It seems that there’s no end in sight when it comes to price increases at present and Microsoft are the latest to follow this trend. They have announced they will be performing “price harmonisation” in 2023 – where they will be bringing local currency pricing in line with US Dollar (USD) pricing and this is due to come into effect on the 1st April 2023.
Microsoft have stated that they will align the pricing of its Microsoft Cloud products globally, providing customers with “consistent pricing” that reflects the exchange rate of the local currency to the US dollar (USD). The pricing for Microsoft Cloud products will be adjusted in different currencies including the EUR zone, which will see a +11% impact.
As of a result of this change, Microsoft say that it will be able to regularly assess pricing in local currency as part of a twice-a-year cadence, taking into consideration currency fluctuations relative to the USD.
Future Impact
Those of you with long-term contracts such as Enterprise Agreements won’t be affected until your renewal (or if you add new products during that term) but now is the time to start planning how this will alter budgets over the next few years as it appears the pricing is set to stay at the higher rate into the future. Also, don’t forget the O365/M365 price increases that had an impact last year (in March 2022) – they will now be coming up for renewal and if you were to take out an “annual commitment” to those licenses, you may stave off the +11% increase for another year… so feel free to contact us to discuss your licensing needs.