArrowSphere is ready for Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience.
Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience (NCE) for seat-based products is bringing about significant changes in how you, as a cloud solution provider (CSP) partner, will transact and work with your customers. Arrow is ready for those changes and here to help you navigate them. Read on for the key insights you need.
From a big picture perspective, Microsoft’s NCE is designed to standardize purchasing through CSP partners, enterprise agreements (EA), and directly from the Microsoft portal. It enables customers to access similar pricing and terms across any transaction model.
The changes began in 2019 with NCE for Microsoft Azure and they are now being unrolled for seat-based products like Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365 and Power Platform. The new program includes fixed commitment terms of 1-3 years, as well as the current monthly option. The monthly option, though, will include a price premium over the longer-term contracts.
Microsoft had originally planned to launch NCE for seat-based products in mid-October 2021. They determined, however, that partners needed more time to be ready. As a result, Microsoft modified the timeline, such that general availability of NCE will not occur until January 2022.
At that time, Microsoft will offer two time-bound promotions for seat-based products. These promotions will run from January to June, but it is expected that the announced price increase will still take place in March. Further, additional changes are anticipated in October that will remove incentives for partners on legacy products.
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In a nutshell, a lot.
The timing of your transition to NCE is critical, as these changes and promotions will have significant financial impact.
To secure incentives and a lower price for your customers, January and February will be the most compelling months for modifying subscriptions. There is a lot you will need to decide prior to then, so that you are prepared to make the right choices for you and your customers. You’ll want to take into account:
- License changes and premium pricing: You need to choose the right mix of license models to meet your customers’ needs, while balancing the right commercial model for you.
- Financial liability: You will have to pay the full term even if the customer doesn’t, so risk management is important.
- Lack of subscription flexibility: At this point, Microsoft has stated that “moving subscriptions across partners is not a supported feature.” That means you, too, will be challenged to easily move your book of business to another indirect provider.
All of this means you need a provider who is ready now – and will be ready for the future. You want to work with someone who has a proven track record and can guide you through this transition and others.
Not only can our cloud experts provide guidance, but our cloud marketplace and management platform, ArrowSphere, is ready now and simplifies the complexity of selling the new program.
Our industry-leading features ensure you can make the most of the updated license terms, alternate pricing models, incentives and rebates. New functionality includes:
Staged migration
Make the transition at your own pace. Microsoft NCE offerings are clearly marked and appear alongside legacy products. You can offer a mixed portfolio of licenses, as required.
Integrated business rules
We’ll make sure you understand the updated terms and pricing for each product before you buy. Our catalog always reflects Microsoft’s promotional pricing; no need to keep track separately.
Advanced renewal alerts
The new license options mean more to manage at renewal. Our alerts functionality has been updated to give you visibility into how the current catalog price differs from the customer’s previous purchase price.
ArrowSphere was built to help IT solution and service providers manage, scale and differentiate their cloud business. Our award-winning platform provides a single pane of glass for selling and managing XaaS. It simplifies ordering, provisioning and billing across all cloud vendors, provides world-class business analytics, and helps you to deliver the ideal hybrid multicloud solution for your customers.
Learn about the new ArrowSphere features
to help make the transition to NCE.
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