Tag Archive for: Microsoft 365

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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Security Advisory for Office 365 – 09-09-2021

We would like to inform you that Microsoft has announced it is aware of ongoing targeted attacks, that try to exploit a new vulnerability in Office 356 and Office 2019.

This article informs you  about the status, risks and how to prevent your organization from getting infected.

Ongoing Attack against Office 365

Identified by Microsoft as CVE-2021-40444, the security issue affects Windows Server 2008 through 2019 and Windows 8.1 through 10 and has a severity level of 8.8 out of the maximum 10.

Microsoft is aware of targeted attacks that attempt to exploit this vulnerability by using specially-crafted Microsoft Office documents that are sent by Email.

An attacker could craft a malicious ActiveX control to be used by a Microsoft Office document that hosts the browser rendering engine. Upon opening it, the document loads the Internet Explorer engine to render a remote web page from the threat actor.

Malware is then downloaded by using a specific ActiveX control in the web page. Executing the threat is done using “a trick called ‘Cpl File Execution’,” referenced in Microsoft’s advisory.

How can you protect yourself

Customers should keep antimalware products up to date. Customers who utilize automatic updates do not need to take additional action, however it is advised to inform your staff once again not to open emails or attachments from unknown sources.

Microsoft Defender Antivirus and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint both provide detection and protections for the known vulnerability.

Additional ways to protect your organization:

For customers who are looking for additional protection, we have two recommendations:

Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 (Advanced Threat Protection)

Defender for O365 Plan 1 protects your users from incoming virus or malware via email. The advanced anti spam/virus/phishing engine will scan all incoming email for any malicious content. This is recommended as an add on for all Business Basic, Standard, E1 and E3 subscriptions.

Malwarebytes EndPoint Protection

From our experience, especially for businesses in Asia, Malwarebytes offers by far the most effective antivirus protection for Laptops/Desktops and Servers. Malwarebytes is 100% managed in the cloud and Detects and blocks ransomware from encrypting files using signature-less behavioral monitoring technology. Identifies entire families of known malware by using a combination of heuristic and behavioral rules.

From our experience, we have seen Malwarebytes detect and protect customers data where other antivirus solutions such as Symantec, Kaspersky and others failed to detect the infection.

More information here: https://accessorange.com/malwarebytes/

If you want to know more about Defender for Office 365 or Malwarebytes, please contact our sales team at [email protected] or chat with us via our website chat.

Stay safe!

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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.

Read more
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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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