Microsoft indefinitely pushes back date for end of legacy CSP auto-renewals
The vendor had earmarked 11 July as the final date for the auto-renewal of legacy CSP subscriptions but has now indefinitely extended that deadline
Microsoft has indefinitely pushed back the date for which Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs) can sell automatically renewed "legacy" subscriptions.
The vendor had previously announced a deadline of 11 July for the end of auto-renewals of those subscriptions, meaning CSP partners would then have to transact everything through Microsoft's New Commerce Experience.
But that date has now been pushed back indefinitely, meaning the auto-renewal function will continue to be supported until Microsoft says otherwise.
"Microsoft has seen an acceleration of partners migrating legacy CSP subscriptions to the New Commerce platform in recent weeks," the company said in a statement.
"We appreciate the efforts of partners that have contributed to this acceleration, and all CSP partners are encouraged to complete migrations from legacy to New Commerce as soon as possible.
"Previously, we communicated that legacy commercial seat-based subscriptions would no longer be auto-renewed on the legacy platform starting 11 July.
"Though our goal is still for partners to migrate legacy subscriptions to New Commerce before end of term, we have made a business decision to continue supporting the legacy auto-renewal functionality beyond 11 July."
However, the company says it still plans on terminating monthly incentive rebates paid to partners on active "legacy" CSP commercial seat-based subscriptions on 1 January 2023.
It has already blocked new orders of legacy CSP subscriptions, which was implemented on 10 March this year.
The move towards the New Commerce Experience has proven controversial among partners - who have expressed concerns over plans for resellers and MSPs to take on financial responsibility for CSP licences if their customers can no longer pay due to insolvency, for example.
Some have also questioned a planned 20 per cent price hike on flexible monthly subscriptions.