1 March 2022

March monthly news

Welcome to our first cloud news update of 2022. It’s been a busy start to the year, so there’s plenty to tell you about, including new offers, product updates and resolved issues.

And, if you need a reminder on how to take advantage of all our expert support and resources, we’ll cover that as well.

We’ll be back soon with another batch of cloud news and dates for your diary. If you need help with anything before then, please get in touch.

Who you gonna call?

Been having any issues recently with the Teams Phone with Calling Plan SKU?

Plenty of partners were having problems in January adding it to existing subscriptions. Thankfully, Microsoft soon stepped in to sort everything out.

Teams Phone with Calling Plan can now be added to any Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription that includes Microsoft Teams. Take a look at Microsoft’s announcements page for more details, including the full list of eligible packages, and get in touch with us if you continue experiencing any issues.

Check out Microsoft’s February 2022 announcements

Time to say goodbye

Here’s an update to make you feel old. Azure is thirteen. It’s a teenager. Or, given that software years are more like dog years, some of Azure’s bells and whistles are ready for a one-way trip to the vet.

Features like AD Connect and AD Graph are being put out to pasture in the next few months.

So, get ahead of the curve and start talking to your clients about migrating to the most up-to-date versions of all their Azure software solutions.

Get started by visiting the Azure updates page to see what’s going. Select ‘Retirements’ from the Update type dropdown on the right. Then select 2022.

See which Azure features are getting a retirement party this year

More money, more problems?

Has it really been six months since those historic Microsoft 365 price rises were announced?

It must be, as the cost of a subscription has gone up again since Microsoft broke the news back in August. Now the new prices are here, and if they’ve annoyed your clients, we’re here to help.

We can give you some tips on objection handling, but the best place to start is with Microsoft’s original announcement. It covers all the cool new features they’ve added in the past few years, and how 365 is now even better placed to support this new hybrid working world.

Read Microsoft’s blog on the 365 price rises

Centre of attention

It’s been subject to a few delays, but Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience (NCE) is up and running.

 

You’ve probably seen us talking all over the place about what this new way of purchasing licences means for you and your customers.

 

We’ve produced factsheets, FAQs, webinars and podcasts about what to expect from the NCE. So many resources, in fact, that we thought we’d better put them all in one handy place.

 

Check out our NCE Centre if there’s anything you’re still unsure of. And keep coming back as well, as we’ll be adding more useful stuff there as time goes on.

 

Take a look around our NCE Centre

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Got a topic for us to cover next month?

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