Microsoft 365 Price Increase – What’s up with that?

Over the past 10 years, Microsoft has added a huge amount of new features to Microsoft 365. Services such as SharePoint and Teams have significantly broadened the possibilities for users. For the first time in a decade, Microsoft is now going to raise prices a bit. In addition, the software giant introduces changes to subscription terms.

As of March 1st, 2022, prices will increase for the following six products:

  • Office 365 Plan E1
  • Office 365 Plan E3
  • Office 365 Plan E5
  • Microsoft 365 Business Basic
  • Microsoft 365 Business Premium
  • Microsoft 365 Plan E3

On average, the price increase is around 20% but in some cases it can be UP TO 30%. The new prices will apply to all new orders you place on & after March 1st.

New Commerce Experience: 

Monthly vs Yearly Subscriptions

Besides the price increase, Microsoft is changing the license terms to what they call the “New Commerce Experience”.

From March 1st you can choose from the following three subscription terms:

  • Monthly Subscription
    You can change the number of licenses every month, but this option is 20% more expensive than an annual subscription.
  • Yearly Subscription
    You commit yourself for a year, paying a fixed amount upfront every year
  • 3 Year Subscription (Coming Soon)
    In the near future, it is also possible to lock in your subscription for 3 years by paying for 3 years upfront, enabling you to keep a fixed price for 3 years. We will inform you when this option is available.

Please note the following:

  • Licenses cannot be downgraded to a lower plan during the license period
  • Upgrading licenses to a higher plan during the subscription period is still possible
  • Increasing licenses is possible during subscription period. Decreasing licenses is not possible.

Next Steps

Do you have an existing yearly Microsoft 365 subscription?

  • If you renew with us before March 1st, we can lock your existing price for another 12 months.

Do you have an existing monthly Microsoft 365 subscription?

  • We can help you convert them to yearly (annual) subscriptions before March 1st, to prevent the additional 20% price increase.

Renew Early and get a 5% DISCOUNT on annual subscription

From January to February 2022 you can get a 5% discount on an annual subscription. And if you choose a new monthly subscription between January and June 2022, you pay the same price per month as with an annual subscription. (Existing monthly subscriptions excluded)

These promotions are valid for a maximum of 2,400 workplaces.

Want to know more?

Contact Us

Contact us at [email protected] to discuss the possibilities and see how we can help

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WorkPoint 365 – Modern Project Management in SharePoint and Teams – Webinar

In this free Webinar we demonstrate how WorkPoint 365 can help you streamline your Project Management in SharePoint and Teams

Read more
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How to Sell Smarter with Dynamics 365 Sales – Webinar

We have organized a free webinar on how to utilize Dynamics 365 Sales to help your sales team sell smarter.

During this webinar, our consultant Jasmine Ye will explain the basic features of Dynamics 365, and will explain how Dynamics 365 can help your sales team get organized, via tracking capabilities, automatic reminders, opportunity grading via AI, but also by integrating Dynamics 365 in your existing Office 365.

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AccessOrange wins Silver in the 15th Annual 2020 IT World Award

Hong Kong, November 2020 – AccessOrange announced today that Network Products Guide, industry’s leading technology research and advisory guide, has named AccessOrange a Silver winner in the 15th Annual 2020 Network PG’s IT World Awards®.

The IT World Awards are industry and peer recognitions from Network Products Guide honoring achievements of world’s best in organizational performance, product and service innovations, hot technologies, executives and management teams, successful deployments, product management and engineering, customer satisfaction, and public relations in information technology and cyber security.

Judges from a broad spectrum of industry voices from around the world participated and their average scores determined the 2020 award winners. Winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a virtual awards ceremony in November.

“It’s an honor to be named a winner by IT World Awards for this esteemed industry and peer recognition,” said Roald Andersen, Director Business Development of AccessOrange. “Our expertise in implementing Microsoft Cloud Solutions such as Microsoft 365 and Azure has been the key driver of our success in the recent years. We aim to expand our business operations and customer base further throughout the Asia Pacific Region in the coming years ahead.”

For a complete list of the 2020 IT World Award winners announced today, visit https://networkproductsguide.com/winners/2020-it-world-awards/

About the IT World Awards

As industry’s leading technology research and advisory publication, Network Products Guide plays a vital role in keeping decision makers and end-users informed of the choices they can make in all areas of information technology and digital + cyber security. The Annual IT World Awards is part of the SVUS Awards® recognition program from Silicon Valley in the United States of America and organizations from all over the world participate each year. Learn more about the IT World Awards at https://networkproductsguide.com 

About the SVUS Awards

SVUS Awards are conferred in eleven programs: the CEO World Awards®, the Consumer World Awards®, The Customer Sales & Service World Awards®, The Globee® Awards, the Golden Bridge Awards®, the Info Security Products Guide’s Global Excellence Awards® and Security World Awards, the Network Products Guide’s IT World Awards®, One Planet® American + World Business Awards, the Pillar World Awards®, the PR World Awards® for Public Relations and Communications, and the Women World Awards®. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the SVUS Awards recognize outstanding achievements and performances in businesses worldwide. Learn more about the SVUS Awards at https://svusawards.com

About AccessOrange

AccessOrange helps companies work smarter by implementing innovative cloud solutions, such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365 for which they provide adoption & migration services, training and support. Microsoft Teams & SharePoint Implementations are a major part of their service portfolio.

For more information about AccessOrange, please visit www.accessorange.com

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Office 365 is now Microsoft 365

Microsoft announced that Office 365 will have a new name: Microsoft 365.

Existing business and enterprise editions will have their name changed to be in line with the new Microsoft 365 product portfolio:

  • Office 365 Business Essentials will become Microsoft 365 Business Basic.
  • Office 365 Business Premium will become Microsoft 365 Business Standard
  • Microsoft 365 Business will become Microsoft 365 Business Premium
  • Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus will both become Microsoft 365 Apps

Where necessary, we will use the “for business” and “for the enterprise” labels to distinguish between the two.

The new product name goes into effect on April 21, 2020. This renaming evolution is a change of the product name only, and there are no pricing or feature changes at this time.

The following Office 365 plans will have no name changes:

  • Office 365 for Enterprise (Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5)

The name change was initiated by Microsoft to be more reflective of the range of features and benefits in the subscription and to meet the unique needs of individuals and businesses.

Microsoft 365, just like Office 365 will include the same Office applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint as Office 365 has. Moreover, Microsoft 365 is designed to help people and businesses achieve more with innovative Office apps, intelligent cloud services, and world-class security. It comes with a promise of smart cloud services both today and in the future. Meanwhile, Microsoft 365 can provide the customer with “new artificial intelligence (AI), rich content and templates, and cloud-powered experiences”.

If you have further questions, feel free to contact us.

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New experience with separated Calling and Meeting windows in Microsoft Teams

Recently, Teams released a new function to separate Calling and Meeting window from main Microsoft Teams client. With this new function, users can view meeting or calls without a block of the underlying content, which is more flexible for users.

Additionally, controls like mute, video, chat leave and others will be located at the top of the window and easier for the customer to manage their meeting and calls. Below is the new meeting/calls control location:

Teams Menu Bar

New features released at the same time are 3*3 video, raise hands and custom backgrounds. And this will make customers work more interesting and participative. The new experience is presented below:

Teams new meeting experience

How to turn on the new function?

By default this new function will be roll-out OFF, customers need to turn on it via the User setting [ General ] Turn on new meeting s and calling experiences.

Step by step to turn on the new experience:

Step 1: Click on Avatar on the top right of Teams, and click [Settings].

Teams Settings

Step 2: Check the [Turn on new calling a meetings experiences] checkbox and then restart the Teams client.

Teams Settings

Notice* Users will have enough time to become familiar with this new function before Team enable this functionality by default. More detail will be provided via the Message center.

Want to know more about Microsoft Teams? Contact Us

 

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Optimizing Team Work while Working from Home – Webinar

We have organized a free webinar on how to optimize Teamwork while working from home using technologies like Office 365 and Microsoft Teams.

Read more
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AccessOrange Achieves Microsoft Gold Partner Status

Hong Kong, April 12, 2020 — AccessOrange, a leading IT provider that helps businesses work smarter by implementing innovative cloud solutions, today announced it has achieved Microsoft Gold Partner status on the Cloud Productivity and Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions competency. This latest Microsoft Gold Competency recognizes AccessOrange as one of the premier Microsoft partners driving the adoption of the Microsoft 365 and Azure platform in the Asia Pacific region.

To earn a Microsoft Gold competency, partners must prove excellence and customer satisfaction in delivering Microsoft 365 and Azure solutions and demonstrate expertise through rigorous exams, culminating in Microsoft certifications.

Microsoft Gold Partner Logo

“Achieving Microsoft Gold Partner status reflects our continued commitment to help our customers adopt cloud solutions such as Microsoft 365 and Azure.” said Roald Andersen, Director of Operations at AccessOrange. “We are proud to be recognized for our expertise in delivering innovative Microsoft solutions to our customers. Achieving Microsoft Gold Cloud Productivity and Gold Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions reflects our continued commitment to help our customers maximize the benefits of the cloud.”

AccessOrange helps companies work smarter by implementing innovative cloud solutions, such as Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365 for which they provide adoption & migration services, training and support. Microsoft Teams & SharePoint Implementations are a major part of their service portfolio.

The Microsoft Partner Network helps partners strengthen their capabilities to showcase leadership in the marketplace on the latest technology, to better serve customers and to easily connect with one of the most active, diverse networks in the world.

For more information about AccessOrange, please visit www.accessorange.com

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WorkPoint teams up with AccessOrange to expand into Asia Pacific Market

WorkPoint teams up with AccessOrange to expand into Asia Pacific Market

Hong Kong, October 20. AccessOrange, a company that enables businesses to work smarter by implementing innovative cloud solutions, today announced it has signed a distribution agreement with WorkPoint, a fast growing Danish Company that develops the WorkPoint 365 business solution for Office 365.

Under the agreement, AccessOrange will provide sales, marketing, training and implementation services for WorkPoint’s solution portfolio in the Asia Pacific Region, and will closely work with WorkPoint on the promotion and expansion of the WorkPoint 365 solution in Asia, starting in Hong Kong and Singapore.

“We are excited to announce our partnership with WorkPoint”, said Roald Andersen, Director Business Development of AccessOrange. “The WorkPoint product portfolio, with WorkPoint 365 being key, fits completely in our portfolio, as we are always looking for innovative solutions that help our customers work more efficiently in the cloud.”. “The WorkPoint 365 solution integrates with Office 365/SharePoint and enables our customers to optimize their business workflow and information management, without having to spend months on expensive SharePoint development. “

The WorkPoint 365 solution covers some of the most business-critical areas of organizations, such as HR, Quality Assurance, Project Management and much more. The vertical business solutions and functions for SharePoint Online and Office 365 can easily and directly be integrated into a specific department to cater to their individual needs or implemented across the entire organization.

By operating within the same system and by coordinating soft data such as documents, e-mails & data through WorkPoint, cross-organisational activites will significantly be improved. Combined with supporting functions for GDPR compliance, and integrating external users, knowledge-sharing will become an integrated part of the organizations daily routines.

Andy Karamallakis, Export Sales Manager who is responsible for the international expansion of WorkPoint, said, “The Asia Pacific market is in need for intelligent solutions that have a high impact within organizations but can be implemented in a relatively short time”. “Medium and large sized organizations are increasingly looking for improvements on their collaboration, information sharing and communication, especially when it comes to project management, case management and HR management. ”. “ There is a huge market potential for us in Asia Pacific, as we believe that WorkPoint will be a perfect match for these kind of organizations looking for these improvements.”

For more information about AccessOrange, please visit www.accessorange.com.
For more information about WorkPoint 365 Solution, please visit www.accessorange.com/workpoint365

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