Microsoft notably presented its vision for the evolution of its platforms to its partners during the Inspire event on July 18th and 19th.
Two innovations have caught the attention of NOVIPRO experts: the implementation of the New Commerce Experience model and the introduction of the Copilot AI tool for Microsoft 365.
Justine Badoche Jacquet, Inside Sales Representative at NOVIPRO, provides a list of key takeaways and valuable tips for maximizing the benefits.
New Commerce Experience (NCE)
NCE in a nutshell
- This acronym refers to Microsoft's new pricing model, which changes the way companies can acquire and manage their Microsoft product licenses.
- This new model replaces the current Legacy procedure.
- This pricing model applies to all Microsoft licensed products, including Microsoft 365, Intune, Dynamics 365, Azure, etc.
- Microsoft's institutional customers will automatically transition to NCE pricing by the end of 2023*.
Its advantage: flexibility in three stages
With Microsoft Legacy
+ The license was automatically renewed.
− Clients had less flexibility to upgrade, renew, or cancel a license.
With Microsoft NCE
+ The renewal is still automatic. New: License upgrade can be done at any time during the year.
− Clients have only 72 hours to cancel their subscription and receive a refund
- Previously, Microsoft's commercial product licenses were sold on an annual basis. These Microsoft products were much less flexible, especially for cancelling, renewing, or upgrading a license.
- The most significant change: now, Microsoft will allow companies to purchase monthly, annual, or triennial licenses (this last option is more advantageous according to our expert Justine Badoche Jacquet).
- The triennial license protects the customer against inflation by fixing prices in advance for a period of three years.
- The monthly license allows for savings when the organization's staff size fluctuates during the year.
- Control over license renewals is now programmable.
Justine's advice:
Feel free to adopt a hybrid strategy by combining long-term licenses for stable operations with some monthly licenses in case of workforce fluctuations.
*Please note that since the announcement of the license transfer, Microsoft has reversed its decision regarding non-profit organizations (NPOs). Their transition will occur at a later date.
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Microsoft 365 Copilot
What is Copilot?
- This new Microsoft tool is an intelligent assistant powered by OpenAI's artificial intelligence technology (GPT-4, ChatGPT).
- Copilot allows users to formulate queries in natural language and responds to these queries by intelligently exploiting data within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, wherever it may be.
- A significant revolution: artificial intelligence also aids the user in decision-making. Of course, the user remains in control.
- Copilot is integrated into all Microsoft 365 applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams.
- It requires a Microsoft 365 commercial license.
Its advantage: Boosting your teams' productivity in a few clicks
- Copilot allows for less time spent on repetitive tasks, such as automatically drafting responses to email questions, which the user can edit as needed.
- It can also summarize the key points of a long message exchange, synthesize the task list assigned to each person during a Teams meeting, and much more.
In short, users can focus on tasks that require their expertise.
An additional asset for creativity:
- In Word, Copilot can draft an initial version of a document to avoid writer's block, rewrite a paragraph that the user has written but is dissatisfied with, etc.
- In PowerPoint, Copilot can assemble presentations by finding data in your existing documents and integrating it into templates.
- In Excel, it can identify trends and propose data visualizations in moments.
Justine's advice:
Remember that Copilot retrieves information from all Microsoft 365 applications, so make sure to secure your documents to prevent a user from obtaining, through Copilot, data to which they should not have access.
IN A NUTSHELL
In conclusion, although the retraction time is limited to 72 hours, let's remember that the New Commerce Experience (NCE) formula offers increased flexibility for businesses with more varied options for purchasing licenses.
Furthermore, Microsoft 365 Copilot enhances productivity by automating repetitive tasks and assisting in decision-making. However, it is crucial to secure documents to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data, which could pose a potential risk.
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