Teams dropped from Microsoft 365 and Office 365 worldwide

Microsoft Shakes Up Licensing

Big changes are coming to Microsoft 365 and Teams licensing, effective April 1st. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know:

More Flexibility for Customers: Microsoft is introducing new options that allow businesses to purchase Teams separately from the core Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites. This caters to companies who might already have productivity tools but need the collaboration features of Teams.

Existing Customers Unaffected: The good news is current Microsoft 365 users can keep using their existing plans. Renewals, upgrades, and adding licenses will all work as usual.

Changes for New Enterprise Customers (Outside Europe): New Enterprise customers outside of Europe will see the biggest shift. The existing bundled suites that included Teams are being retired for new signups. Instead, these businesses will need to purchase two separate licenses: one for Teams and another for the core productivity apps (excluding Teams).

Business and Frontline Customers Keep Options: Microsoft 365 Business and Frontline users can breathe easy! The current suites with Teams will still be available alongside the new versions without Teams. This gives these customers the choice that best suits their needs.

The goal of these changes seems to be offering more customer choice and simplifying the licensing structure. Here is a quote from the Microsoft blog regarding the change: “Globally consistent licensing helps ensure clarity for customers and streamline decision making and negotiations. To that end, we are now updating the way Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Teams are licensed outside of Europe in keeping with the recent changes in the EEA. Starting today, we are introducing 1) a new lineup of commercial Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites that do not include Teams in regions outside the EEA and Switzerland, and 2) a new standalone Teams offering for Enterprise customers in those regions.”