Microsoft has announced their intention to increase Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) pricing as of January 2018, along with a pre-announcement for January 2019. Costs for Microsoft enterprise customers will increase by up to 13% for computer software and 22% for online cloud and hosted services, where the company hosts a customer’s data in a virtual storage centre.
Microsoft is one of the biggest sellers of business software in the UK. Its cloud service, Azure, sells access to vast computing power and is used by customers across the government and business spectrum including the Ministry of Defence.*
These price increases will affect consumers and businesses right across the UK. The key price changes are summarised below.
Effective January 1st, 2018, monthly pricing for the following products will increase by:
- 10% increase: Windows related products.
- 5% increase: Core Infrastructure Server (CIS) Suite Standard Processor (Legacy Processor license)**
- 7% increase: CIS Suite Datacentre Processor (Legacy Processor license)**
- 10% increase: SQL Std, Enterprise, Web CORE Licensing and SQL SAL.
In January 2019 a further increase is expected that will affect the following products:
- Between 10-15% increase: Windows related products.
- 5% increase: Core Infrastructure Server (CIS) Suite Standard CORE Licensing.
- 7% CIS Suite Datacentre CORE licensing.
At Synergy Technology we appreciate that price increases are not welcome news yet they are often beyond our control to avoid. We are keen to work closely with you and your business to minimise the impact of these changes. We also expect the ripple effect from these price increases from Microsoft to spread through most of the major software applications and hosting services across the UK that are designed and developed on an infrastructure of Microsoft systems. Therefore there could be some additional minor price adjustments to the majority of business software applications and services.
The actual new pricing will not be advertised until one month prior to availability. As soon as the price list is available from Microsoft we will be able to then determine the impact on Microsoft products and how it will also affect the pricing of other business applications.
Never-the-less this may be a chance to review the way you purchase or lease your business software and your business may benefit from moving to a different licensing model. It is also an opportunity to reassess how your business systems are hosted and delivered.
If you have any questions regarding the price increases please contact Synergy Technology on 0345 456 0050.
*Details derived from The Telegraph 23rd October 2017
**Applicable only to customers with rights to report Legacy SKUs
