The company is slashing the prices, effective immediately, for some editions of the Office 365 cloud collaboration and communication suite for companies, government agencies and schools, which was unveiled about eight months ago and pits directly against Google Apps and other similar products.
The changes are available instantly for both new and renewing direct customers and comes in a variety of editions, all priced differently on a per-user, per-month subscription basis. In most editions, it includes hosted versions of Exchange, Office, SharePoint and Lync.
In a blog post, Microsoft confirmed lowering the prices, stating that the cost of running Office 365 has dropped since it was introduced.
Kirk Koenigsbauer of the Microsoft Office Division wrote that increases in sales have made the cost to run Office 365 more efficient: “As we rapidly add customers, the cost to run Office 365 becomes more efficient. This is the beauty of the cloud where we can deliver economies of scale through our worldwide data centers and economies of skill with our engineers, administrators, and support teams operating the service.”
The chart below, courtesy of one of Microsoft’s partners, that offers extensive details about the new pricing in a nice, understandable format. Besides, it appears that some prices were slashed by more than 20 percent; others were slightly less than 20 percent, based on this information:
In addition, the post also disclosed Microsoft plans to make pricing changes to its Office 365 for education programs as well. Meanwhile, Microsoft indicated that it will make its A2 service plans of the upcoming Office 365 for Education free for students, faculty and staff, and prices for other education plans for staff and faculty have been “reduced significantly,” a Microsoft spokeswoman said via email.
On the other hand, the basic Office 365 offering includes Microsoft-hosted Exchange, SharePoint and Lync, supplemented by Webified versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, commonly known as Office Web Apps. Office 365 for Education will be launched in the summer.
In fact, Koenigsbauer noted: “With these efficiencies, we are able to pass on savings to make it even more affordable for customers of all range to move to Office 365,” claimed Koenigsbauer, in a blog post.
Moreover, Office 365 is undoubtedly flourishing, as are most cloud services that are not irredeemably awful. However, there is a caveat that the new prices apply only to new customers and to existing customers when their contracts are up for renewal. If, for example, a company is in the sixth month of a one-year Office 365 pact, they will pay the old, higher prices for the remaining six months, and renew the contract at the new, lower prices.
Cloud services in general are becoming more economical as of late. Firms like Amazon and Google have recently reduced prices of their cloud offerings too. So, if you are thinking buying into Office 365, now could be the time to bargain hard for even bigger discounts. The price cut also applies in the UK with immediate effect.