Microsoft Unveils New Billing Experience for Commercial Customers

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Key Takeaways:

  • Microsoft has released updates to improve the billing experience for businesses, including billing accounts, profiles, and a revised invoice format.
  • These changes provide organizations with greater control over their payments and subscriptions.
  • The new billing updates allow organizations to choose from multiple billing frequencies, including monthly, annually, or once every three years.

Microsoft has recently released a slew of updates aimed at enhancing the billing experience for its commercial customers. These updates include billing accounts and profiles, an updated invoice format, flexible billing frequencies, and a new cancellation policy.

The Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA) is a legal contract between Microsoft and its customers. It’s a digital agreement that is automatically updated when users purchase new products and services, including Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365. The MCA outlines the terms and conditions governing the use of Microsoft’s products and services. It also deals with issues such as payment, privacy, and security concerns.

First off, Microsoft says that organizations now have a billing account, which serves as a central hub for managing account settings, payment methods, invoices, and purchases. The billing accounts come with specific roles that allow users to perform various tasks such as assigning billing account permissions, viewing/editing accounts, and signing agreements.

Additionally, each account will be associated with a billing profile containing information about the payment method and invoices. The billing profile roles enable users to handle bill payments, manage or view the billing profile group, and utilize the billing profile for making purchases.

Other changes to the billing experience

Microsoft has highlighted several other changes to the billing experience. The company has updated the invoice format, and customers will now get separate invoices for each billing profile within their billing account. Moreover, organizations can choose to pay for their subscriptions monthly, annually, or once every three years. Customers now have the flexibility to opt for a subscription duration of either one month, one year, or three years.

Microsoft has announced a new cancellation policy for business customers. They will need to submit the cancellation request within seven days after the commencement or renewal of their subscriptions to be eligible for a prorated credit or refund. Microsoft now lets customers increase/decrease the number of licenses associated with their subscription on the upcoming renewal date.

Lastly, Microsoft has introduced a new billing account selector for users with multiple accounts. They will need to navigate to the “Purchase services page” and select the “Change billing account” option to switch to a different billing account for purchasing new services and products.