The company also plans to add a free tier of the product aimed at small businesses.
Microsoft has advised its partner community that it will soon drop the price it charges for Teams Rooms, according to a report by The Register. The tech giant will also add a version of the product designed for small and medium businesses (SMEs).
Teams Rooms is Microsoft’s offering for customers who own dedicated collaboration hardware. Such hardware includes microphones, soundbars, desk phones that pack screens and cameras, and other items. These devices are generally supplied by companies like Bose, Poly, Lenovo, and Logitech.
Microsoft charges customers to operate those rooms over and above the cost of Teams licenses.
At the time of publication those licenses cost € 42,20 a month for a Premium license or €12,60 a month for a Standard service.
Microsoft announced the new license policy in a statement for Microsoft partners this week. The statement reveals that the Premium offering is to be replaced by a Pro (in the US a price reduction from $50 tot $40) tier that “delivers enhanced in-room meeting experiences, like intelligent audio or video, multiscreen support, our full-set of device management capabilities, and future differentiated value.”
“It’s the appropriate license for the Enterprise segment and for smaller organizations with larger room counts or more advanced needs,” the post states.
“Customers are eagerly seeking solutions for their hybrid work and return-to-office challenges, and these changes will help ensure that we have the right offers to support their workplace needs,” they added.
Microsoft will stop acting as the service middleman
The current Standard tier will be retired in favor of “Microsoft Teams Rooms Basic, which provides core meeting experiences to customers when they purchase a certified Microsoft Teams Rooms device at no extra cost.”
“We strongly encourage you to transition your existing Teams Rooms customers to the new Microsoft Teams Rooms Pro SKU at their next anniversary, or as soon as possible,” Microsoft’s post warns.
The document also advises that as its SaaS (Software as a Service) device management service comes online, Microsoft staff will “no longer serve as intermediaries for the incident management workflows starting October 1, 2022.”
The Pro and Basic offerings will be announced to the public on September 6, but will be functional and can be sold from September 1.
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