News

Microsoft Offers Limited-Time Deals for Teams Features

• By Kurt Mackie
• September 10, 2020

Microsoft this week announced promotional deals for two of its Teams add-ons -- Audio Conferencing and Advanced Communications.

The deals are for a limited time only. Microsoft said the offers are "subject to additional terms and conditions," but didn't describe those caveats in its announcement. Microsoft typically isn't offering these deals and discounts to Teams education and government subscribers.

Audio Conferencing Free Deal
Audio Conferencing is an add-on option that lets users dial into Teams meetings using their phones, as might be the case when people are traveling. This add-on is typically priced at $4 per month for organizations with Office 365 E1 or E3 plans, although it's included at no extra cost for Office 365 E5 plan subscribers.

Under the newly announced promotional offer, Audio Conferencing is now offered "for free" for a limited time to organizations having an Enterprise Agreement plus Microsoft 365 or Office 365 licensing. It'll remain free of charge for those organizations until the end of their enrollment periods. The free Audio Conferencing add-on offer for these organizations will end after Jan. 31, 2021. Also, it's not available in China and India.

Organizations with Microsoft 365 or Office 365 licensing obtained from Cloud Service Provider (CSP) partners or directly from the Web also can get the Audio Conferencing add-on for free, but the offer is good for one year and availability will start next month on Oct. 1, 2020. This offer for these organizations will end after Mar. 31, 2021. Once again, it's not available in China and India.

Advanced Communications Discount
Microsoft had announced the availability of its Advanced Communications add-on plan for Teams last month, priced at $12 per user per month. It lets organizations conduct very large Teams meetings. Advanced Communications will support up to 20,000 attendees, although participants will get put into a so-called "view-only mode" after the first 1,000 attendees have joined a Teams meeting. The Advanced Communications add-on also lets organizations brand their Teams meetings, and it adds access to optional partner-led solutions, such as the "recording compliance" and "workflow engagement" options.

Under the newly announced promotional offer, organizations using the Advanced Communications add-on can get a 35 percent discount on it if they have an Enterprise Agreement contract signed with Microsoft, along with having Microsoft 365 or Office 365 licensing. The discount will be good "until the end of your current subscription terms," Microsoft explained. This offer is currently available for those organizations, but it will end after "January 31, 2021."

The 35 percent discount on the Advanced Communications add-on will also be available to organizations that bought Office 365 licensing through a partner or directly via the Web. For these subscribers, the discount will be available sometime "before the end of the calendar year," Microsoft indicated, without being specific.