Microsoft announced her new lineup of license updates in October 2023 for the regions in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland after concerns were raised by the European Commission. To read more on the licensing update and pricing for EEA and Switzerland regions
The new lineup has now been extended to regions outside EEA and Switzerland. On April 1, 2024, the news on the licensing update on Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites was released. This means that going forward for regions outside the EEA and Switzerland, Microsoft has introduced Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites that do not include Microsoft Teams. The chat-based workspace and hub for teamwork “Microsoft Teams” will be a new standalone offering going forward.
Let’s break this down – What does this mean?
| For existing customers | For new customers |
| Existing customers who wish to continue using SKUs to which they have already subscribed can continue to use, renew, upgrade, and add licenses to their current plans. If an existing customer wishes to switch to the new lineup of suites without Teams, they can do so on their contract anniversary or renewal | Net new subscribers to Office/Microsoft 365 Enterprise suites outside the EEA and Switzerland who wish to provide their end users with Teams will need to purchase two SKUs: Microsoft Teams Enterprise, plus either Microsoft 365 (no Teams) or Office 365 (no Teams) suite. |
The new lineup offering of Microsoft 365, Office 365 and Microsoft Teams SKUs worldwide would be as listed below
Introduce new suites without Teams, which are named the same as the existing suites plus “(no Teams).” The “no Teams” suites will be in the following offers:
Microsoft 365 E3/E5, Office 365 E1/E3/E5
Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Business Standard, Business Basic
Microsoft 365 F1/F3, Office 365 F3
Introduce a new standalone Teams SKU for Enterprise: Microsoft Teams Enterprise
End the sale of net-new subscriptions to all existing Enterprise SKUs with Teams (Office 365 E1/E3/E5 and Microsoft 365 E3/E5)
Continue to offer existing SMB and Frontline suites with Teams (Business Basic/Standard/Premium, MF1, MF3, OF31) alongside the new versions without Teams
Of course, there would be lots of questions around licensing from organizations – don’t worry much because Microsoft has provided a short training video to help you.
More information on the licensing update!