Online Services Support Policy Changed

Microsoft’s policy for supporting online services changed in 2015. The current version omits earlier assurances that the company will give customers 12 months’ advance notice of any “disruptive” change. Instead, the current wording promises only to provide advance notice (without a time commitment) when customers are required to take action. Organizations should take several actions to avoid having their business impacted by unanticipated changes.

Advance Change Notice Now Indeterminate

A Microsoft business and developer online service is an Internet-based service hosted by Microsoft and aimed at corporate users. Examples include Office 365, Dynamics CRM Online, and Intune. (Azure services have their own support life-cycle policy.)

Microsoft has control of updates to the software that runs the online services, and changes are typically made much more frequently than for the company’s on-premises software.

The previous notification section of the support life-cycle policy stated that “Unless otherwise noted, for all Microsoft Online Services, Microsoft will provide a minimum of 12 months’ prior notification before customers must accept any change that is deemed a ‘disruptive change.'” (For Dynamics CRM Online, Microsoft promised to provide a six-month advance notice.)