Microsoft hiking UK enterprise cloud pricing by more than a fifth

On-premise pricing also set to rise by 13 per cent thanks to crumble of Sterling

Microsoft is hiking most of its UK enterprise cloud prices by 22 per cent following the latest plunge in the value of Sterling.

The British-pound prices for all of its on-premises enterprise software will also rise by 13 per cent as it seeks to realign close to euro levels, the software giant announced in its TechNet UK blog.

The price increases, which do not apply to consumer software or consumer cloud services, will come into effect on 1 January.

"We periodically assess the impact of local pricing of our products and services to ensure there is reasonable alignment across the region and this change is an outcome of this assessment," Microsoft said.

It added: "For indirect sales where Microsoft products are sold through resellers, final prices and currency of sale will continue to be determined by them."

The value of the pound has plummeted since the Brexit vote, with the exchange rate falling from 1.49 in June to 1.30 at the start of October and 1.22 today, an 18 per cent drop over that period.

The initial collapse sparked a wave of price rises of in the region of 10 per cent from the big hardware vendors such as HP, Dell and Lenovo. Some in the channel believe a second wave is probable given the downward lurch of Sterling this month.

Microsoft stressed that the changes will not impact existing orders under annuity volume licensing agreements for products that are subject to price protection.

"For example, customers with Enterprise Agreements have price protection on previously ordered enterprise software and cloud services, and will not experience a price change during the term of their agreement," Microsoft said.

"Similarly, business customers with cloud commitment subscriptions such as Office 365 also receive price protection during their subscription term, which is normally twelve months from the start of paid subscription."

Microsoft added: "Even after this adjustment, customers across the region buying in British pound will still find our cloud offerings highly competitive."