14 DAY TRIAL // Office 365 is rapidly growing in popularity, so Microsoft has decided to release three new plans in order to better address customers' needs, thus trying to sign more small and midsized businesses for its productivity suite.
Redmond today announced that on October 1, 2014, it would launch a total of three new subscription plans that would vary in terms of Office applications and price, with the company emphasizing that all have been specifically developed based on feedback received from SMB customers.
Office 365 Business will include full Office applications, namely Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Publisher, and 1TB of OneDrive for Business to share documents using Windows PCs, Macs, iPads, Windows tablets and smartphones.
Office 365 Business Essentials, on the other hand, will boast “the core cloud services for running your business – business class email and calendaring, Office Online, online meetings, IM, video conferencing, cloud storage and file sharing,” as Microsoft explained today.
Last but not least, Office 365 Business Premium will include all of the above, representing the best choice for all small and midsized businesses that are planning to make the switch to Office 365.
Microsoft says that the new plans will replace the existing ones over time, but for the moment, pricing for the current plans will remain unchanged.
Existing Office 365 customers, however, will have to choose one of the three new plans before October 1, 2015, when Microsoft official retires all existing subscription packages. Those who have purchased Office 365 Small Business can opt for the new Business Essentials plan, while Small Business Premium and Midsize Business customers can both go for the new Business Premium package.
“Starting on October 1, 2014, we will be making changes for existing customers to bring them some of the new plan benefits before they move. Small Business and Small Business Premium customers will see their seat cap raise from 25 to 300 while Midsize Business customers (whose seat cap is already 300), will see their price be reduced from $15/user/month to $12.5/user/month,” Microsoft explained today.
“As an existing customer, you will realize this price reduction the next time you renew. New Midsize Business customers will be able to take advantage of this reduced price starting August 1, 2014.”
Microsoft says that more details about this new Office 365 subscription plan change will be provided during the WPC 2014 in Washington, when the company is also expected to share more information on other new products, such as the Windows operating system.