It isn’t an April fool’s joke, it is very real. In November 2022 Microsoft announced that starting 2023 they will work with a global US Dollar price list for their cloud offerings. They also announced that on a semi-annual basis they will adjust local currency prices based on the FX currency exchange rates.
April 1st 2023 is the first date this comes into effect and below are the price adjustment rates for the European region (note, this includes the United Kingdom):
Some specifics to know:
- Perpetual licenses will not be affected (e.g., Windows Servers, Exchange Server, Office Professional Plus, Windows Enterprise 11 on-prem)
- Customers with a running agreement with price protection (such as the Enterprise Agreement, Open Value (Subscription) Company Wide) benefit from price protection for previously ordered products and those products will not receive the new, higher price under that Agreement
- Customers with a Microsoft Customer Agreement (seat based offers, such as Office 365, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365) do have price protection during the term of their subscription. Only at renewal of their subscription after April 1st or when they start a new subscription after April 1st, they will receive new pricing
- Azure Plan through the Microsoft Customer Agreement is already priced in US Dollar with a monthly new price list and will not be affected
- Price adjustments apply to commercial, governmental and educational customers
Because there is a (maximum) semi-annual price adjustment, this means that during 2023 there can be another update. This could be another price increase, but a decrease is also possible if the US Dollar – local currency exchange rates change in the benefit of the local currency. Microsoft will announce such adjustments in a timely manner.
Might you need additional information, please contact one of the Quexcel licensing consultants.