Microsoft announces licensing changes for Microsoft 365, Office 365 and Teams in EEA and Switzerland

Microsoft has recently announced some important changes that will affect the licensing of Microsoft 365, Office 365 and Teams in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. These changes will take effect on October 1, 2023 and are aimed at meeting the needs of customers and addressing the concerns raised by the European Commission. In this blog post, we will explain what these changes are and how they will impact your business.

What are the changes?

The main changes that Microsoft has announced are as follows:

• Microsoft will introduce a new range of commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 packages in these regions that do not include Teams.
• Microsoft will introduce a new separate Teams offer for Enterprise customers (Microsoft Teams EEA).
• Existing subscribers can continue to use, renew and add licenses to their current packages as usual. Or they can switch to the new range at their anniversary date or upon renewal.
• New Enterprise Suite subscribers who want to provide Teams to their end users will have to purchase two SKUs: one EEA Microsoft 365 or Office 365 package and Microsoft Teams EEA.

Why are these changes happening?

Microsoft has stated that these changes are a result of its ongoing dialogue with the European Commission, which has expressed some concerns about the potential impact of Teams on competition in the online communication and collaboration market. Microsoft has also said that these changes are designed to give customers more choice and flexibility in how they license Microsoft 365, Office 365 and Teams.

How will these changes affect you?

If you are an existing subscriber of Enterprise Suites (Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Office 365 E1/E3/E5) in the EEA or Switzerland, you can continue to use your current package as usual until your next anniversary date or renewal. At that point, you can decide whether to stay with your current package or switch to the new range. If you switch to the new range, you will have to purchase a separate SKU for Teams if you want to use it.

If you are a new subscriber of Enterprise Suites (Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Office 365 E1/E3/E5) in the EEA or Switzerland, you will have to choose from the new range of packages that do not include Teams. If you want to use Teams, you will have to purchase a separate SKU for it.

If you are an existing subscriber of Business Suites or Frontline Suites, you can continue of using those as they exist today.

If you are a new subscriber of Business Suites or Frontline Suites, you will be able to choose between the existing suites with Teams included, or the new EEA-specific versions of those suites without Teams.

Where can you find more information?

You can find more details about these changes on the Microsoft website. You can also contact us for more guidance and support. We hope this blog post has helped you understand the licensing changes for Microsoft 365, Office 365 and Teams in the EEA and Switzerland. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave us a message via our contact form below. Thank you for reading!