The Microsoft New Commerce Experience (NCE) has been designed to reduce complexity when it comes to managing and licensing applications. But what does this mean for organizations?
NCE provides organizations with greater flexibility and control over their Microsoft applications and programs. Additionally, organizations can leverage the new platform to increase revenue predictability while reducing both time and effort spent on complex licensing tasks.
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What is the Microsoft New Commerce Experience (NCE)?
This ‘per seat’ model for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Windows 365, and Power Platform subscriptions offers resellers new tools to streamline subscription management and make it simpler.
NCE provides greater flexibility and control over the applications an organization uses, as well as improved revenue predictability. Additionally, it reduces time spent on complex licensing tasks, allowing companies to focus their resources on strategic initiatives.
NCE is designed to make it easier than ever before for organizations to purchase, manage, and use Microsoft applications. It provides a single platform through which customers can easily find the right Microsoft products and services for their business needs. This new platform also offers resellers an improved customer experience with greater visibility into their customers’ Microsoft subscriptions.
What new features and changes can customers expect with the Microsoft New Commerce Experience (NCE) for Cloud Solution Providers (CSP)?
The Microsoft New Commerce Experience (NCE) offers customers a range of new features and enhancements to the CSP program. Some key additions include:
New Cancellation Options and Enforcement
Customers now have the ability to cancel a seat-based subscription and prevent access immediately instead of suspending it.
New Cancellation Policy:
- First 168 hours (7 days) of any term: prorated refund (proration calculated daily).
- After the first 168 hours of any term: no cancellation is available and the partner is billed for a full term, even if the customer stops paying for or using the subscription (applicable to any billing plans).
- If seats are added mid-term, the same 168-hour policy applies to any reduction of those additional seats.
New Monthly-Term Subscriptions
Customers now have the option of purchasing subscriptions with a monthly term instead of only an annual term. The new monthly option is priced 20% higher than annual term subscriptions for the same offer (does not apply to Windows 365). Customers can cancel or reduce seats at the end of any month’s term with no further payment obligation.
Subscriptions for Windows 365
Customers now have the option of purchasing subscriptions with monthly and annual terms in the new commerce experience. Monthly term offers are not subject to New Commerce premium pricing, and annual term offers are discounted 10% compared to monthly).
Further, Customers can cancel or reduce seats after any month’s term with no additional payment obligation. This is Ideal for customers with an elastic workforce, allowing an increase or reduction of seats in any month.
The table below highlights all of of what’s new for Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and Windows 365 in NCE for CSP:
New feature/change | Legacy Experience | New Commerce Experience (NCE) | Impact and Benefits |
| Multi-year billing plans | Partners selling multi-year subscriptions must pay monthly or upfront. | Partners can also be billed annually for multi-year subscriptions. | Additional option to accommodate customers’ payment preferences. |
| Price list integration via API | Not available | Partner APIs can read monthly pricing lists instead of partner processing lists manually. | Easier automation of offer pricing within partners’ sales and billing systems. |
| Reconciliation file upgrades | Partners receive separate recon files once each month for license- and usage-based subscriptions. | All subscriptions are consolidated into a single recon file. Estimates of charges accrued during the month are provided and updated hourly. | Increased accounting efficiency and options for partners in customer billing. |
| Subscription ownership enforcement | Customers could buy from different partners to aggregate instances of the same SMB offer and buy multiple free trials. | SKU limits will be enforced across multiple subscriptions and customer tenants, preventing, for example, a customer from purchasing multiple lower-cost SMB SKUs from different partners. | Prevents customers from “gaming” the system and ensures that partners will be able to maximize the revenue from each customer. |
| Add-ons sold separately from base offers | Add-ons could only be purchased based on a prerequisite offer from the same partner. Add-ons not included in the catalog but only as subordinate options of the base subscription. | Add-ons discoverable in the catalog with prerequisite SKUs displayed. Prerequisite subscriptions purchased from other partners or channels are accepted to enable add-on purchase. | More flexibility and ease of purchasing for partners and customers, along with upsell opportunities for partners. Customer has flexibility to buy add-ons from the source that serves them best. |
| Ability to schedule changes at subscription renewal | Not available | Partner can schedule different seat counts, SKU conversions, term-length renewal changes, renewals to different billing option. | Allows partner to manage subscriptions in advance instead of performing manual changes at renewal. Improves operational efficiency. |
| Automatic seat assignment with full upgrade | Only available with SMB SKUs. | Seats can also be assigned automatically at upgrade with Enterprise-level SKUs. | Easier and more efficient subscription management for larger customers. |
| Auto-renewal toggle option | Subscriptions are auto-renewed by default at end of annual term. | Partner can toggle auto-renewal and submit renewal manually. | Easier to manage renewals and plan ahead for subscriptions that will be terminating. |
| Promotions pricing transparency | No automatic notification of customers when promotional reduced pricing is included in a CSP transaction. | Government and state-owned entity customers will receive an email notification from Microsoft with details on the promotional discount and why that pricing was offered in the sale. | Provides price and discount transparency to these customers and supports anti-corruption regulations. Prepares customers to understand this alongside partner pricing. |
| Coterminosity functionality | Partner could not align term end dates of a customer’s subscriptions | Partner can set a custom term end date for new or renewing new commerce subscriptions that groups some or all of a customer’s subscriptions to renew on the same date. | Enables consistent invoicing, streamlines customer billing, and allows add-ons purchased separately to have the same term end date as the base/prerequisite offer. |
Apex makes Microsoft licensing simpler than ever
Navigating the ecosystem of Microsoft cloud services can be a complex and expensive process. Discover the Microsoft cloud services you need with Apex Digital Solutions. Our CSP program provides businesses access to simplified billing, painless license management, and a team of professionals behind them all ensuring they maximize their investments in cost-effective ways.
Optimize your Microsoft licensing investments with the help of an experienced, certified managed partner.
Simplify Microsoft licensing with the Cloud Solution Provider program
Optimize your Microsoft licensing investments with the help of Apex Digital Solutions, an experienced, certified managed partner.