Microsoft New Commerce Experience: Renewed momentum for partner business

Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience transforms the way customers transact with Microsoft. “There is a great opportunity to capitalize on what the Microsoft cloud has to offer by accelerating business growth, improving the ability for customers to adopt the cloud, simplifying models and offering choices in how customers prefer to shop,” said Jose Sabate, Director of Distribution Channels LATAM at Microsoft.

Beginning this year, a new standardization of offers and terms provides customers with a wider selection, and flexibility on how and where to buy. For partners, the new process provides greater opportunity to sell or upsell to a broader set of new and existing customers.

“The Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program is the core foundation of the new commerce experience for partners, and they remarked that they are excited to bring seat-based offerings to the new commerce experience for CSPs” Sabate added. In that sense, this program will completely change their business rules. These types of offerings are being added to Microsoft’s new commerce platform with new functionality, capabilities and policies that differ from the existing offerings available in CSP.

Among the most important aspects, the channel should know that every new transaction will be done through New Commerce, which according to Sabate “is like a big step ahead of Microsoft in its evolution towards a new unified commerce experience”.

In addition, after 72 hours, no cancellation will be available, and the partner will be billed for the full period, even if the customer stops paying or using the subscription (applicable to any billing plan). If seats are added mid-term, the same 72-hour policy will apply for any additional seat reductions (support request required). The number of licenses purchased cannot be decreased during the term of the contract (monthly, annual or three-year), and auto-renewals will take list value at the time of renewal, and you will have 72 hours to cancel one.

As for the new underwriting policies, the possibilities are:

Monthly subscription

  • Customers will be able to change the number of licenses month to month at renewal to decrease.
  • Customers may increase amounts at any time during the month.
  • 20% more expensive than the ANNUAL subscription.
  • Price protection for 1 month.
  • Billing option: Monthly

Annual subscription

  • The number of licenses can be increased, but not decreased.
  • Price protection for 12 months.
  • Billing option: Monthly (with ANNUAL commitment) or Annual in advance.

3-year subscription

  • The number of licenses can be increased, but not decreased.
  • Price protection for 36 months.
  • Billing option: monthly, annually or 3 years in advance. In all cases the commitment is for 36 months.

“Our partners play a critical role and have influence in helping customers digitally transform, regardless of where the customer is in their process and how they choose to negotiate with Microsoft,” says Daniela De Felice, Microsoft BDM at Licencias OnLine.

Daniela De Felice, Microsoft BDM at Licencias OnLineDaniela De Felice, Microsoft BDM at Licencias OnLine

In this way, they ensure that with the new trading platform, business partners can drive growth through:

  • Expansion of your business with continuous sales.
  • The development of a lasting business through value-added services.
  • Reducing costs while accelerating customer success.

Microsoft is making important changes in its business model, and in the way resellers sell to and interact with their customers. As a result, it is extremely important to have tools that allow control over the resources that are provisioned in customer environments. “At Licencias OnLine, we want the transition to the New Commerce Experience to have the least possible impact in terms of resource management. To this end, we adapted our SmartHub platform to the new New Commerce Experience model so that all resellers can have greater autonomy in the management of their clients’ resources, from provisioning and modification, to pause and cancellation of license seats,” explains De Felice.

SmartHub is the new e-Commerce platform developed by the wholesale distributor that presents itself as an intelligent business hub. Focused on the user experience, it provides a solution for invoicing, payment, administration and management of orders, quotations and subscriptions. In addition, it helps partners make data-driven business decisions, and will soon provide digital marketing tools for partners to access customizable content to easily generate demand.

“Today more than ever it is important that resellers can count on their distributor to be able to face all the changes that Microsoft will implement throughout 2022, and at Licencias OnLine we want to be that alliance that allows them to face the changes in the best way, absorbing uncertainty, supporting the sale with the end customer and making known all the self-management tools that the reseller can have available to facilitate the operation of the New Commerce Experience,” he concludes.