What you need to know about a 3-year subscription for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5

Only ‘E’

Under the MCA via a CSP partner, customers can (now) choose between a one-month, one-year, or three-year subscription. However, the three-year subscription is only available for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 and the Microsoft 365 E5 Security and Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance Suite. It is not available for Microsoft 365 Business Premium (choose 1 month or 1 year).

Price protection

The price is fixed for the duration of the subscription. For a monthly subscription, this is one month. With the 3-year subscriptions for Microsoft 365 E3 and E5, customers receive a fixed price (known as ‘price protection’) for three years. This is advantageous. When adding licenses to the subscription, these new licenses are priced at the same rate and invoicing is carried out on a pro rata basis.
A disadvantage of the 3-year subscription is that the number of licenses cannot be reduced during the term. The subscription cannot be terminated prematurely (for the CSP partner).

If you want flexibility, you can opt for an 80% 3-year subscription and a 20% 1-month subscription, for example. This offers price stability for the majority of cloud expenses and flexibility at a slightly higher price.

Payment

The payment term for CSP partners is upfront for three years or annually. In most cases, CSP partners offer customers the same payment options. Three-year subscriptions for Microsoft 365 E3/E5 are not available with a monthly payment option.

Minimum purchase

The 3-year subscriptions can only be purchased with a minimum purchase of 100 licenses per product (SKU: Stock Keeping Unit = product number). A combination of 60 Microsoft 365 E3 and 40 Microsoft 365 E5 does not meet the minimum requirements.

Teams

When renewing a monthly or annual subscription to a 3-year subscription, customers may retain Teams. This is despite the fact that this is contrary to Microsoft’s own terms of use, which state that new subscriptions may only be purchased without Teams.

For you?

If you think a 3-year subscription to Microsoft 365 E3 or Microsoft 365 E5 could be beneficial for your organization, please feel free to contact us. At Quexcel, we offer Microsoft licensing advice, but we can also supply the subscriptions if desired.