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Eight changes in one week. Two took effect April 1; one of them with almost no announcement, two more hit May 1. One is a pricing date your enterprise clients will ask about before you're ready, and others that SDC/ISV partners building on Marketplace need to see. We're sharing a shortlist of what our clients see - if you're interested in the full list, DM me.
Bonus: This 30 second Microsoft Marketplace Assessment helps you understand the gaps and opportunities in your Microsoft Marketplace strategy
JULY 1: The M365 pricing increase has a real date now
Microsoft confirmed it: effective July 1, prices go up across Office 365 E3, M365 E3/E5, Business, Frontline, and most standalone components. By August 1, a set of security and device management capabilities bundle in.
That's less than 90 days from today. Customers with annual agreements renewing after July 1 will see the new pricing on their next invoice. If you have Enterprise clients with Q3 renewals, this is the conversation to start now, before the price list updates and before they hear it from someone else.
MAY 1: E7 is no longer a rumor: the price list is live
We covered E7 briefly in the last issue. The update: the official partner launch post is now live, and the one-year term price list preview was available as of April 1. CSP transactable from May 1 on monthly, annual, and triennial terms.
Quick recap of why this matters: the Frontier Suite bundles M365 E5 with Entra Suite, Copilot, and Agent 365. That last piece is what changes the conversation. Copilot stops being a standalone add-on you pitch selectively: at E7 it's part of a tier your E5 customers will be asked to consider at renewal. Get your sellers briefed before a customer brings it up first.
APRIL 1: Two operational changes hit: one of them quietly
Everyone noticed the MFA enforcement on April 1. Two other changes landed the same day. The CSP grace period is gone. Microsoft discontinued the safety net that previously gave customers a short window to access services on lapsed subscriptions. A missed renewal used to buy a few extra days. It doesn't anymore. If your team's renewal process has any slack built in around expiry dates, tighten it now.
Windows Server and SQL Server CSP subscriptions now include License Mobility rights, equivalent to Software Assurance in legacy Volume Licensing. Customers who've resisted moving workloads because they wanted SA-level hosting flexibility no longer have that objection - time to pdate your sales scripts.
MAY 1: Dragon Copilot gets one price and one SKU disappears
Starting May 1, Dragon Copilot moves to a flat per-user license at a reduced list price globally. One price, ambient encounters and generative AI included with no more usage-based consumption model. The less visible side of that change: Dragon Copilot Physician Practice reaches end of sale on May 1 so your healthcare clients on that SKU need to know before then, not after.
APRIL 1: Windows and SQL Server ESU pricing is the same everywhere now
This one didn't get much attention when it landed. Effective April 1, Extended Security Updates for Windows Server and SQL Server cost the same regardless of where you buy them: Azure, on-premises, or another cloud, across MCA, EA, and CSP. That might sound minor. It isn't, if you have customers still running legacy workloads because the ESU math in Azure looked worse than staying put - that pricing gap is gone.
The Bigger Picture
April 1 stacked the MFA enforcement, the CSP grace period change, and the License Mobility update on the same date. Now add the ESU pricing change and two more May 1 deadlines. Microsoft is moving faster than it historically has. Partners who read these updates monthly are already behind.
This edition of Bits & Bytes covers the Microsoft partner ecosystem for CEOs, operators, and practice leaders. Partner1 is a premier partner advisory firm built by former Microsoft executives. We help B2B companies grow profitably through ecosystem-led growth.
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