Microsoft is making a change in its popular Microsoft 365 and Office 365 productivity suites.
Soon, the Teams collaboration app will no longer be automatically included.
This change will be rolling out worldwide, offering customers more flexibility and choice in how they build their ideal set of productivity tools.
Why is Microsoft unbundling Teams?
Microsoft’s decision to unbundle Teams is a response to concerns raised by competitors and regulators, primarily in the European Union.
In 2020, the messaging platform Slack filed a complaint claiming that Microsoft was using its strong position in the office productivity market to give Teams an unfair advantage. While the EU’s investigation is still ongoing, Microsoft began taking action to address these concerns.
Slack stated:
“Slack simply wants fair competition and a level playing field. Healthy competition drives innovation and creates the best products and the most choice for customers.”
In August 2023, Microsoft unbundled Teams from Microsoft 365 and Office 365 across the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. Now, this decision is being extended globally.
What does this mean for customers?
For new customers, the change is simple. Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites will be available without Teams included. The subscription cost will be slightly lower. Teams will still be offered as a standalone product, so you can always choose to add it to your suite of tools if you need its collaboration features.
Current customers with subscriptions that include Teams have a few options:
- Stay with your current plan: You can continue to use your existing productivity suite with Teams included.
- Switch to a Teams-free suite: If you decide you don’t need Teams, you can choose a cheaper subscription option without it. This may happen at the end of your current subscription or on the contract’s anniversary date.
- Add Teams separately: If you decide to switch to a plan without Teams, you can always purchase Teams as a separate add-on.
Microsoft wants to ensure that customers have a range of choices when building their ideal suite of productivity and collaboration software. Whether you want a streamlined bundle or prefer to customize your toolkit,
Microsoft 365 and Office 365 provide both options, with or without Teams.
Featured image credit: Ed Hardie/Unsplash
