Microsoft have been running an Azure Support Offer through FY24 where Azure customers get 6 months of free Azure support but this ends June 30th, 2024 and will not be renewed. If you took up this offer within the last 6 months, you lose access on that date too:
“The 6-month period begins on the date that the agreement is signed or renewed and ends on the date of 6 months after the agreement is signed or renewed, or June 30th, 2024, whichever comes first.”
Should you wish to continue with tech support above the free Basic plan from July 1st, 2024 you will need to buy a support plan:
For the first time in a long time, Microsoft have updated the definition of an External User, with the new term coming in effect for agreements signed from October 1, 2024 onward.
Current term
“External Users” refers to users that are not employees, onsite contractors, or onsite agents of Customer or its Affiliate
New term
“External Users” will refer to users that are not:
(a) employees of Customer or its Affiliates
(b) contractors or agents that typically work for Customer or its Affiliates for more than 30 hours on average per week, or
(c) contractors or agents that typically work onsite for Customer or its Affiliates on each working day.
Adding in the amount of hours worked as a criteria means there will be a little more flexibility but also more work for organisations to define who is/isn’t an external user.
Much like a modern Augustus Gloop or Marjorie Dursley, Copilot for Microsoft 365 keeps expanding!
On June 12th, Microsoft added several more eligible base licenses for the Copilot add-on meaning the full list is now:
Microsoft 365 Apps for Business
Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise
Microsoft 365 Business Basic
Microsoft 365 Business Standard
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 E3/E5 (A3/A5)
Microsoft 365 F1/F3
Office 365 E1/E3 (A3/A5)
Office 365 F3
Exchange Online
SharePoint Online
OneDrive for Business
Microsoft Clipchamp
Microsoft Teams EEA/Enterprise/Essentials
Planner Plan 1
Project Online
Visio Online
I haven’t seen any news that Copilot has new capabilities that relate to these new licenses so I struggle to see the point of these scenarios. If I have Project Online or Clipchamp or Visio but not Apps for Business/Enterprise…why would I buy Copilot for M365?
Perhaps we’re about to see an expansion in Copilot’s capabilities in the new FY?
As always at this point of the year (almost end of FY), it’s a quiet one with nothing major but, as we’re here, let’s take a look anyway shall we?! 😊
Azure GenAI terms updated re: Training content
Several products added to the “Core Online Services” table
Clause re: automatic updates for Microsoft Defender for Identity added
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P2 for Student added to EES
Microsoft added several more base licenses for Copilot for M365 on June 12 – see the full list here
Microsoft have revealed that the previously announced end of Azure Compute Reservation exchanges has been postponed “until further notice“. They say:
“You may continue exchanging your compute reservations for different instance series and regions until we notify you again, which will be at least 6 months in advance. In addition, any compute reservations purchased during this extended grace period will retain the right to one more exchange after the grace period ends.”
Copilot for M365 prerequisites updated to include new SKUs as eligible base licenses. The line-up is now: Microsoft 365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium/F1/F3/E3/A3/E5/A5
Office 365 F3/E1/E3/A3/E5/A5
Entra ID Governance F SKU added
Entra ID Governance can be added to M365 Business Premium
Microsoft Viva Pulse added
Azure AI Studio added, although it’s still in public preview
No changes to Dynamics 365 for the first time in about 9 decades!
Let’s take a look at Microsoft’s financial results for Q3 FY24 (Jan – Mar 24) and, in a not surprising move at all – they’re pretty good!
Headline Numbers
Revenue = $61.9 billion (17% increase)
Net income = $21.9 billion (20% increase)
Within that, “Microsoft Cloud” was $35.1 billion, an increase of 23% year on year.
Productivity & Business Processes
Revenue = $19.6 billion (up 12%)
Office 365 Commercial revenue increased 15%
Commercial seats grew 8% driven by SMB and Frontline SKUs again
LinkedIn increase 10%
Dynamics 365 grew 19%
Intelligent Cloud
Revenue = $26.7 billion (up 21%)
Azure grew 31% – yet again the growth percentage increases for another quarter. Interestingly, server licenses were up 6% due to hybrid and BYOL licensing.
Earnings Call Highlights
“Copilot” features 47 times in the transcript
Office 365 ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) grew thanks to E5 and Copilot
Enterprise Mobility & Security (EMS) now has 274 million seats, up 10%
Azure Arc now has 33,000 customers
The average size and length of Azure deals has increased
The number of 100 million dollar-plus Azure deals increased over 80% year-over-year (YoY) while the number of 10 million dollar-plus deals more than doubled
Over 11,000 customers for Microsoft Fabric <– How many of those are simply Power BI Premium users who have moved over early?
30,000 organisations using Copilot for Studio to customize Copilot for Microsoft 365 and/or make their own
PowerApps users are now at 25 million per month, a 40% increase YoY
After a seemingly successful preview period, Microsoft’s Copilot for Security is now generally available.
Capabilities
Copilot for Security has a range of features and capabilities that help organisations across the range of Microsoft’s security products such as Defender, Intune, and Purview. These include:
Teams has been “consciously decoupled*” from Microsoft 365 on a global basis, so they’re now only available separately to new users. Existing users can continue to renew but if you need to buy both, it equals more cash more Microsoft.
Teams Enterprise is now listed, which appears to be the standalone version of Teams. From a naming perspective, “that “Enterprise” sounds “bigger” than “Premium” (which is a paid add-on) so I’d expect a rebrand at some point soon🤔
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Premium has been added…plus another error as “Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management” is listed as having a minimum purchase quantity of both 10 and 20…clearly one should say “Premium” at the end (the one with 10 I believe).
They’ve still not corrected the D364 error from last month either 🤣
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 