Teams Unbundled from Enterprise Suites for New Customers

• Microsoft 365 and Office 365 Enterprise suites for all new customers no longer include Teams, matching changes made in European markets in Oct. 2023.
• Organizations that already have subscriptions that include Teams will see no change in availability of those Enterprise licenses to use, renew, or acquire.
• New customers can only obtain the new Enterprise suites without Teams, and must add a Teams Enterprise SKU at additional cost to add Teams capabilities.
• These changes are Microsoft’s response to pressure from regulators, and only increase costs and complexity for customers.

On Apr. 1, 2024, Microsoft announced immediately effective global licensing changes for Teams within Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for both Enterprise and Frontline users. The new license options match changes previously applied to the European Economic Area and Switzerland (EEA+S) in Oct. 2023. These changes introduce “no Teams” subscriptions for Enterprise and Frontline suites, add a new Teams Enterprise stand-alone offering, and make Enterprise suites with Teams unavailable to what Microsoft calls “net new” customers. However, organizations that already have any subscriptions with Teams (which includes most existing customers) can continue to use and purchase Enterprise licenses that include Teams as well as the new “no Teams” subscriptions. Only customers who had no Microsoft 365 or Office 365 suite licenses in their organizations are directly impacted. These changes could foreshadow future licensing and packaging changes as Microsoft responds to increasing scrutiny from international regulators, and they may suggest a future price increase for existing customers.