Microsoft extends NCE cancellation window from 72 hours to seven days

Move is welcomed by industry after controversial billing changes were introduced last year

Microsoft has extended its New Commerce Experience (NCE) cancellation window from 72 hours to seven days in a move which has been welcomed by partners.

The vendor brought in some controversial changes to its NCE framework in October last year, which effectively transferred the financial responsibility of customer CSP licences such as Office 365 onto its partners.

Under the changes, partners would have to take on the credit risk if their customers are unable to pay for their licences.

It came as Microsoft also introduced a 20 per cent price increase on flexible rolling monthly licences, which would encourage customers to opt for one or three-year subscriptions.

The NCE operating guide sent to partners also stated that partners will only have 72 hours to cancel or amend a licence from the time of purchase, after which they will have to pay for the remainder of the billing term.

Microsoft has now increased this cancellation window to seven days, giving partners more time to cancel or reduce seats after ordering or renewing new commerce subscriptions in CSP.

The change will come into effect today at 5pm pacific time, of midight GMT time (18 March).

Partners that cancel a subscription during the seven-day window will be billed for the days since the subscription was created, but not for the remainder of the subscription term, Microsoft says.

Cancellations and seat reductions can be made via the Partner Centre or through their integrated API.

Microsoft advised partners to communicate this change to their customers when transacting CSP offers and claims that no API changes are required to benefit from the longer cancellation window.

The industry welcomed the change. On LinkedIn, ITAM Review services director Rich Gibbons said: "It's good to see Microsoft listening to feedback and making changes," while Storm Technologies' head of services and solutions, Lucy Drinkwater, praised the move.

The extended cancellation window comes just days after Microsoft announced plans to scrap its flagship MPN programme in favour of a new Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.

The move will see Silver and Gold-level badges replaced by so-called solutions partner status and the introduction of a new partner capability score.