Latest Microsoft licensing updates | May 2024
A few days after Microsoft announced their insane Earnings Report Q3 (you can read more about this here), it’s time to share the latest the updates for May 2024 to Microsoft’s Product Terms and Online Services. Updates include changes to D365, Azure, M365, Entra ID, Power Platform, GitHub and more.
Dynamics 365 – New pricing announced
On October 1st, 2024, Microsoft will launch their updated pricelist for Dynamics 365. This is the first pricing update since they changed to the latest licensing model over 5 years ago.
The reason for this price increase is the large number of features that have steadily been added to the platform over the past years. Both the cloud services and the on-premises products from the D365 line-up will be subject to price increases. So if you’re a new or a renewing customer, please note that after October 1st your prices might be higher than you’re currently used to!
It can make sense to do one of the below:
- Renew early – Do an early commitment for your current contract. Make sure you lock in the old price levels as long as possible! Any contract that still has some time left will not be able to renew before this time, but you can request to commit early for when your renewal does come up.
- Discuss a not-to-exceed price for your licenses – If you are afraid that when your contract expires you will be left with a large price increase, ask Microsoft to put in writing that your prices cannot exceed a certain percentage.
Alternatively: If you are renewing a few months after October 1st, you can always request Microsoft to make the exception of using the prior months pricelist (September 2024) for your Dynamics 365 case. You should have a strong argument why you require this, but it’s not unheard of!
Entra ID multi-tenant organization platform capabilities – generally available!
A while ago, I wrote about multi-tenant options for decentralized organizations and how Microsoft is investing in the collaboration options between these tenants in the September 2023 newsletter. This has now been brought to General Availability.
Microsoft states that it has been released for organizations that have “recently acquired a new company, merged with another company, or restructured with newly formed business units […] You can now use Entra ID multi-tenant organizations to improve the cross-tenant collaboration experience in Microsoft Teams and Viva Engage. The capabilities are now generally available with Microsoft Entra ID P1 in the M365 commercial cloud.”
From a licensing perspective, this requires you to have Entra ID P1 licenses for your users. This license is then shared between the different tenants for your multi-tenant organization. Be aware though that you need to set up your company as a multi-tenant organization as well. For more information on tenant collaboration, visit these websites:
- Blog announcement by Microsoft
- Microsoft learn page about Multitenant organizations
If your organization consists of many different tenants, you might want to take a closer look!
Microsoft Product Terms May 2024
Microsoft 365
- Entra ID Governance for Frontline workers added to the availability table. The license prerequisites table was also updated with this product. You need an M365 F1/F3 license to be able to buy this. There is also a Step-up available if you already have the Entra ID F2 license.
- Viva Pulse added to the availability table and the license prerequisites table. It requires an M365 license (Business or Enterprise) or a O365 license. According to Microsoft, Viva Pulse enables team leads to send brief surveys using research-backed templates to get a snapshot of team sentiment and act on feedback
- The License Eligibility clause for Frontline workers was updated to add Entra ID Governance.
Azure
- Microsoft added Azure AI Studio terms – Azure AI Studio is a service that brings together capabilities from multiple Azure AI services. The product terms for this suite of products is governed by (but not limited to) Azure Machine Learning and Azure AI Services specific terms. Any non-Microsoft products used through Azure AI Studio are subject to the terms of that party.
- Azure Databricks – Any third-party models that Microsoft makes available in Azure Databricks are deemed Non-Microsoft Products.
- SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc (added April 9th) – A large update about SQL Server through Azure Arc has been released. This states:
- Outsourcing Software Management clause is not applicable to SQL Server through Azure Arc. If you have Servers covered through a license with SA or a subscription license OR with physical core licensing with unlimited virtualization instead of PAYG through Azure, you are only allowed to run SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc on your own devices or Servers that are under the day-to-day management of Authorized Outsourcers.
- If you’re using SQL Server enabled by Azure Arc with physical core licensing under a pay-as-you-go subscription, an Enterprise edition license with Software Assurance, or an Enterprise edition subscription license you may run any number of instances of the software in any number of OSEs on the Licensed Server.
- Regarding Fail-over Server licensing, you are entitled to one Fail-over OSE for any purpose and two Fail-over OSEs for disaster recovery purposes. One on any Server and one in Azure, this is subject to the ratio of Qualified licenses to Azure vCores. There is an 8 core licenses minimum. You may also do recovery testing for a period of 90 days.
Power Platform
- Microsoft added Power Automate Process and Power Automate Hosted Process to the availability tables. They removed the Power Automate Hosted RPA Add-on. This is a rebrand. Finally, the Data Use and Access Abuse clause listed below was removed from the Product Terms:
Data Use and Access for Abuse Monitoring
As part of providing Power BI capabilities powered by the Azure OpenAI service, Microsoft will process and store Inputs and Output Content, solely for debugging and to monitor for and prevent abusive or harmful uses or outputs of the service. Authorized Microsoft employees may review such data that has triggered our automated systems to investigate and verify potential abuse.
GitHub
- GitHub AE GHEM and GitHub Insights removed from the EA and EAS availability table.
Privacy and Security terms
- Azure communication services was added to the list of Core Azure Services. This is mainly relevant to understanding how these are covered from an Online Services Terms perspective.
Azure Hardware Terms
- Microsoft added language for the use of Azure Operator Nexus. This is specifically developed for Telecommunications Service Providers:
[This] is a carrier-grade hybrid cloud platform built for mission-critical mobile network applications. Simplify provisioning of new network services and optimize deployment of network functions and applications on premises. Run network-intensive workloads and mission-critical apps with resiliency, security, observability, and high performance.
Reach out today
As always, I hope you have found this update useful. If you have any questions about anything in this update, or about Microsoft licensing in general, do not hesitate to reach out. Leave a comment below, hit the contact button or send me an email directly at floris.klaver@licenseq.com.
