Ready to transition to New Commerce Experience (NCE) early?

Here at Ingram Micro Cloud, our commitment to providing powerful platform capabilities and positive customer experience has positioned us as a top cloud partner choice in the channel.

Having your Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace prepared to transact NCE per-user subscriptions for your customers should be a top priority as we move closer to the January 2022 General Availability release. For partners interested in migrating their existing CSP subscriptions, we’re ready to help you expedite your transition to NCE today.

But hold on… it’s important to get the full facts before you commit to transitioning your existing or new customer base to a new purchase motion. We’ve surveyed our Ingram Micro partner base to help answer your top questions regarding Microsoft New Commerce Experience across commercial terms and billing, subscription management, timeline and more.

1. Commercial Terms & Billing

Common Questions for Commercial Terms and Billing:

Q: Are there any “exceptions” to the 7-day* cancellation policies for annual or 36-month subscriptions?

A: There will be no exceptions made by Microsoft. They have been very firm with their cancellation policy. Should the customer need more time to assess the subscription value, Microsoft encourages either a Trial or Monthly Subscription (at a price premium) to ensure they’re not locked in for the full term.

* Original 72 hour cancellation policy has been extended to 7 day (168 hours) as of March 19, 2022 12:00 AM UTC.

Q: Can a customer mix and match - add majority on long term subscription but add month to month on top to scale up and down?

A: Yes, the customer can mix subscriptions. We encourage all partners to use this 80:20 model. For example, to predict fixed subscriptions (Full Time Employees) with the annual NCE subscription (80%) and all non-fixed subscriptions with the Monthly Premium NCE Subscription (20%).

Please note: Not all NCE per-user subscriptions currently have a Monthly option, please verify on Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace to confirm availability.

Q: Can subscriptions be transferred between dealers/partners, if a customer-dealer/partner relationship goes away? Or is the original dealer/partner still responsible for the annual subscription?

A: The scenario above is not supported. Licenses need to be assigned to a customer at the moment of transaction and cannot be transferred mid-term to another customer (the original purchasing partner and customer owe that obligation until it expires).

2. Subscription Management

Common Questions for Subscription Management:

Q: Will the March Technical Enforcement date coincide with the price changes that Microsoft announced?

A: Correct, the Microsoft 365 price change will be reflected in March 1, 2022 for NCE as well. This means that if a customer decides to switch from Annual (monthly billed) to Monthly in NCE. They will experience the ~15% price increase with Microsoft 365 AND the 20% price premium with Monthly NCE.

Q: Will I receive a pro-rated refund similar to CSP legacy with “Monthly” subscriptions in NCE?

A: Monthly subscriptions in NCE offer more flexibility to the partner and customer, however, cancellations after the 7-day (168 hour) cancellation window will not receive a pro-rated refund for the rest of the month. Instead, the monthly subscription will run to its end date and cancel. The partner and customer should still expect to be billed for the full month.

Q: Will all SKUs have a 36-month option?

A: Microsoft is releasing 36-month subscription terms for limited solutions. Dynamics 365 will have 36-month subscriptions available for purchase on NCE upon General Availability and then later release select Microsoft 365 (to be confirmed which) in H2 2022.

Q: I only see Commercial NCE SKUs available on Cloud Marketplace, when will I be able to purchase Education and Charity subscriptions in NCE?

A: There will be a delayed Microsoft launch for Education and NFP/Charity SKUs until Q2 2022. As of today, only Commercial products are available in NCE.

Q: If a partner added seats to an annual subscription in NCE, will it co-term with the original commitment date?

A: Mid-term license quantity upsizes are calculated PTO-rated based on the remaining portion of the current Billing Period of the target Subscription, rounded to the calendar day as a unit.

Q: What are the “allowed” upgrade paths that fall outside of the 7-day cancellation window for NCE?

A:

3. Timeline for New Commerce Experience

Common Questions about NCE timelines:

Q: When should I transition to New Commerce Experience?

A: Partners can transition as early as today, through Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, to the New Commerce Experience purchase motion. Come January 2022 when NCE is generally available, there will be transitional promotions launched and adopted by Ingram Micro Cloud to help build greater adoption of monthly and annual subscriptions in NCE. Microsoft will offer two time-bound promotions beginning in January 2022.

Our recommendation: Microsoft’s newly adjusted FY22 incentives starting October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022, will have newly adjusted incentives for indirect resellers for both CSP and NCE. Partners who transact in CSP will need to have a minimum CSP revenue threshold of $25,000 USD, trailing twelve months to successfully earn core incentives and strategic accelerators for both Modern Work and Dynamics—earning split 60% Rebate /40% Co-Op. FY22 incentives for NCE, however, will require no minimum revenue threshold to earn incentives: MW and Dynamics Core incentives are +0.25-1% (relative to CSP), and the indirect reseller will only earn 100% Rebate (No Co-Op). For partners wavering under $25,000 USD TTM, we recommend switching to NCE earlier to increase their earning opportunity.

Partners will no longer earn incentives for CSP legacy subscriptions as of January 1, 2023.

More Questions around NCE? Read our previous blog Breaking Down Microsoft’s New Commerce Experience. Or, alternatively, register for our Monthly Microsoft ChannelTalk Webinars where we will review Microsoft CSP changes that affect all three clouds: Register here. Here you can pose your questions to our speakers or get in touch with our dedicated Microsoft associates for one-on-one attention. Learn more about updates and changes through our dedicated Microsoft NCE landing page with resources to help you go to market and more: https://now.ingrammicrocloud.com/nce.