Relief for partners as Microsoft reduces UK price hike

Final 1 July price list, which takes into account recent exchange rate fluctuations, reveals volume licensing price hikes of between 1.7 per cent and 25.9 per cent

Microsoft's UK partners breathed a collective sigh of relief this morning as the vendor confirmed its volume licensing price hike will not be quite as severe as feared.

The vendor announced in February that it would hoist its UK volume licensing prices – including for Enterprise and Select Agreements – in response to "sustained currency differences" between sterling and the euro.

On 1 May, partners were given a preliminary 60-day price preview indicating that prices would rise by an average of a whopping 29 per cent – much more than most expected.

However, Microsoft has revised down all the increases for its final price list, which was shared with partners this morning, in response to the weakening euro. Prices will now increase by between 1.7 and 25.9 per cent, compared with the guidance on 1 May of increases of between 7.5 and 33.5 per cent.

According to partners that were on the call, Select and Select Plus agreements will now rise by 17.7 per cent, while Enterprise agreements will now spike by 18.7 per cent. This is about seven per cent less than the guidance for each.

Zak Virdi, UK managing director at Microsoft large account reseller (LAR) SoftwareOne, welcomed the changes but argued they would not alter the plans of customers looking to get their estates in order before 1 July.

"This is good news as it is not as big as we expected. But I still do not think customers will change their actions," he said.

Dave Simpson, commercial director at LAR Softcat, agreed: "It is still a big enough price change for us not to change our advice to customers," he said.

Microsoft has given few details of how regularly it intends to update its UK price list after 1 July against the backdrop of a volatile euro.

"Moving forward, our goal is to maintain price consistency across Europe, while balancing it with our partners' requirements for pricing stability," Microsoft said in a statement.

A full overview of the final price list can be found here, on the website of Microsoft partner NCI.