Important updates for Microsoft CSP Partners

 
 

News
30 nov 23 Författare: Kjeld Larsen

We’d like to remind you of recent announcements from Microsoft and upcoming changes for Microsoft CSP Partners. This includes the next steps for the migration of legacy CSP offers to Microsoft New Commerce.

  • From January 2024, commercial offers in legacy CSP will renew to New Commerce.
  • From July 2024, public offers (education and nonprofit offers) will renew to New Commerce.
  • Expired offers in legacy will not become available in New Commerce and will retire on the renewal date.
  • Since October 2023, new subscriptions of Microsoft Enterprise Suites no longer include Teams.
  • From April 2024, Microsoft introduce minimum revenue requirement for Indirect CSP Partners.

In this blogpost, we will walk through the details, and we welcome you to watch our Microsoft Monthly CSP Update - December Click here to watch the recording 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have any immediate questions, please consult your Microsoft Account Team within TD SYNNEX. Please make sure all stakeholders in your company are aware of these changes, and to communicate to customers impacted.

From January 2024, commercial offers in legacy CSP will renew to New Commerce.

As announced in July 2023, Microsoft will start migrating all CSP commercial subscriptions that remain in the legacy system to new commerce starting in January 2024.

  • This Microsoft-led migration will occur on the date of subscription renewal, starting with all subscriptions set to renew on January 11, 2024, and continuing throughout the calendar year 2024 and into 2025 with no actions required from the partner.
  • Although no actions are required from the partner, we do recommend partners to manage their customers' migrations proactively to ensure customers have the terms that best align with their business needs.
  • Almost all legacy subscriptions are annual terms, but some partners have been reselling them to customers as monthly terms. All legacy subscriptions that Microsoft migrates to new commerce will be set to an annual term with the same billing plan and seat counts that the customers had in legacy.
  • Some legacy subscriptions have three-year terms. These are also be included in the migration to three-year new commerce subscription terms.
  • Partners will have seven days after migration is complete to change the subscription term or quantity, or to cancel the subscription if necessary. After the seven days, customers will be locked in the full annual term if no other action is taken.
  • If customers prefer monthly subscription terms, we recommend migrating to New Commerce before their legacy subscriptions expire in 2024.
  • If customers prefer annual subscription terms, we recommend migrating to New Commerce before their legacy subscriptions expire in 2024 and change payment terms to annual billing. This will minimize the financial risk for you as partner.
  • Some commercial offers won’t be migrated to New Commerce and will retire on the renewal date. Please consult the CSP Offer Retirement Guide for details.
  • For Office 365 and Microsoft 365 Enterprise Plans, please make sure to use the migration feature in StreamOne. Do not cancel the old, legacy subscription and purchase as a new subscription in New Commerce. If doing so, the new subscription will not include Teams.
  • You can find the list of all subscriptions and renewal dates in StreamOne reporting, and in Microsoft Lighthouse Sales Advisor. You may also consult your TD SYNNEX Account Team for more guidance.

From July 2024, public offers (education and nonprofit offers) will renew to New Commerce.

From January 2024, public offers (education and nonprofit offers) will become available in New Commerce, and Microsoft will start migrating all public offer subscriptions that remain in the legacy system to new commerce from July 2024.

We encourage CSP partners with education and nonprofit customers to prioritize migrating their customers from legacy to new commerce during the months of January through June 2024, before Microsoft-led migration begins in July.

  • This Microsoft-led migration effort will begin with offers renewing on July 1, 2024, and will continue with all offers renewing throughout the calendar years 2024 and 2025.
  • Microsoft plans to migrate the education and nonprofit offers that remain in the legacy system to new commerce on the offer renewal date.
  • All legacy offers that Microsoft migrates will be set to annual terms by default. Partners will have seven days after migration is complete to change the subscription term, quantity or cancel the subscription if necessary.
  • Microsoft will launch the CSP education and nonprofit offers in New Commerce in four monthly waves starting January 1st, 2024.
  • By April 1st, 2024, all education and nonprofit offers will be available in New Commerce.
  • Some education and nonprofit offers won’t be migrated to New Commerce and will retire on the renewal date. Please consult the CSP Offer Retirement Guide for details.
  • There are a small number of CSP offers that have a different price in the new commerce system. The price partners pay can also be impacted by FX rates, depending on regional FX rate fluctuations.
  • Please plan with your Microsoft Account Team within TD SYNNEX the migration plan for education and nonprofit offers.

Retired offers in legacy will not become available in New Commerce and will expire on the renewal date.

Some legacy offers are retired and no longer available for purchase. Many of the retired offers were intended to be short-term price points (promotions) or are SKUs that are no longer supported.

Those offers won’t be migrated to New Commerce and subscription will expire on the renewal date.  Partners who need similar services to retired offers should consult with their customers to decide which new commerce product SKUs serve their customers’ needs.

  • Partners can view which offers are scheduled to be retired in the CSP Offer Retirement Guide. The guide will be updated monthly starting the first week of January.
  • The CSP Offer Retirement Guide includes offer IDs to be retired, the dates after which renewals stop and guidance for partners.

Since October 2023, new subscriptions of Microsoft Enterprise Suites no longer include Teams.

Effective October 1, 2023, Microsoft have made changes to the lineup of Microsoft 365, Office 365 and Microsoft Teams SKUs in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Changes are made in response to feedback from the European Commission (EC).

  • Starting October 1, 2023, Microsoft has introduced a new lineup of commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in the EEA and Switzerland that don't include Teams, and a new standalone Teams offering for Enterprise customers.
  • Existing customers in the EEA and Switzerland who wish to continue using the suites to which they have already subscribed can continue to use, renew, and add seats to their current plans as usual.
  • All existing subscriptions with Teams in legacy CSP will renew to New Commerce starting in January. All Microsoft-led migrations to NCE will continue to include Teams.
  • If you choose to migrate to New Commerce before the renewal date, please make sure to use the migration option in StreamOne. Do not cancel the legacy subscription and purchase a new subscription in New Commerce. If doing so, the new subscription will not include Teams.
  • For SMB and Frontline suites (Business Basic/Standard/Premium, Microsoft 365 F1, Microsoft 365 F3, Office 365 F3), Microsoft will continue to offer the SKU including Teams alongside the new versions without Teams.
  • For customer questions, please refer to this blog post and the licensing blog post.
  • Find a customer presentation here and watch this recorded briefing to learn how to talk about this with customers.

New minimum revenue requirement for Indirect CSP Partners.

As announced in October 2023, Microsoft will implement a minimum revenue requirement for existing Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) indirect resellers beginning in April 2024. Meeting the requirement will be a prerequisite for the resellers' continued CSP authorization.

  • As of April 1, 2024, if a reseller's trailing-12-months (TTM) revenue for their CSP tenant is less than USD1000 as of the anniversary month of the tenant's activation, the tenant will be subject to termination and the partner will no longer be authorized as an indirect reseller in CSP.
  • Eligible TTM revenue includes perpetual software and is based on the amounts billed to the reseller's indirect provider for transactions assigned to the reseller.
  • The requirement doesn't apply until after March 2024 to resellers that onboarded to their CSP tenant after April 1, 2023. Likewise, newly enrolling resellers won't need to meet the requirement as a precondition of onboarding.
  • Starting in January 2024, indirect resellers and their indirect provider(s) will be notified 90 days in advance of reseller's onboarding anniversary month if the indirect reseller isn't meeting the revenue requirement, enabling the indirect reseller to meet the requirement.
  • After deauthorization, the reseller must wait at least one year before re-enrolling for indirect reseller status.
  • For more details on the requirement and its enforcement, download the reseller Frequently asked questions (FAQ) (partner login required).
  • If you as Indirect Reseller are impacted by the new threshold, please engage with your Microsoft Account Team within TD SYNNEX to build a plan, how to meet the requirements, or how to make sure, your customers will not be impacted by the deauthorization.

Next steps

  • Collaborate with your Microsoft Account Team within TD SYNNEX to plan for a successful migration plan for any remaining customers in legacy CSP.
  • Consult the CSP Offer Retirement Guide to learn about any retiring offers no longer available in CSP, and plan for best possible replacement with your customers.
  • Direct your legacy CSP customers to this licensing blog post to learn about the migration to New Commerce.
  • Register for our Monthly CSP Update December 12th for more details and the option to ask questions.

If you have any immediate questions, please consult your Microsoft Account Team within TD SYNNEX