Supercharge your Microsoft strategy

The highlight of Microsoft’s Q4 announcements are changes to the New Commerce Experience (NCE) model. The advent of Partner-to-Partner sharing within NCE was heralded by Microsoft as the start of a new chapter, giving control back to Microsoft Partners. But our main concern is what it means for businesses like yours.

The advent of Partner-to-Partner

To understand why Partner-to-Partner sharing is such a big deal, we need to go back to the beginning and understand what the NCE model is and why it was introduced. Introduced in January 2022, NCE altered the landscape for Microsoft Partners by revising pricing and significantly changing how subscriptions were activated and managed.  

These changes were marketed as an evolution of Microsoft’s existing Cloud Service Provider (CSP) programme, intended to reduce complexity and improve savings for long-term licence commitments.  

In practice, the main change from Microsoft CSP to NCE was an increased focus on long-term licence contracts. Microsoft 365 licences could be purchased as a monthly commitment (albeit at an increased price) or a 12-month subscription. The most notable change was that both customers and Microsoft Partners would be locked into a 12-month agreement. While new licences could be added during that agreement, they couldn’t be removed, potentially leaving businesses paying for licences even if they were no longer required. 

What’s more, businesses were bound to their chosen Microsoft Partner for the duration of the contract – if your service suffered and you wanted to switch to a different provider, you had to wait until your annual renewal was due. 

Partner-to-Partner sharing – a long-standing feature of Microsoft Azure – was introduced in June as a response to these concerns. The feature enables the end user to switch their licences to another Microsoft Partner during the 12-month period, while retaining any existing offers, pricing and renewal dates. 

Your experience, your choice

The advent of Partner-to-Partner sharing within Microsoft NCE is a game changer. By removing the need to wait out your subscription term or be penalised for making a switch, this change puts the power back into your hands. It ensures you can now have your Microsoft 365 licence estate managed by the Microsoft Partner you want. 

For licence holders, this gives increased freedom to seek out a Microsoft Partner who’s right for your business needs, connecting with the technical skills (and commercials) that work best for you. With the right expertise at your back, you can get the most value out of this essential business software and proactively pursue better support, rather than waiting for existing arrangements to expire. 

Swapping providers is simple. The future Microsoft Partner sends a transfer request to your incumbent provider and, once the latter has approved the request, the licence changes hands instantaneously. The new partner is then responsible for payments to Microsoft for the remainder of the subscription term.  

There's nothing better than a good deal

We’ve worked with Microsoft for many years now and know their products inside-out. Our unique insight and customer-first mentality have helped countless businesses maximise the value of Microsoft technology over the years, and get better Microsoft NCE commercials as a result. With the introduction of Partner-to-Partner transfers, we’re excited to help even more organisations get the best deal possible. 

Our recent acquisition by Advania, one of the largest and most accredited Microsoft partners in EMEA, has only extended our Microsoft capabilities further, bolstering our own know-how with access to experts on the full slate of Microsoft tech. 

If you’re looking for a thorough review of your Microsoft 365 agreement to help drive innovation and generate business value, we’d love to help – get in touch with the Servium team today!